Page 8 - David Constantine News Today

Featuring the five short-listed stories for the BBC National Short Story Award, this collection brings together a high-caliber group of new and established British authors exploring human relationships at their most dysfunctional and yet sustaining. Splintered families, the persistence of love, the public versus the private, and the plight of the outsider provide recurring themes in this 2010 selection of works. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. Review: "Every sentence is ...

45 Years is among the barest, most harrowing films any pair of lovers can see. Kicking off the events of the film is the 45th anniversary of married couple Kate and Geoff Mercer, and what occurs on the eve of that celebration. Geoff, played by Tom Courtenay in his career-best, is shocked by an unsettling news—the body of Katya, an ex-lover, has been discovered in a melted glacier in the Swiss Alps, where she had fallen in over five decades ago when on a trip with the young Mercer. Playing his...

ACCORDING to critic and psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva, abjection involves either a confrontation with our sense of physical being or a separation between the self and a rejected “other.” Objects of revulsion can be tangible, such as faeces and bodily fluids, but some forms of dread are abstract and ambiguous.   The New Abject collection of horror stories draws on the broad nature of Kristeva’s definition, which has inspired a loosely related set of tales that deal with the things that mak...

Artwork by Whooli Chen L to r: National Poetry Competition judges Fiona Benson, David Constantine and Rachel Long (photo: Amaal Said) Fiona Benson, David Constantine and Rachel Long are the judges of the National Poetry Competition 2021, which is now open for entries The National Poetry Competition, run by The Poetry Society, is one of the world’s most prestigious prizes for a single unpublished poem. The three judges this year are outstanding and award-winning writers. Fiona Benson has won t...

A symposium on inclusive collaboration and commitment to change will also be held on May 21. Keynote speaker Vanley Burke will be joined by speakers including Joy Gregrory, Dexter McLean, David Constantine, Joanne Coates, Kirsty MacKay and Dr Shawn Sobers. A photo of Mike Feingold in his greenhouse, part of the  He is well known within the Bristol growing community, particularly because of the role he has played in promoting the philosophy of Permaculture and running an orchard with 50 differe...

RPS are hosting a one-day online symposium, curated by Jennie Ricketts. Through the work of photographers and those working within photography it explores themes around diversity and inclusion. Booking is via the BPF please In order for diversity to have real meaning, people of different classes, ethnicity, ability, sexuality should be given equal opportunity for inclusive collaboration. Photography is arguably the most democratic universal language with a broad global reach, so it seems the ...

Of the dark times.’ Brecht’s question seems poignant, his answer is jarring. At a time of deep human suffering, we tend to wonder whether there is still a place for singing, for beauty, for human creativity. This is an understandable sentiment. Yet in posing the question and then immediately answering that there will be singing of the dark times, Brecht estranges us from the tendency to lament the loss of beauty and instead encourages us towards action. Not only should we, the reader, be si...

A SHORT story written by a senior lecturer in creative writing at Leeds Trinity University will be read by British actor Christopher Eccleston at an online literary event. Withen, a story by senior lecturer and internationally renowned novelist Martyn Bedford, who lives in Ilkley, has been selected by Emmy award-winning actor and ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston to be read at a live event promoting Protest: Stories of Resistance, an anthology of protest fiction and essays. Protest: Stor...

Court documents name 10 corrections officers charged for death of Jonathan Henoche Charges were sworn Friday against 10 correctional officers for the death of Jonathan Henoche at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary. Henoche was awaiting trial for murder when he died in custody in November 2019. Three corrections officers have been charged with manslaughter. They have been identified in court documents as Jason Anthony, David Constantine and Jeff Thistle. Thistle is also charged with failing to provide...

Last modified on Fri 18 Dec 2020 09.28 EST The Queen’s gold medal for poetry has been awarded to David Constantine, a “long overdue” prize for a writer praised by the poet laureate, Simon Armitage, for his “humane” writing. Constantine is the 51st recipient of an award for excellence in poetry that dates back to 1933, and includes Ted Hughes, Philip Larkin and WH Auden among its former recipients. A poet, translator and novelist, Constantine published his first collection, A Brightnes...