Fiction

Don Quixote is the best book out there on political theory, followed by Hamlet and Macbeth. There is no better way to understand the tragedy and the comedy of the Mexican political system than Hamlet, Macbeth and Don Quixote. They're much better than any column of political analysis.

Subcomandante Marcos

Thursday, 25 May 2017 16:11

Radical Children's Literature

Written by Julia Mickenberg

in Fiction

Julia Mickenberg discusses some recently published radical children's literature. As Philip Nel and I suggested in “Radical Children’s Literature Now!", the contemporary field of radical children’s literature is so large that it is impossible to encompass. Still, several recently published, self-consciously radical books that directly or indirectly aim to motivate…

Thursday, 20 April 2017 10:23

Keep Your Head Down, Henry

Written by Jon Tait

in Fiction

Keep Your Head Down, Henry A Flash novella by Jon Tait A Red Fox Ah was sitting on the ootdoor netty smoking a Woodbine in me cloth cap when ah hord something scratching aboot among the bins. Whey, ah just gan oot to get away from the noise of…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 20 April 2017 08:19

Comrade E.R.

in Fiction

Written by Andrew Warburton

COMRADE E.R. a short story by Andrew Warburton Elizabeth collapsed on the cell’s wooden bench and gave herself over to the devastation that had haunted her since Stalin’s intransigence became apparent. How could the plan have gone so badly wrong? The president had promised her that knowledge of Stalin’s…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Saturday, 28 January 2017 18:41

Trouble In Store

in Fiction

Written by Dermot Foster

When we see rough sleepers on our city streets we feel instinctively that something urgently needs to be done. Yet how far can our compassion stretch? What motivates some individuals to take action? How does it feel to be on the receiving end of compassion? This short story by Dermot…

Homelessness

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 03 January 2017 22:18

Times Change

in Fiction

Written by Paul Simon

Paul Simon reviews John Ellison's debut novel. Times Change really shouldn’t be such a satisfying read. John Ellison’s debut novel contains so many of those elements that singularly, leave alone collectively, ought to kill off any work of fiction before the end of the first chapter. Not so. Set over the…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 12 December 2016 15:09

End of Thrones

in Fiction

Written by Tony McKenna

Tony McKenna argues that the historical necessity embedded in the story and characters of Game of Thrones means that there is only one way it can end. Winter is coming, for Game of Thrones is now approaching its denouement with the penultimate series scheduled for next year and the final one…

Game of Thrones George RR Martin

Saturday, 29 October 2016 15:24

The Handsworth Times

Written by Paul Simon

in Fiction

Paul Simon reviews a novel set in 1980s Handsworth, at the time of the riots. This novel by Sharon Duggal of life in early-1980s working-class Birmingham during the time of inner-city rioting is defined by the greater and lesser griefs of the Agarwal family.Through their voices, the wonderful cussedness of…

Tuesday, 11 October 2016 14:46

Animal Farm: a powerfully written allegory but an untruthful, gender-blind analysis

Written by Mary Vincent

in Fiction

Following her appearance on the In Our Time radio programme discussing Orwell's Animal Farm, Professor Mary Vincent reflects on its powerfully written but fundamentally untruthful and simplistic analysis of Soviet Russia, based on Orwell's mistaken interpretation of the Spanish Civil War and his blindness to gender issues. When I picked…

George Orwell Animal Farm In Our Time Spanish Civil War

Tuesday, 11 October 2016 14:43

Communism in the gunsights

Written by Graham Stevenson

in Fiction

Graham Stevenson reviews the recent In Our Time radio programme about George Orwell's Animal Farm. Melvyn Bragg's discursive radio series, In Our Time, recently considered Orwell's Animal Farm with comment from Steven Connor, Grace 2 Professor of English at the University of Cambridge, Mary Vincent, Professor of Modern European History…

George Orwell Animal Farm In Our Time Spanish Civil War

Wednesday, 31 August 2016 09:38

The child colonisers: fanfiction and young people’s reading power

Written by Lucy Pearson

in Fiction

Dr. Lucy Pearson explores the radical potential of fanfiction for young readers and other marginalised groups, especially in a media environment which is still focused on the needs and desires of men. Children’s books are not written by children. At least, not usually: a glance at the children’s bestseller lists…

children's literature fanfiction