Songs of the Spuggies – Review of Land of Three Rivers: The Poetry of North East England

From its rich seams of oral poetry, to the wealth of writers and publishing houses currently based here, the North East is a dominant region on the poetic landscape. Suzannah V. Evans enjoys Land of the Three Rivers, a ‘celebration of North-East England in poetry’, edited by Neil Astley. An anthology of astonishing breadth, Land of Three...

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Cunning and Art: Review of Leásungspell, by Bob Beagrie

Set in 657AD, moving between Hartlepool and Whitby, and drawing on Old English, modern English and Northumbrian dialect, Bob Beagrie's new epic poem, Leásungspell, takes readers on a historical, geographical and literary journey. Reviewer Jamie McKinstry enjoyed the voyage. A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees This quotation from William...

Review of The Sparsholt Affair, by Alan Hollinghurst

As it moves from the 1940s to the present day, Alan Hollinghurst's new novel The Sparsholt Affair traces the complexities of gay sexuality against the backdrop of a changing England. Ahead of Hollinghurst's appearance at Durham Book Festival, Fraser Riddell reviews a poignant and darkly funny masterpiece.  What Peter had created was a portrait of a demigod...

Review of Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe, by Kapka Kassabova

The lines on a modern map that mark the borders between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece do not adequately represent the changes and shifting identities that this region has undergone throughout its history. Olly Teregulova celebrates Kapka Kassabova’s travelogue, which attempts to capture the complexities of life between places. Chronicling her own personal journey along the...

The Handmaid’s Tale is a Fable for Our Times

Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian classic. Does the new television adaptation do it justice? Sarah Lohmann writes about the series as it reaches its halfway stage. As a researcher looking at feminist utopian literature, I am always aware of the looming presence of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale at...