Some years back, at Herschel Museum of Astronomy in Bath, I was re-introduced to the orrery: a model of the solar system, based on Newtonian physics, clockwork and orderly. We’ve realised now that orbits actually wobble and vary; chaotic cosmic happenings occur; the energy of the universe is far from predictable. Too often, we think in a [read more…]
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Kate McEwan, The Write Place, Frome
Christina Sanders in Conversation with Kate McEwan
Kate McEwan is well known in Frome as a writer who champions writers. In 2012 she set up The Write Day, a monthly day retreat which brings together writers from across the South West. Since its inception, the retreat has built up a wide following from as far away as Devon, Dorset, West Somerset and Wales, and over the years [read more…]
No Man
Tish Camp
No Man I am an island without water that a tidal wave destroyed no friendly ebb and flow Saharan desert, hot sun in isolation on imagined ghosts, forever walking I am salted sweat evaporating only noticed in its itch hot, hard crack camel heel bootless legionnaire traversing sink sand dunes weary from heavy survivor pack I am rested in lush [read more…]
And Just Then the Whole Family’s Home All Day
Stephanie Hirtenstein
Covid Lockdown 2020. Like the rest of the country my two younger boys were doing their learning at the kitchen table. My husband was working in the office upstairs, my eldest home from his first year in uni and leaving me without those precious hours during the day for writing. I spent most of the first weeks on the verge [read more…]
The First Rule of WriteClub
Alison Powell
In 2016, I set up WriteClub with the intention of creating a space for writers and non-writers to come and enjoy the process of putting pen to paper and setting words free. I began by running monthly workshops designed to celebrate the act of writing for its own sake – or as Henry Miller puts it, where writing could be [read more…]
The Lockdown Legend
Rita Lazaro
The Lockdown Legend Please note that to read this interactive picture book, a new tab will appear on your browser. The Lockdown Legend Click to read this book, made with Book Creator https://read.bookcreator.com Biography Rita is an artist and often struggles to explain herself using words. However, writing and illustrating picture books helps her make sense of the world [read more…]
Poetry Non-Stop
Patrick Widdess
I started the Poetry Non-Stop podcast last year to showcase the many poets I’ve got to know and like, and as a source of inspiration for others wanting to write poetry. Poetry Non-Stop has its roots in 1990s Radio One when Mark Radcliffe’s late night show featured John Hegley, Simon Armitage, Ian McMillan and others reading poetry. [read more…]
July & August’s Pick of The Month – Editorial
Christina Sanders
July-August’s submissions reflect a change in tempo. Five months on since the pandemic entered our lives, attention has shifted from the external experience to internal worlds. Covid is no longer an explicit presence, but a ghost, a metaphor, its presence less visceral, but its shockwaves keenly felt. The uncertainty of living in a twilight world between isolation and the old [read more…]
Writing from Isolation: Then, Now and Beyond
Louisa Adjoa Parker
2020. As winter gives way to spring, the world changes overnight and things – I – fall apart. Work cancellations come thick and fast. I sit at my desk, unsure what I am meant to be doing now, who I have become. If I don’t have work, I wonder, am I still a writer? If I can’t see my daughters [read more…]
The Year of the Writer
Lucy Heuschen
Biography A poet, former lawyer, breast cancer survivor, reader and anti-plastic blogger. A Londoner living in Germany. Published in Irisi, Covid Narratives, FEED and Unlimited. Coming soon in Beyond Words and Near Window. A Lord Whisky Competition shortlisted poet. Lucy is a regular Write Clubber with Alison Powell in Bristol.