Bunk’Art 2. Review by Barbara Lewis. In the just over a century since Albania became an independent country, it has been a monarchy, endured Fascist occupation and spent nearly 50 years as an isolated Communist dictatorship, mostly under the rule of Enver Hoxha. Hoxha died in 1985 and the Communist Party collapsed in 1990, heralding a turbulent transition to a market economy.
year 2026
The Banality of Evil. Review by Barbara Lewis. “The banality of evil” is a concept expounded by Hannah Arendt in her 1963 book on Adolf Eichmann, one of the organisers of the Nazi Holocaust. It refers to the theory that evil is committed not out of malice but out of thoughtlessness and it is highly relevant to our polarised times when people blindly follow trending ideas and theatre security has to be elevated around the staging of a Jewish play.
Poetry review – NEW & COLLECTED POEMS: Ian Pople looks back over Jeffrey Wainwright’s poetic career as summed up in this major retrospective volume
Poetry review – AFTER A SHORT ILLNESS: Sarah Leavesley admires John Whitehouse’s account of losing language as a result of a stroke – and then recovering it in new forms
Poetry review – PEDESTRIAN IN THE MULTIVERSE: John Snelling appreciates both the poetic craft and the range of subject matter in Claire Booker’s new collection
Poetry review – MILK WOOD MEMOIR: Michael Bartholomew-Biggs is charmed by Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch’s poetic exploration of the lives and times of real and imagined inhabitants of a Welsh coastal town
Poetry review – GREY TIME: Paul McDonald follows Julia Webb through a collection which explores the many aspects of loss
Poetry review – MIGRATIONS: Stuart Henson commends Dominic Fisher’s fluent and effective use of language
Fatal Monsters. Review by Barbara Lewis. Cleopatra VII was not just the Egyptian queen and legendary lover of Mark Antony, immortalised by Shakespeare, she represented the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty that endured from 305 BCE to around 40 BCE.
Poetry review – AGAINST FALLING: John Forth follows Linda Anderson through an exploration of the birth, life and afterlife of poems
Poetry review – FAMILY MATTERS: Rosie Johnston surveys a third volume of poems from members of the ‘Dark Angels’ writing group, compiled by its founder, John Simmons
Poetry review – A LITTLE BRIDGE: Jennifer Johnson appreciates Alex Josephy’s poetic perspectives on bridges as connections and as ways of getting past obstacles
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2026 • Tags: books, Jennifer Johnson, poetry