A review of Square Haunting by Francesca Wade

In Square Haunting: Five Writers in London Between the Wars, Wade profiles the imagist poet, Hilda Doolittle (H.D.); the mystery novelist Dorothy L. Sayers; two scholars/academics, Jane Ellen Harrison and Eileen Powers, and the modernist novelist Virginia Woolf.  All five, writes Wade, “pushed the boundaries of scholarship, literary form [and] societal norms in order to have lives of the mind in which their creative work took priority.

A review of You Must Be Layla by Yassmin Abdel-Magied

The book discusses migrant experience, discrimination and inequality in perfect way for readers who are just starting to read young adult fiction. Inspiring themes and messages are communicated throughout, and these are some of the elements I loved which made me so excited to talk about in this review. The family’s culture and beliefs are portrayed and the language, being Arabic, is also incorporated. I discovered and learnt a lot whilst reading, which I really enjoyed and found to be yet another impressive element in this story.

A review of From the Ancestors: Poems and Prayers for Future Generations, edited by Ron Whitehead


The poems, prayers and music in this collection are courageous, refreshing and from the heart. We identify and are not strangers to their expressions of love, joy, and uncompromising cries for justice, peace and healing. They address the challenging and turbulent and political and social climate we live under today. Uniting this collection is hope. The unrelenting determination to persevere.

An interview with Kentucky Outlaw Poet Ron Whitehead


In this new interview with a poet that Lawrence Feelinghetti calls a “Bodhisattva in Kentucky”, Ron Whitehead talks about how he became aware he was a poet, some of his favourite poems, what his life was like growing up, how he’s navigating Covid-19, his writing, music and visual art style, his project From the Ancestors: Poems and Prayers for Future Generations, 14 suggestions for aspiring poets and writers, and lots more.

A review of Four Quartets Poetry in the Pandemic edited by Kristina Marie Darling and Jeffrey Levine

The pandemic has made time blur for people. This anthology offers a variety of excellent poems by an inclusive array of artists to help us remember and acknowledge how we coped (or not.) Just as T. S. Elliot’s “Four Quartets” were originally published as stand-alone works, the chapbooks that make up this anthology by the same name can be savored separately even as we appreciate how they weave and intersect. This anthology will resonate and shine in the future as a historic literary gem.

A review of Alchemy by Fiona Perry

Reading Alchemy will excite your imagination. You will travel in a magic carpet to the past and present, the vivid images in the poem will become a painting in your mind. I advise: read each poem a few times and you will, with each reading discover layers of beauty and humanity.

A review of Life of a Firefly by Sandra Brown Lindstedt

Life of a Firefly is funny, uplifting, and, according to the author, ninety-eight per cent true. A graduate in English and Theatre from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, Ms Brown Lindstedt  lives with her husband, Christer Lindstedt, in Goteburg Sweden where she is drama director for Smyrna International Church. Life of a Firefly is a book that parents and librarians should put in the hands of young readers.

A review of What the Living Remember by Nancy Gerber

In her preface, she tells us that this account is based on research and her father’s experience as an adolescent in pre-war Germany, although he shared little of his memories. But Gerber wants to remember and record this time, as does Karl, in order to honor the memories of those who perished in the hands of the Nazis, and also those who, like Karl, survived, but were forever haunted by those they lost.