Poetry review – TRANSITIONS: Norbert Hirschhorn responds to Marilyn Hacker’s new collection by reflecting on the sonnet form that she handles so very well
year 2026
Red Beard. Review by Alan Price, Over many years I have watched Red Beard three times and each time I felt elated and drained by its power. Yet since 1965, two annoying descriptions are hung round its neck: “soap opera” is pitted, as if to ward off sentimentality, with “humanist.” Both terms can be used to damn a work of art.
Poetry review – A GRAIN OF TRUTH : Colin Carberry admires Celia de Freine’s bilingual collection exploring the plight of the disadvantaged and marginalised
Poetry review – NO MORE ANIMAL POEMS: Oz Hardwick relishes the ambiguity – both playful and ominous – in this imaginative collection by Marc Vincenz
Poetry review – THE LAST ONE PICKED: D A Prince recognizes how far Stuart Handysides has developed his craft and experience before producing a first collection
A Sunday of Sondheim. Review by Barbara Lewis. Max Eade, nominally the director, who tells us he is really just the organiser, says he wanted this small-scale performance in the intimate space of the Union Theatre to be imperfect; a matter of “scribbles on a page”.
A Red that Sings. Review by Barbara Lewis. “The red that sings” is a phrase rooted in the intellectual atmosphere of the 19th-century when scientists first grappled with the concept of synaesthesia, and poets and painters seized on it as a heightened response to the anxiety and excitement of breathless social change.
Poetry review – CONVERSATIONS WITH A MACHINE : Michael Bartholomew-Biggs reviews a slim collection by Ruth Irwin that seeks to engage with big questions
Van Dyck, The European. Review by Barbara Lewis. A lack of evidence means art historians can only speculate about the relationship between Peter Paul Rubens and his most gifted pupil Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641).
Poetry review — CONVERSATIONS WITH MAGIC STONES: Sue Wallace-Shaddad admires how the techniques of writing and sculpture are related in Vivienne Tregenza’s collection inspired by the life & work of Barbara Hepworth
SEVEN STORIES: Emma Storr enjoys a selection of tales by Merryn Williams which touch on the darker side of human nature
HERE’S WHERE WE GET OFF: Charles Rammelkamp reviews a collection of microfictions by Guy Biederman
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, fiction, year 2026 • Tags: books, Charles Rammelkamp, fiction