GORDON PARSONS is bowled over by a skilfully stripped down and powerfully relevant production of Hamlet
‘The face-off between Trump and Harris is going to cause a racial chasm in this country’
John Kendall Hawkins speaks to black US poet FREDERICK JOSEPH, author of We Alive, Beloved
In which we accompany the Bard into Cymru to meet his musical accomplices, young and old
SUE TURNER is inspired by the example of a librarian’s struggle to confront the book-banning movement
ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes two exhibitions that blur the boundaries between art and community engagement
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews I Am Martin Parr, September Says, The Monkey, and The Gorge
RITA DI SANTO applauds a touching and witty opener that touches a hot topic in Germany: the future of the immigrant population
SIMON PARSONS is discomfited by an unflichingly negative portrait of motherhood and its trials
The title of your new book is We Alive, Beloved. What’s so important about We?
We have a very “I”-focused society and I just want us to get back to understanding that if we don’t do this thing called life-as-a-village, we’re going to fail. We were not meant to be alone. That is not the experience of humans or of any living creature. Everything has to be connected in order to live to its fullest potential.
One recurring image in your new volume that struck a chord with me was The Black Hole. Can you explain?
More from this author
The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership
A landmark work of gay ethnography, an avant-garde fusion of folk and modernity, and a chance comment in a great interview
ANGUS REID applauds the inventive stagecraft with which the Lyceum serve up Stevenson’s classic, but misses the deeper themes
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HARRY GALLAGHER relishes a poet who bares her soul under a microscope’s lens
JOHN KENDALL HAWKINS applauds a new volume by black US poet Frederick Joseph, that is precisely cadenced and breathing with lyricism
RUTH AYLETT recommends a new collection that is direct and open to all, both conversational and radical