Long Live the Republic! Review by Alan Price. It’s the spring of 1945 in the Moravian village of Nesovice. The defeated German army is retreating as the Russians rapidly advance. Twelve year old Oldrich (Zdenek Lstiburek) runs away from his parents to journey across a war-torn landscape.
Poetry review – TOYS / TRICKS / TRAPS James Roderick Burns admires Christopher Reid’s tightly focussed examination of childhood
Poetry review – UNDER THE LIPPY Jennifer Johnson finds Angelena Demaria’s poetry to be both important and memorable
Poetry review – PADRE TIERRA Charles Rammelkamp reviews Mariano Zaro’s poetic exploration of a complex parental relationship
Lady Susan. Review by Barbara Lewis. “Lady Susan” is either the culmination of Jane Austen’s youthful experiments with epistolary novels and the narration of society scandals or the beginning of her mature phase of subtle characterisation and the establishment of her distinctive voice, depending on your viewpoint.
Poetry review – THE SCREW CITY POEMS Charles Rammelkamp reviews a new and selected collection from Richard Vargas
Flying Ant Day. Review by Barbara Lewis. Flying ant day – when ants live, reproduce and die – together with the human moment of death are among the less discussed topics even in the voluble world of social media. Writer Joey Ellis takes on this unlikely twinning in a play that crowds a dysfunctional family around a death bed while winged ants throng the air.
Poetry review – REFLECTIONS IN A DIRTY MIRROR Charles Rammelkamp finds a note of hopefulness beneath the dry cynicism of Tony Dawson’s poetry and flash fiction
Poetry review – IN THE LILY ROOM: Nick Cooke admires Erica Hesketh’s collection about motherhood not only for being accomplished and moving but also for its broad appeal across gender boundaries
Poetry review – MY LOVER AS HOUDINI: Rennie Halstead considers the sense of loss conjured up in Robert Seatter’s poems about an abruptly ended love affair
Tracey Emin: A Second Life. Review by Graham Buchan. Art moves on and times change. But in the case of Tracey Emin, art is still relentlessly all about the artist. This massive retrospective show will surely attract the crowds and be discussed widely.
Poetry review – THE WEIGHT OF SOUND Charles Rammelkamp finds rich detail and skilful understatement in Mariano Zaro’s poems
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • added recently on London Grip, books, poetry reviews, year 2026