The Reader 61

So spring hasn't sprung with quite the gusto we'd hoped for but while these grey clouds pass there's the latest issue of The Reader to sink our teeth into.

In new fiction Sea Way, Elon Salmon revisits memories of a happy childhood in the City of Israel, memories that become evermore fragile when he returns to Haifa as a grown man.

"Never a good idea to revisit the past, I thought, and was about to turn and walk back to Carmel Centre. Then I saw Zena..."

'The Old Story' comes from 'one of the father's of American realism and naturalism', Hamlin Garland. A Day's Pleasure gives account of a downtrodden farm wife's visit to town made special by an unexpected invitation.

As ever there is a plethora of poetry to be enjoyed with new works from Josh Ekroy, John Levett, Kevin Cadwallender and Paul Ings, and as ever, our old faithful Brian Nellist delves into a classic poem, in this instance, Thomas Gray's sombre Elegy Written in a Country Graveyard.

"The poem is not an argument but a kind of dialogue between different feelings, anxieties that shift as they come into view."

Philip Gross is 'The Poet on his Work' and there are interviews with Faber editor and poet Matthew Hollis, new poet Rachel Curzon and Tiffany Watt Smith, author of The Book of Human Emotions.

Elsewhere we have three excellent essays from Booker Prize winner Graham Swift, writing on Articles of War, former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams exploring Charles Williams and the Inklings group, and finally, writer, broadcaster and poet Sean Street who compares the roles of reader and listener in Silent Sound.

All this alongside your regular offerings from Ian McMillan, Janes Davis, Enid Stubin, more recommended reads from Brian Nellist and Angela MacMillan, and a focus on The Reading Revolution from Grace Farrington.

Issue 61 is winging its way to subscribers up and down the country as we type and is available for purchase on our website where you can also sign up to a year's subscription for just £24 in the UK and £36 internationally.

For full details just visit our website.