Category: Life Writing

All the old history was written for the amusement of the ruling classes. The lower classes couldn’t read, and their rulers didn’t care about remembering what happened to them – Frank Zappa

A woman’s perspective on the invisible front: A review of ‘The Shadow in the Shadow’

1 July 2024 / 133

Spy thrillers about and accounts of East-West spying during the cold war abound, always written from a particular Western political standpoint. Autobiographies relating the stories of former... Continue reading

Jenny Farrell

Life Writing

Motherland

19 October 2023 / 114

The idea begins to take shape after the fortuitous discovery of the pale blue savings account book, wedged between two long-expired passports, and secured with an elastic... Continue reading

Michael Jarvie

Life Writing

Labyrinths of Austerity

14 July 2023 / 110

Writer-director Brett Gregory on his bleak, moving, semi-autobiographical feature film, ‘Nobody Loves You and You Don’t Deserve to Exist’, which tackles austerity, class, and mental health. Images... Continue reading

Brett Gregory

Life Writing

I’d rather be striker than a scab

15 January 2023 / 113

I’d rather be a striker than a scab by Michael Jarvie It’s Wednesday, the 4th of January, and yet another day of the protracted RMT strike. When... Continue reading

Michael Jarvie

Life Writing

Stewart Lee is a Snowflake!

26 June 2022 / 117

Michael Jarvie reviews Stewart Lee’s show, Snowflake Tornado Stewart Lee is the undisputed master of anti-comedy, or, if you like, meta-comedy. Drawing on Bertolt Brecht’s theatrical technique, which in... Continue reading

Michael Jarvie

Life Writing

The barriers to working-class writers: Review of The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working-Class Voices

11 September 2021 / 162

Jenny Farrell reviews The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working-Class Voices, edited by Paul McVeigh Working-class writing is coming to the fore in Ireland. “The 32” follows... Continue reading

Jenny Farrell

Life Writing

From Lucifer to Lazarus: A Life on the Left

7 September 2021 / 110

Jenny Farrell reviews Mick O’Reilly’s From Lucifer to Lazarus: A Life on the Left (Dublin: Lilliput Press, 2019) At the end of From Lucifer to Lazarus, Mick O’Reilly raises a... Continue reading

Jenny Farrell

Life Writing

Kate Clanchy’s Class Conflict

16 August 2021 / 104

Michael Jarvie criticises Clanchy’s recent memoir, and the publishing and reviewing industry responsible for its publication and promotion Kate Clanchy’s memoir, Some Kids I Taught and What... Continue reading

Michael Jarvie

Life Writing

Belfast in 1969 and its aftermath: a memoir

17 June 2021 / 101

Francis Murphy presents a memoir of Northern Ireland in the late sixties Introduction Once again Northern Ireland is back in the headlines. Small scale rioting in Loyalist... Continue reading

Francis Murphy

Life Writing

A barricade of resistance: Review of From the Plough to the Stars

29 November 2020 / 107

Paul Simon reviews From the Plough to the Stars, edited by Jenny Farrell This anthology is another impressive book from the Culture Matters imprint and is funded... Continue reading

Paul Simon

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Category: Life Writing

All the old history was written for the amusement of the ruling classes. The lower classes couldn’t read, and their rulers didn’t care about remembering what happened to them – Frank Zappa

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