Despite our hopes that 2017 would be a marked improvement on the turbulent 2016, this year came with more bumps, twists and turns than the Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. But, as usual, it was an excellent year for...
Read MoreThe last time I saw Claire Tomalin in Manchester she was battling some sort of rave act in order to be heard. The scene was Manchester Town Hall and the occasion was the Manchester Literature Festival. If memory serves, this was...
Read MoreKing Lear strikes fear into the heart of me. A few years ago, I went to see a production at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in my home town of Stratford-upon-Avon. It lasted a good five hours, was utterly miserable (yes, it’s one...
Read More“Lots of people have told me that it resonates with them, gay or straight,” says Rosie Wilby. “Relationships between humans are complicated and we don’t talk about them enough in real intelligent terms. It was...
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Poets don’t often talk about how they first found poetry. Like me, they might say that they began...
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