LondonGrip

Poetry review – A History of Western Music: Rosie Johnston is impressed by August Kleinzahler’s skill at conveying the experience of listening to music: londongrip.co.uk/2026/01/london…

Unseen Photography from the 19th Century. Review by Barbara Lewis. Belgium, which declared independence in 1830, became a forerunner in photographic identification and is home to the oldest preserved mugshots, dating from 1843: londongrip.co.uk/2026/01/unseen…

The films of Frederick Wiseman. Review by Alan Price. Why has it taken me so long to get round to watching the films of Frederick Wiseman? Well that’s because of their physical media inaccessibility and rare screenings in the cinema: londongrip.co.uk/2026/01/the-fi…

Hamnet. Review by Graham Buchan. It is said to be awards-worthy, but here are reasons why Hamnet is an exceptionally bad film: londongrip.co.uk/2026/01/hamnet…

European forests essay. By Stephanie Sears. Europe’s closest ally may be its forests: ”A culture is no better than its woods.” W.H.Auden: londongrip.co.uk/2026/01/europe…

Worlds Apart. Review by Julia Pascal. This memoir is an astonishing chronicle of recent German history seen through the eyes of a girl born in the East and brought up in the West. Except that she was not brought up at all: londongrip.co.uk/2025/12/worlds…

Quarantaine. Review by Barbara Lewis. Flanders in its golden age produced the painters Van Eyck and Memling. Around six centuries on, the work of Belgian conceptual artist Honoré ?’O, at first sight bears no relation to his aesthetic forebears: londongrip.co.uk/2025/12/quaran…

Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B. Review by Barbara Lewis. Popular wisdom maintains that the appeal of the traditional whodunnit is in its reassuring message that problems will be solved and justice will be done: londongrip.co.uk/2025/12/ms-hol…

Poetry review – The Twice-Turned Earth: Mat Riches welcomes a new pamphlet by Siegfried Baber: londongrip.co.uk/2025/12/london…

Poetry review – Endless Forms Most Beautiful: Thomas Ovans dips into Norbert Hirschhorn’s new selection of prose-poems and finds they come in a wide range of forms and flavours: londongrip.co.uk/2025/12/london…

Poetry review – Fifty Poems: Ian Pople considers Geoffrey Lehmann’s new translations of poems by Rainer Maria Rilke: londongrip.co.uk/2025/12/london…

London Grip New Poetry – Winter 2025-6: londongrip.co.uk/2025/11/london…

Poetry review – Breathing: Gareth Writer-Davies reviews a collection by David Van-Cauter which deals painstakingly and intimately with some of life’s tough questions: londongrip.co.uk/2025/11/london…

Mephisto, Colonel Redl, Hanussen. Review by Alan Price. This remarkable loose trilogy covers a wide span of Mitteleuropa history from the gradual disintegration of the Habsburg Empire to the start of WW1 and the beginnings of Nazism: londongrip.co.uk/2025/11/mephis…

Poetry review – The Invisible Man's Tailor: Neil Elder has been looking forward to a first collection from Patrick Meeds and now he has a chance to review it: londongrip.co.uk/2025/11/london…

Nordic Noir. Review by Barbara Lewis. Beyond “The Scream,” Edvard Munch’s gift to art was his innovative approach to woodcuts, which involved cutting them into pieces so they could be coated in different colours: londongrip.co.uk/2025/11/nordic…

Poetry review – The Apotheosis of Music: Daniel Barbiero reviews a new translation of poems by Witold Wirpsza and considers the effect of history on the poet’s work: londongrip.co.uk/2025/11/london…

Poetry review – Believing in the Planet: Alwyn Marriage welcomes a new collection by Myra Schneider, dealing with many themes from the environmental to the personal: londongrip.co.uk/2025/11/london…

Jobsworth. Review by Barbara Lewis. Libby Rodliffe is not only a performer, she is a writer. As a performer, she takes on more than ten roles, one of which is Bea, who has four jobs: londongrip.co.uk/2025/11/jobswo…

Poetry review – Bridging Time 1944-2024: Thomas Ovans is both intrigued and moved by Patricia Townsend’s sonnet sequence incorporating and responding to wartime letters from her father: londongrip.co.uk/2025/11/london…