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.
year 2026
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.
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.
* LONDON GRIP NEW POETRY#59 – SPRING 2026 features poems by: *Stephen Chappell *Simon Ravenscroft *Hannah Linden *Bruce Christianson *Stuart Henson *Caroline Hannah *Noel King *Oliver Comins *Jill Husser *Rebecca Gethin *Emma Lee *Rachael Clyne *Alice Huntley *Kenneth Pobo *Julia Vaughan *J R Solonche *Rosemary Norman *Tess Jolly *Lawrence Bradby *Jackson *Sheenagh Pugh *Nick Cooke […]
Poetry review – LONDON PASTORAL Colin Pink likes the conversational tone of Maggie Wadey’s well-observed poems situated in urban green spaces
Poetry review – RETURN TO SENDAI Nick Cooke takes an in-depth look at a major compilation of work by Peter Robinson
THE LITERARY BUSINESS Paul McDonald enjoys Peter Finch’s lively and insightful account of more than half a century experiencing the vagaries of life as a writer and literary administrator
Poetry review – LOBE Sarah Leavesley admires both the variety and the connectedness on show in Cia Mangat’s chapbook
Poetry review – THE WEIGHT OF SOUND Charles Rammelkamp finds rich detail and skilful understatement in Mariano Zaro’s poems
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2026 • Tags: books, Charles Rammelkamp, poetry