‘Dear Diary, go fuck yourself’ opens I Am Not Okay With This, author and artist Charles Forsman’s latest graphic novel, a line that made me laugh with its direct belligerence. An opening like this, coupled with the comic’s cartoon art style – reminiscent to me of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s work – lured me into expecting Read More
American poet Terrance Hayes’ latest poetry collection, American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin, is a series of sonnets that, as the back of the paperback declares, ‘traces the fault lines of race, gender and political oppression with a singular passion and wit.’ Indeed, this offering of 70 devastating sonnets both disarms and charms the reader. Read More
Hannah Sullivan’s first book of poems breathes, from the tumultous living of the opening poem through a steadier still-vibrant growth in the second, to the painful inspirations of the third. Having led an academic career on both sides of the Atlantic, she’s translated her keen observations of the minutia of existence into something moving and Read More
Ailbhe Darcy’s second collection is a literary force of nature fearlessly exploring themes of love and grief. Much like her debut collection, Imaginary Menagerie, which begins in Dublin and then stretches further afield, Darcy offers a dark telling of the world seen through her eyes. Similarly, in Insistence, an unsettling feeling of hopelessness and anxiety Read More
Nick Laird’s fourth book of poetry, Feel Free, is a cleverly arranged three-part collection exploring the two words of the title: what it is like to feel and the nature of being free, if indeed freedom exists at all. The poems cover a huge range, from metaphysical notions of justice and the meaning of existence, Read More
(UK/Ireland, 2018) 3-17 January, DCA Those familiar with the films of Yorgos Lanthimos will be aware of his deft use of subtly morbid humour as a tool with which to expose and comment on the absurdity of the human condition. The characters of his previous works, such as those seen in The Lobster or The Read More
‘You Are Now Entering Europa’, the opening poem in this, Sean O’Brien’s ninth collection, derives its title from a Lars von Trier film. In the film prologue, the voice of Max von Sydow primes the listener, ‘On the count of 1 to 10, you will be in Europa’, and as he descends the numbers, we Read More
Since the release of his poetry collection in 2014, Zaffar Kunial has been known for his exploration and experiment with language. His Anglo-Indian heritage means he can draw inspiration from both English and Urdu. Us has been praised, among many things, for a melding of languages and for Kunial’s flair for storytelling. Poetry, and indeed Read More
Fiona Moore’s The Distal Point is a debut collection that builds on earlier successes: poems from her pamphlets The Only Reason for Time (2013), a Guardian’s Poetry Book of the Year, and Night Letter (2015), shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award, appear alongside new work full of raw emotion and acute observation. ‘The Shirt’, an Read More
The Dundee Rep Ensemble’s latest production, The Snow Queen, in association with Noisemaker, is an enchanting Christmas epic. Based on Hans Christian Anderson’s classic, the show tells the story of Gerda, a young girl who must rescue her friend Kai after an ice-cold mirror shard falls in his eye and he is captured by the Read More