Born in the US, but now based in the north-east, J. Archer Avary is a poet and his latest collection is spry and stuffed with little vignettes, from the quotidian (‘A Game of Scrabble Down at the Hotspur’) to the pithily observational (“being mean is what…

There’s been a lot of rubbish written about Olivia Laing in the last few years, implying she’s ‘appropriated queerness’, over identified with marginal figures and that in marrying a Cambridge don, and moved to a posh house in the country, she’s sold out. …

One of the region’s most glorious festivals – the Newcastle Puppetry Festival – returns this April. From street carnivals, to premiere shows, to an amazing array of workshops, this year’s Newcastle Puppetry Festival – which comes to us courtesy of Moving …