Tim Evans I first got the news by text, at 8.40 in the morning. I double-checked it on Facebook and phone and eventually realised it was true. But I still couldn’t really believe Mark was dead, because he was the last person I could ever imagine dying…. Not just in his performances, but in his conversation,in his writing, in everything, his life energy was there, keen-edged, mercurial. I had seen him, just weeks ago, at Spoken Word Saturday. To never see him again seemed, well, impossible. I first bumped into him in Swansea years back at a Howl poetry night in Mozarts, in the dark, fin-de-siecle, sticky–floor decadence that was Mozarts’ trademark. In the gloomy back room, Mark’s lanky, loose-jointed frame seemed too tall for the place. And then once he started speaking, started using his voice, you realised you were in the presence of a rare talent. Yes, he was…
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From Fiction
‘The Haunted Land’ Paul Scraton
It was during my final year in Berlin that Johannes began drinking in the pub. He came on Fridays, to end the working week sitting at the corner of the bar. Johannes went to the pub, he said, to be somewhere different than the places he spent the rest of the week, to be among…
London Readings
We’re delighted to announce our second London event at The Music Room, 49 Great Ormond Street. Featuring readings from Toby Litt, John Freeman, Angela T. Carr, Fiona O’Connor, Gary Budden, Lucie McKnight Hardy & Grahame Williams. Hosted by John Lavin. There are a limited number of tickets for this event, which may be purchased below via…
Books of the Year 2018 / Part Three
Contributors to The Lonely Crowd pick their favourite books of the year. Cynan Jones It’s been a strange twelve months. I had a baby right at the start of it. That pretty much blew reading out of the water for most of the year. I was sent a lot of unbound proofs ahead of publication,…
Books of the Year 2018 / Part Four
Contributors to The Lonely Crowd pick their favourite books of the year. Valerie Sirr One of the rewarding outcomes of subscribing to small publishers of books and magazines is the surprise packages that drop through your letterbox from time to time like unexpected gifts. Another source of books this year is an old bookshop with several…
Books of the Year 2018 / Part Two
Contributors to The Lonely Crowd pick their favourite books of the year. Gerald Dawe With the volume of book publication hitting dizzying heights, matched by the promotional buzz of the market-place and sales via self-promotion, it sometimes feels that ‘literature’ has become just another product in the digital world of global media. Whatever is good for…
Books of the Year 2018 / Part One
Contributors to The Lonely Crowd pick their favourite books of the year. Jo Mazelis The intriguing title of Martina Evans’ Now We Can Talk Openly About Men is taken from a phrase that the author remembers was once spoken when a group of her female relatives were gathered together. All of the women that day…
An Interview with Gary Raymond / John Lavin
Gary Raymond is a novelist, critic, editor and broadcaster. He is one of the founding editors of Wales Arts Review, and has been editor since 2014. His second novel The Golden Orphans was recently published by Parthian and chosen as Pick of the Week in The Bookseller. He is a widely published critic and cultural commentator, and is the…
London Readings: Photo Gallery
Photos from our event in The Music Room at 49 Great Ormond Street on Thursday, 28th June. Photos by Michou Burckett St. Laurent. About the Authors Dan Coxon edited the award-winning anthology Being Dad (Best Anthology, Saboteur Awards 2016) and is a Contributing Editor at The Lonely Crowd. His writing has appeared in Salon, Popshot,…
The Lonely Crowd / London Readings
We’re delighted to announce our first London event on 28/06/18 in the beautiful setting of The Music Room, 49 Great Ormond Street. Featuring readings from Joe Dunthorne, Martina Evans, Robert Minhinnick, Courttia Newland, David Hayden, Sarah Doyle, Louise Warren & Dan Coxon. Hosted by John Lavin & Michou Burckett St. Laurent. You can purchase tickets below via…
Swansea Readings from The Lonely Crowd
We’ll be upstairs at Noah’s Yard from 730pm tomorrow (08/11/07) with an incredible line-up of writers. Admission Free. Copies of our new issue will be on sale at the event, alongside a selection of older ones. (Note: there will be an intermission half-way through the night). The Lonely Crowd in Swansea are: Cath Barton is an…
ONLINE FICTION: ‘Why, Molly?’ by Tanya Farrelly
Molly stands in the doorway, portfolio clutched beneath one arm, and watches Jake clear the snow from the driveway. Head bowed in concentration, he hasn’t seen her come out of the house. The shovel scrapes on the tarmac and he tosses another pile of dirty snow onto the lawn. Molly wishes he wouldn’t do that.…
On Writing ‘Yesterday’s Tomorrow’ – Jessica Bonder
Jessica Bonder is an American fiction writer and actor. She has previously published works in STORGY Magazine, The Bohemyth, Vending Machine Press, The Fiction Pool, Split Lip Magazine and Unbroken Journal. Her short story ‘Not Today’ won first place in STORGY’s 2015 Short Story Contest, judged by author Paul McVeigh. She holds a BA in English and Art History from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in New Jersey. www.jessicabonder.com. Tweet her @jessbonder.
How I Wrote ‘rain-mongrel’ – David Butler
Some years ago, I put together an experimental story entitled ‘Dublin Symphony’. A rather dark urban fantasy, it consisted of four movements: ‘Skin’; ‘rain-mongrel’; ‘Voices’; ‘The Sisters’. Each had its own narrative logic, its own cohesion, its own tempo. The structure, such as it was, was loosely musical, or was intended to be. I was…