Every Christmas, London’s Old Vic delivers a production of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. This year is no exception – except that it comes to us via Zoom.
by Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2020 • Tags: Alwyn Marriage, books, poetry • 0 Comments
Poetry review – THE PEREGRINE FALCONS OF YORK MINSTER: Alwyn Marriage finds a “delicious mixture of humour and pathos” in Carole Bromley’s collection
by Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2020 • Tags: books, Emma Storr, poetry • 0 Comments
Poetry review- JANUARY: Emma Storr enjoys a varied and accessible first collection by Sarah Barr
by Barbara Lewis • authors, books, fiction, year 2020 • Tags: authors, Barbara Lewis, books, fiction •
C.J. Cooke, also known as Carolyn Jess-Cooke, is formidable in her achievements. An award-winning poet, novelist, academic and mother of four, her latest work is a text-book example for her creative writing students of how to write a tense page-turner that presses all the right buttons.
by Barbara Lewis • music, opera, performance, theatre, year 2020 • Tags: Barbara Lewis, music, opera, performance, theatre •
Even more than an outpouring of passionate pacifism, Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave is a universal exploration of the heroic strength of character required to reject decades of blind allegiance to an unholy cause.
by Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2020 • Tags: books, Charles Rammelkamp, poetry • 1 Comment
Poetry review – FARMERS, QUEENS, TRAINS AND CLOWNS : Charles Rammelkamp finds both lament and celebration in a character-filled collection by g emil reutter
by Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2020 • Tags: books, Mat Riches, poetry • 0 Comments
Poetry review –Â translating silence : Mat Riches admires the consistent and creative evocation of silence in a chapbook by Mike Barlow
by Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2020 • Tags: books, Pat Edwards, poetry • 0 Comments
Poetry review – BIG SEXY LUNCH: Pat Edwards enjoys fresh, boisterous and irreverent poems by Roxy Dunn
by Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2020 • Tags: books, Carla Scarano, poetry • 0 Comments
Poetry review – KISSING IN THE DARK: Carla Scarano follows Pat Edwards in a poetic exploration of identity and relationships
by Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, travel, year 2020 • Tags: books, John Lucas, travel • 0 Comments
THE HOUSE WITH THREE EYES: John Lucas encounters a page-turner in John Harding’s atmospheric novel about mysterious events in Venice
by Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2020 • Tags: books, Michael Bartholomew-Biggs, poetry • 0 Comments
Poetry review – IN THE LATENESS OF THE WORLD: Carolyn Forché’s dense and imaginative poems prompt Michael Bartholomew-Biggs to a spot of introspection
by Barbara Lewis • performance, theatre, year 2021 • Tags: Barbara Lewis, performance, theatre •
In a time of bitter, divisive politics, the positive, as well as the negative aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it is truly global: people everywhere feel the same fear, sorrow and frustration at the same time.