“is there something in adopting the voice of a god, but giving him very human qualities and frailties? It turned out that adopting a persona that revolved at once about both being powerful and powerless was a great parallel for exploring subjects like climate change.”
They were stones in a champagne flute,
I was always bound to smash.
But they were there for a while,
hanging on, two faceless punters waiting
for the gag, and then it all slipped out
of me as easily as a giggle. Once is a mistake.
Twice is careless. By the end of it
you could hear a pin drop in my heart.
“In the case of obstetric and gynaecological history, it felt important to resist chronological or medical linearity. Working towards a happy ending would have been too easy and would have felt like a formal parroting of the unstoppable trajectory of ‘scientific progress’ that I wanted the book to question. “
“The 7 – 11 age group is for me the most joyful of childhood – their imagination is boundless, they are brave and unjudgmental, and the self-consciousness of the teen years has not yet set in.”
“What is happening in Iran is heart-breaking, and this poem is testament to that, it is also paying homage to my Father and my Persian heritage, of which I’m so proud.”
“I’ll state up front: I love Helen Mort’s poetry. Her writing is taut, lyrical, kind, brave, intelligent, beautiful.”
“If Stubbs set out explore how humans have the capacity to worry about ‘big existential events’ when they also face everyday problems, she has succeeded.”
Harvey inhabits the farm, then the woods, building the world for the audience as she goes.
Lanyard is a beautiful, sad, lonely gathering of elegies for lost friends, lost landscapes, lost industries, lost communities, and lost possibilities.
Zahrah Nesbitt-Ahmed reviews Rising of the Black Sheep, by Livia Kojo Alour
Rasmus Meldgaard Harboe interviews poet, Kimberly Campanello.
Review: Queering the Green Edited by Paul Maddern
Review: The Stairs are a Snowcapped Mountain by Judy Darley
Miki Lentin interviews author of ‘I Know What I Saw’ Imran Mahmood
Alice-Louise MacGillivray interviews author of ‘Man Hating Psycho’ Iphgenia Baal
Review: Thinking with trees by Jason Allen-Paisant
Feature:Tom Benjamin, whose second Bologna-set novel, The Hunting Season, is due out this May, answers our questions.
Review: “Clark’s stories are engrossing, bringing together a collision of Clark’s love of video-gaming, Victoriana sci-fi and dreams.”
Review: Tree by Natalie Whittaker and Where I’d Watch Plastic Trees Not Grow by Hannah Hodgson.
Review: “Bolt From The Blue has an enjoyable insider’s feel to it.”
Catriona Bolt reviews A Brief History of Trees by Lawrence Illsley
Poetry Editor Lawrence Illsley interviews Director of Live Canon Dr Helen Eastman and showcases winning poems from the Live Canon Collection Competition
Review: …Wynne has the well-deserved confidence of her publisher which likens her work to that of Margaret Atwood, Naomi Alderman and Madeleine Miller…
If some people were biological machines operated by a fungus that had infiltrated their nervous systems—looking, behaving, and to an observer’s eye displaying emotions like any sentient human being—how would anyone know? This concept of ‘Cartesian scepticism’ is central to the story of Living with Annie, the first novel written
Alexia Sereti interviews author of ‘A Girl Made of Air’ Nydia Hetherington
Feature: Debut author Charlotte Levin, whose novel If I Can’t Have You is now out in paperback, answers our questions.
Alice-Louise MacGillivray interviews writer and editor Marina Benjamin.
Stuart Turton’s debut novel The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle met with great success, winning the Best First Novel prize in the 2018 Costa book awards and topping bestseller lists.
Catriona Bolt reviews The Baby Box by Jane Hayward
Jess Sturman-Coombs reviews “a vision of drinking, drugs, culture, sex, politics and masculinity” in Charlie Hill’s ‘I Don’t Want To Go to the Taj Mahal.’
Jude Whiley-Morton reviews Astral Travel by Elizabeth Baines
Patrick Christie reviews the re-release of City of O by C.M. Taylor
Generational struggles and family histories in Catherine Menon’s debut “Fragile Monsters.”
Rebecca Wilkie, Senior Programme Manager at New Writing North, answers our questions.
Kate Halabura, Library Manager at Wandsworth Town Library, takes on our questionnaire (originally published in June 2020)
Negotiating a hostile society: A review of Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half
Harriet Tyce, Sunday Times bestselling author, takes on our questionnaire.
Miki Lentin reviews ‘Beyond Kidding’ by Lynda Clark
Liz Bolton reviews ‘Broadwater’ by Jac Shreeves-Lee
Sian Hughes reviews ‘Breakfast at Bronzefield by Sophie Campbell
Jess Sturman-Coombs reviews of Ozgur Uyanik’s ‘Conception’ out now with Fairlight Books
James Young interviews Ruby Cowling about her collection This Paradise published by Boiler House Press, and currently longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.
Last in our series of interviews with writers discussing the impact of the pandemic on their work and creativity, Aisha Phoenix talks to Abi Daré about online book clubs and juggling full-time work, homeschooling and writing.
Fifth in our series of interviews with writers discussing the impact of the pandemic on their work and creativity, Aisha Phoenix talks to Jenny Downham about publishing uncertainty and the importance of writing groups.
Fourth in our series of interviews with writers discussing the impact of the pandemic on their work and creativity, Aisha Phoenix talks to Patrice Lawrence about the disruption caused by the lockdown and sources of hope.
Third in our series of interviews with writers, discussing the impact of the pandemic on their work and creativity, Aisha Phoenix talks to Golnoosh Nour about her virtual book launch under lockdown.
Eleni Kyriacou, debut author of She Came to Stay, takes on our questionnaire.
Second in our series of interviews with writers discussing the impact of the pandemic on their work and creativity, Aisha Phoenix talks to Louise Hare about being a debut novelist under lockdown.
First in our series of interviews with writers discussing the impact of the pandemic on their work and creativity, Aisha Phoenix talks to Jacob Ross about writing under lockdown.
Aisha Phoenix interviews Jacquline Haskell about her writing journey, inspiration and new collection Stroking Cerberus: Poems from the Afterlife.
Louise Hare, author of ‘This Lovely City’ and Features Editor for MIR online, takes on our questionnaire.
The End of Stationarity: a review of Madeleine Watts’s The Inland Sea by Miki Lentin
Lawrence Illsley reviews Oisín Breen’s book of poetry,
New York Times bestselling debut author Abi Daré takes our questionnaire.
Jess Sturman-Coombs reviews Monique Roffey’s novel “The Mermaid of Black Conch.”
Shyama Perera, writer, blogger, broadcaster, talks to Minna Lacey about the ups and downs of being a writer, agents and the need to have something to say.
S A Harris’s modern haunted house novel “Haverscroft” is a clever narrative published by SALT.
In her FIRST interview, Phoebe Wynne discusses her writing influences, writing practice and her journey to being published with Liz Bolton. Her novel “Madam” will be published in February 2021.
“You are only significant if you are significant.”
Liz Bolton interviews Elizabeth Fremantle about a new novel and her writing process
Nara Vidal, owner of Capitolina Books, takes on our questionnaire.
Stella Klein interviews Toby Litt about his new novel Patience
Elinor Johns rounds up MIRLive, MIR16 – The Climate Edition Special
Author Graeme K Talboys takes on our questionnaire.
Kia Abdullah is an author and travel writer from London. She has contributed to The New York Times, The Guardian, BBC and Lonely Planet, and is the founding editor of outdoor travel blog Atlas & Boots, read by 250,000 people a month. Her latest novel, Take It Back, was
The temperature has dropped, and the nights are getting shorter. It’s been non-stop rain for most of the country. Super Thursday has been and gone (the book trade’s name for the hottest release day of the year, which saw over 400 hardbacks hit the shelves. Including, Zadie Smith’s Grand Union,
Miki Lentin reviews Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli, published by 4th Estate and long-listed for the Booker Prize 2019.
Angèle Eliane reviews Please Read This Leaflet Carefully by Karen Havelin.
Luan Goldie won the Costa Short Story Prize 2017 for her short story “Two Steak Bakes and Two Chelsea Buns”. Her debut novel “Nightingale Point” was published in July 2019.
In the first of our new series, MIR ‘s Managing Editor of Content takes on our questionnaire.
Judy Birkbeck’s novel Behind the Mask is Nothing was published by Holland House and is an exploration of the abuses of power. Here she answers questions from Samiha Hassan who is currently studying English.
Lucy Ellman’s novel “Ducks, Newburyport” was published this month by Galley Beggar Press and has been long listed for the Booker Prize.
Elaine Mary Stabler collates a selection of opportunities for post-grad poets
Tabitha Potts reviews Water Shall Refuse Them by Lucie McKnight Hardy and published by Dead Ink Press.
Summer is here. And we all know what that means: spending way too much time with your family, of course! Luckily, a team of heroes from Treasure House School, consisting of both students and teachers, has come together to save the day. Whether you want a distraction from your “droning
Laurane Marchive gives her London Literary Round-up for June
Carmel Shortall on All Good Bookshop, a co-operative bookshop project in north London
Miki Lentin reviews Notes to Self: Essays by Emilie Pine
Elinor Jones rounds up MIRLive Arts Week Special with Abi Daré and Louise Hare
Minna Lacey interviews Tessa Hadley about her new novel Late In The Day. Feature photo by Mark Vessey
Vanessa Onwuemezi on winning the White Review Short Story Prize 2019.
Lena Rees speaks to Miranda Roszkowski on her project 100voicesfor100years.
Rosie Arrowsmith visits Brick Lane Bookshop to meet with the organisers and judges of its recently re-installed short story prize.
Hannah Copley on writing, teaching and the multiplicity of a writer’s life.
Laurane Marchive gives her London Literary Round-up for April
Louise Hare on the Riff Raff writing community.
Angèle Eliane reviews Leïla Slimani’s novel, Adèle.
Stella Klein interviews her childhood friend, graphic novelist Nicola Streeten, about her work and inspiration.
Laurane Marchive reviews all the London literary highlights for the month of March.
The term Insta-poetry is causing quite the stir in the literary world. It is no new term, but it is a persistent one that divides the purists and modernists amongst us. Rosie Arrowsmith reviews its divisive rise.
Another diverse selection with, I would hope, something for everyone. Enjoy. James
No Friends But the Mountains by Behrouz Boochani and translated by Dr Omid Tofighian, will be published by Picador in the UK in July 2019.
Helen Harris is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Birkbeck. We caught up with Helen to discuss her inspiration for the novel and her experiences as a writer.
Laurane Marchive reviews all the London literary highlights for the month of February.
Wendy Lothian met Jane Hayward to discuss her new memoir about her experiences as a teenager in a mother-and-baby home during the sixties. It is published by Matador, an imprint of Troubadour.
Liz Bolton commemorates Diana Athill OBE and revisits Stet, An Editor’s Life, published by Granta Books in 2000 and 2017, in paperback.
Elaine Mary Stabler interviews Louise Hare to discuss her debut novel “This Lovely City.”
Deirdre Shanahan’s debut novel The Caravan of the Lost and the Left Behind will be published by Bluemoose Books in May, 2019. Deirdre, who graduated from Birkbeck with an MA in Creative Writing in 2011, talks to Aisha Phoenix about parenting challenges among the Irish travellers in her new novel,
A diverse selection to kick off the new year – there really should be something for everyone. We hope you enjoy them. James
Mari Vindis interviews Abi Dare winner of the Bath Novel Award 2018 and her upcoming novel The Girl With The Louding Voice
Sian Hughes interviewed Jenn Ashworth to find out more about the slightly mad idea that is #100daysofwriting and what it means for her the second time around.
Sandra Brown-Springer’s debut play Seb’s Soles was shortlisted for the Nick Darke Award for Playwriting, 2018. Sandra, who studies MA Creative Writing at Birkbeck, talks to Aisha Phoenix about the gentrification in Brixton that inspired the play, disruptive poetry and tokenism in the literary world.
Katie Baldock spoke to Rebecca Rouillard about writing after winning Mslexia’s 2017 Novel Competition.
Long winter nights = more reading time (for me, at least). Here are some suggestions from the MIROnline Team on how to spend it. We hope you enjoy them. – James
Mari Vindis reports on her summer spent at Cannes Film Festival 2018
Silvia Rucchin interviews Louise Lee about her new novel A Whole Lotta Love
Still selecting your Summer holiday reading? Here are some suggestions from the MIROnline Team. Enjoy.
A place of Safety, published by Salt, is a novel about family, relationships and all things left unsaid. Martin Nathan discusses his new book with Laura Volpi.
London Lit Lab post-MA sessions with Zoe Gilbert and Lily Dunn: London & Bristol: turning lightbulbs into books
Are short Summer nights depriving you of sleep? Here are some ideas from the MIROnline team on how to fill your waking hours. Enjoy. James
Stefanie Seddon visits the Calabash International Literary Festival 2018 in Treasure Beach, Jamaica.
Zoe Gilbert discusses the power of traditional story telling and her new novel “Folk” with Lauren Miller
With the launch of MIR 14 featured author Jenn Ashworth talks to Lauren Miller about the potential of the short story and promoting diversity in publishing.