Reviews of Habibi Funk 031, Kayatibu, and The Good Ones
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Praise-songs for memorable women
Naomi Foyle, Natalie Scott, Carolyn Forche and Rachel Burns have produced some outstanding collections
IMPRISONED FOR HER POETRY: Dareen Tatour
[Danielle Alma Ravitzki]
SIMON DUFF relishes the cross contamination of Damien Hirst’s greatest hits by street artists from France and the US
In view of the grooming gangs inquiry, SIMON PARSONS feels the relevance of this powerful examination of trauma suffered at Medomsley Youth Detention Centre
JOHN GREEN doubts the motivations of a US war photographer who never questions why, or for whom, she is producing images of imperialist conflict
MARIA DUARTE reviews Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, Hedda, The Mastermind, and Regretting You
TONY CONWAY welcomes a thrilling and concise history of Hope not Hate, that is also a manual full of tactical advice
PAUL DONOVAN welcomes an inspiring account of living with deafness that has important lessons for the treatment of deaf people in today’s UK
THE TITLE poem of Adamantine (Pighog Press, £13.95) by Anglo-Canadian writer Naomi Foyle, is about Elisabeth Fritzl, held captive as a sex slave for 24 years by her father:
“I don’t know how you did it,/but Elisabeth, you survived./Didn’t starve yourself to death./Didn’t smash your brains out... you were always/your own lodestone,/a glinting adamant/hidden, growing, drilling/through the walls.”
Adamantine is a strong book about strong women like Fritzl, celebrating the tenacity and brilliance of those who refused to break under extreme pressure.
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