Words by Justine Chamberlain It was probably a good 10 years ago when I first entered the National Poetry Competition, run by the Poetry Society. It was the first day I found out it existed and, because I hadn’t written any poetry in while, I didn’t have any ready to enter. So I wrote two…

Professor Isabella van Elferen and Dr Xavier Aldana Reyes     Works of the Gothic often conjure images of towering spires, long dark corridors, melted candles and eerie moonlit graveyards, but often overlooked within the study of the Gothic is that of the music and soundtrack the accompanies the genre. As part of the Humanities…

Manchester’s much-loved Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy Words by Sian Pemberton  The eighth instalment of Carol Ann Duffy and Friends kick started at the Royal Exchange Theatre. Alongside the Poet Laureate, graduates and students from Manchester Metropolitan University’s Writing School joined her for a celebration of poetry and poetic talent. Four poets joined Carol Ann;…

Words by Caroline Matthews Escaping the crowds of Odder’s main bar, I turned away from the front door and instead hurried up the dark deserted stairway to its function room. Like a classic horror movie victim, seeking sanctuary while actually leading myself right into the arms of the attackers. For what lay behind the purple…

Words by James Harris      Photographs by Neil Harrison A young man sits silent and still on a loudly rattling train as it cuts its clumsy, purposeful way through a thick, inky night; a night so deep and fathomless any recollection of the distant memory of daylight seems fanciful and imagined. The darkness was impenetrable. The…