The Fate of England’s ‘Infant Hercules’
A review of Stripped Tees: Endurance and Hope in the North East by Richard Milward and Natalie Hardwick [Influx Press, 2016] LOCATION: Teesside REVIEWER: Laura Harker “This remarkable place, the youngest child of England’s enterprise, is an infant, but if
Folklorists and Antiquarians
Landscape artist Maxim Griffin, as featured in this very wobbly Unofficial Britain profile, has made some postcards for The Travin Press, with an accompanying notebook of prose by Charles Swain. The publishers describe it thus: A set of three archival
The Drinker’s London & the Poems of Salena Godden
WORDS: Gareth E. Rees In 2001 I became a weekend DJ in Filthy McNasty’s, a pub in Islington, sadly no longer with us. I was paid in beer to put one song on after another, while the pub ebbed and
On Walking… And Stalking Sebald
A review of On Walking, by Phil Smith [Triarchy Press, 2014] Words: Gareth E. Rees Location: East Anglia Phil Smith (aka Crab Man, Mytho, Anton Vagus, Spacetart) fuses walking with performance art. He describes his practice as mythogeography – a
Tales from the Black Meadow
By Chris Lambert “This is a beautiful, compelling book of folklore. What’s most haunting about this book is that the stories feel like they’ve been lingering at the back of your mind all your life. The sparse, propulsive prose gives
Connecting Nothing with Something
Influx Press Connecting Nothing with Something explores the conflicted and shifting landscape of the south east English coast. This anthology looks at art led regeneration, hidden history, the ghosts of youth culture, white cliffs, empty holidays and kisses under
Marshland: Dreams and Nightmares on the Edge of London
By Gareth E. Rees, illustrated by Ada Jusic [Influx Press, 2013] Marshland is a deep map of the east London marshes, a blend of local history, folklore and weird fiction, where nothing is quite as it seems…. “Layered London, black,
Life in Transit
By Sam Berkson Influx Press Life in Transit is a poetry collection from Sam Berkson that explores the experience of public transport in neoliberal Britain. Whether it’s protesting the third runway at Heathrow, questioning Tannoy announcements in railway stations or celebrating
