ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Synthetic Sincerity, Our Hero, Balthazar, Heartstopper Forever, and A Year In London
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2021 Round-up with Andy Croft
Andy Croft has been talking to other poets about the books of poetry they have most enjoyed reading in the last 12 months
KEITH RICHMOND relishes a superbly conceived modern version of Aeschylus’ drama of murderous family succession
MICHAL BONCZA recommends a minimalist installation that prompts intriguing connotations
FIONA O’CONNOR questions the achievement of this year’s Orwell prize winner for political fiction
LEO BOIX reviews two powerful Latin American novels in which myth and crime fiction expose the deadly consequences of patriarchy, clandestine abortion and state violence
New releases from Laura Veirs, The Waterboys, and Yard Act
Ron's rages are sincere and — according to his wife — healthily cathartic. But can these splenetic outbursts loosen the grip of capitalism at its most monstrous?
MIKE CROWLEY
Simon Armitage’s Magnetic Field (Faber) is about the village of Marsden, midway between Huddersfield and Rochdale, where Armitage grew up.
Marsden has been a muse for Armitage for 30 years now, serving as a canvas as well as a subject.
On Marsden he paints the ordinary, sometimes the banal, as extraordinary and beautiful. He gives everyday actions and chores — home improvement, cutting the hedge, a walk to the shops, family meals — a sacramental significance.
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RUTH AYLETT reviews two collections of outright political poetry
ANDY CROFT rallies poets to the impossible task of speaking truth to a tin-eared politician