Latest in: Arts

This month we focused on the theme of elements. The word ‘element’ can be defined in multiple ways, be it relating to the substances; earth, water, fire, and air or as something more figurative such as the element of surprise. Our poets scope the natural, the behavioural and the...

‘Please, call me Kate, not Catherine’ suggested that I start writing this. It might help, she offered with another of her well-meaning smiles. She also suggested that I take Ella and Theo away for a bit. How long’s ‘a bit’? Kate doesn’t deal in absolutes. Her sentences start with...

He was on a plane, in the sky, above the clouds. A girl was next to him, someone he barely knew, who had only ever been on the very edges of his vision. A closer friend was sat behind him. The interior of the plane was cool and quiet,...

This month’s theme was escape, be it drowning yourself in music or running away to a far away land – our writers offer up an alternative to the hum drum chaos of everyday life! I long for I long for everyone I haven’t met yet, for reflected smiles on...

Recently, the National Gallery announced that it had bought a rare work by the seventeenth-century painter Artemisia Gentileschi for the record sum of £3.6m. Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria (1615) is a striking image of female resilience created at a time when the idea of a woman...

Walking into the Weston Gallery feels like you’ve become Red Riding Hood and strayed into the woodland. The lights are dimmed to preserve the antiquated books on display, yet the witches’ silhouettes on the walls evoke a sense of mystery. Much like the darkened room, the fairy tales we...

A little while ago I had the chance to chat with Leah and Ross from Five Leaves bookshop about winning the title of Best Independent Bookshop in the Midlands and Wales before then going onto earn the national Best Independent Bookshop Award too! How does it feel to have...