The Changing Face of Poetry
Mukahang Limbu is explaining to me why he writes poetry. “It can make you feel like you’re being heard. Coming from a marginalised background, and not having much representation in the literary canon, that can make you feel invisible. But being able to write yourself into that canon is reall
Manchester, the Met, and #MeToo
Just as #MeToo was gaining mainstream attention in late 2017, a petition was launched to remove one of Balthus’ most iconic portraits. The painting, Thérèse Dreaming (1938), depicts a young girl sitting with her underwear and groin area deliberately exposed. Her white underwear contrasts with th
The Politics of Urban Music
Taken from Teardrops: [Darcus Howe]: We have complained to the police about police and nothing’s been done, we have complained to judges about judges and nothing’s been done. Now it is time to do something ourselves. [Chorus] In love and war All is fair where I’m from The weak won&
WEEKLY ROUNDUP: BOLIVIA, DA VINCI AND PRINCE ANDREW
Channel 4 airs fresh revelations in ‘The Prince and the Paedophile’ This week, stirrings around Prince Andrew’s involvement with paedophile tycoon Jeffrey Epstein have been revived by an episode of ‘Dispatches’, presented by Cathy Newman and shown by Channel 4. A deeply uncomforta
Reconciling URL and IRL Feminism
I first became acquainted with Miranda July through her fiction. My friend, Scarlet, recommended her critically acclaimed novel, The First Bad Man, which I have since lent to my mother, boyfriend, and best friend. July’s novel is a story of humorous eroticism, habitual patterns, and the search for
Memories of a teen soldier
The Situation Ukraine has always been a battleground between the East and the West. In 2014, in a new spiral of the centuries-old geopolitical gamble, Russia annexed the strategically vital Crimean peninsula from Ukraine. It did so after the leaders of the pro-western Revolution of Dignity overthrew
The Rise of the Insta-poet
#sundayfunday #ad #brunch #poem… wait, #poem? Scrolling through Instagram, poetry may seem an unlikely hashtag among the daunting montage of idyllic beaches, oak-milk lattes, fashion influencers and envy-inducing sunsets. Yet within the world of Instagram – a world of instant visual and consumer
On the front lines of the migration crisis in Palermo
In the Kalsa neighbourhood of Palermo, between the city’s historic centre and its seafront and ports, you’ll find Piazza Rivoluzione. A square that is more of a triangle, the piazza is a meeting point for five winding streets. At its heart currently stands a mass of scaffolding and tarpaulin, a
“It could be the next Tiananmen Square”
Last Thursday, a throng of students and staff gathered outside the Rad Cam to protest the proposed Extradition Law Amendment Bill in Hong Kong. It’s a silent protest, reflecting the pacifism of the activists these people follow closely in the press. Still, quiet conversations patter beneath umbrel