Nothing is Heavy, Vicki Jarrett’s debut novel, is a blackly comic and compelling read. Jarrett is better known for her shorter fiction, some of which has been featured on BBC Radio 4. Shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize 2011, Nothing is Heavy is a confident and exciting work which confirms Jarrett’s skill as a Read More
New Writing Dundee is an annual collection of literature compiled by “Literary Dundee” from works submitted by both published and unpublished authors. The end result is an eclectic mix of poetry, short prose, extracts from novels, and essays. The seventh volume of New Writing Dundee opens and also ends with the engaging “Wendell’s Story”, a Read More
Jacob M Appel won the Dundee International Book Prize in 2012 for The Man Who Wouldn’t Stand Up. Appel is a bioethicist, essayist and fiction writer. Despite many of his short stories already having been published, Appel found it difficult to find a publisher for his debut novel at home saying, “American publishers appeared to Read More
It’s an odd thing watching a film when you know how it ends. Rather than needing to focus on predicting (or anticipating) the outcome one focuses instead on the journey, picking up details along the way. We know how the subject matter of Lincoln will resolve itself: most viewers will be familiar with the passing Read More
2012 was a big year for Jamaica. Internationally, the island’s impressive athletic performances during London’s Olympic Games prompted a proliferation of green, black and gold flags at numerous events and festivities. As Usain Bolt, unofficial Jamaican national hero (Jamaica has specific official National Heroes) and the world’s fastest man, broke yet another astonishing world record, Read More
Roger Michell’s Hyde Park on Hudson centres on a weekend in 1939 when King George VI and the Queen travelled to America (the first trip made by British monarchs to the U.S.) to visit President Franklin D. Roosevelt, residing at his mother’s upstate New York home. Against this background, the developing intimate relationship between Roosevelt Read More
Making a biopic about one of the film world’s most well-known and loved directors must be a daunting task. Director Sacha Gervasi should therefore be praised for taking on the story of Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife Alma’s (Helen Mirren) turbulent relationship during the filming of Psycho (1960). The making of Hitchcock’s most Read More
Head On is the second collection from Clare Shaw, a poet described by Carol Ann Duffy as “one of the best new readers on the circuit”. Although the description refers to the poet’s performing abilities, the sound of Clare Shaw’s energetic voice can equally be heard coming through the lines on the page. Shaw’s pen Read More
A Fine Madness is a collection of prose-poetry portraying the experiences and political awakenings of a soldier during the 1998 Congo war. The collection is based on the author’s own writings, composed during his time as a combatant. Mashingaidze Gomo joined the Airforce of Zimbabwe in 1984, beginning a twenty-three year military career as an Read More