Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
Courage in adversity
MARY CONWAY recommends a compelling and complex story of one Iraqi family, held together by their Jewish heritage
stone
PAUL FOLEY is disappointed by a production that encourages the audience to laugh at rather than with the characters
Odysseus’s homecoming myth is treated as a factual story, with strong resonances for our contemporary world. This is an implicit anti-war film that has an urgent relevance, writes JOHN GREEN
The Star's critics ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARTIN HALL, MICHAL BONCZA, ANGUS REID reviews Holy Cow, One to One: John and Yoko, King of Kings, Panda Bear in Africa
PATRICK JONES recommends a vital anthology from Afghan and Iranian poets where the political and personal fuse into witness-bearing and manifesto-making
WILL STONE is impressed by Hania Rani who is already making a name for herself in the male-dominated world of modern classical music
MIK SABIERS enjoys the theatrical feminist six piece who have a lot of fun that the audience feeds off as the set rolls on
Um-Kamal
By Fawzi Ibrahim
KFI Publishing £11.99
IRAQ, throughout history, has been a source of wonder: the cradle of civilisation, the inspiration for the Garden of Eden while, in recent times, a stain on the collective conscience of the thinking West.
But what is it really like to live there?
Fawzi Ibrahim’s debut novel is a unique insight. Starting in 1948 and seen from this century, it brings us the compelling and complex story of one Iraqi family, held together by their Jewish origin and the steadfast, unwavering strength of a mother so purposeful that she pits her simple family loyalty against a military-controlled, hostile, anti-Jewish state.
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