Mortality is, of course, a regular concern of poets. How much more pressing might be the need to explore our relationship with death if the poet were born Jewish in 1942? How much weightier yet might that feeling be were he to have sprung from “a long line of rabbis”, and his father, by his Read More
The introduction to The Queen of Versailles comprises a collage of pictures and interviews, and these opening scenes establish the tone of Lauren Greenfield’s documentary. Two main players of the piece are introduced: David Siegel is the king of Westgate, the largest and most lucrative timeshare company in the world; Jackie Siegel is his estranged Read More
Street poetry, as an art form, is certainly nothing new. “Auld Reekie’s” Robert Fergusson was the pioneer of pavement verse and, since then, the trend has developed into the wonderful localised material heard and read today. Gary Robertson is Dundee born and bred, granting him the authority and the credentials to comment (often acerbically) on Read More
Bashabi Fraser
Douglas Dunn, quoted on the front cover of The Magicians of Edinburgh, describes Ron Butlin, in the inevitable cliché, as “the best, the most productive Scottish poet of his generation”. On the back cover, Sorley Maclean calls Butlin’s poems those “of a man who can think and feel”, adding that “poems come [to Butlin] because Read More
Hysteria is Jane Austen without inhibitions. It looks like an Austen adaption but is more “racy”. Director Tanya Wexler’s debut film, based on the true story of the invention of the vibrator in the 1880’s, blends passion, scandal and medical advancement into a hilarious and informative story. At a time when leeches were used to Read More
This is Rita Ann Higgins’ ninth collection, a poetic memoir about her working class, Catholic upbringing, a collection about loss, language, poetry and travel. There is a strong thread of repression and fear running through her work, which describes the drudgery of women’s lives, the poverty of poverty, and the sadness of realisation, all softened Read More
Funded by the Scottish Arts Council and the Lottery Legacy Trust, this touring exhibition is part of the Cultural Olympiad which accompanies the 2012 London Olympic Games. In conjunction with the exhibition – which includes material from several Scottish collections exploring and illustrating the development of sports medicine – a series of free talks, evening Read More
This collection is not for those who seek light reading or any form of reassurance. Opening with a poem not listed in the contents, Stephen Murray immediately throws us into a cuttingly real and tumultuous world. Murray cleaves open his world with an honesty that is almost chilling; he invites us into a past littered Read More