ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
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No sex in the Whoniverse
HARRY GALLAGHER relishes a poet who bares her soul under a microscope’s lens
Quinn, an autistic boy, and the line of toys he made before falling asleep. Repeatedly stacking or lining up objects is a behavior commonly associated with autism.
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
MICK McSHANE rubs shoulders with Mod legend Steve Craddock and joins in with the joyous Glasgow choir
DENNIS BROE sifts out the ideological bias of the newest TV series offerings, and picks out what to see, and what to avoid
Bigger On The Inside
Kate Fox, Smokestack, £7.99
BIGGER On The Inside has its roots in a spoken word show and addresses neuro-diversity, principally autism and ADHD with precision, warmth and some humour. In this way, it’s both personal — Kate Fox has an autism diagnosis — and universal. It takes its title from a Doctor Who quote about women being “bigger on the inside,” as of course is the great Doctor’s home The Tardis.
I’ve seen Kate Fox live; she’s funny, clever and likeable, and it’s obvious she has spent enough time doing live shows to know what audiences like. So live, she delivers in spades. But not having read much of her work “on the page,” I wasn’t sure what to expect.
I needn’t have worried. Witness from the title poem: “White space speaks/ while the fonts stay quiet./ I called the counselling group women/ midwives of silence/ because they let words/ hang in the air”.
And later in the same piece, addressing live performance from the poet’s point of view:
“The stories we tell and hear/ will abide/ to make us bigger on the inside.”
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