Literature

A London bookshop has uncovered a shocking conspiracy about the coveted Griffin Poetry Prize, linking winners of the award to the TV drama Midsomer Murders. The thread, which starts "does anyone want to hear my conspiracy theory", links winners of the poetry prize to elements of the show dating back as far as 2005. Although the latest incidents seem quite normal - Alice Oswald won the Griffin Prize in 2017 for 'Falling Awake' and her brother, Will Keen, played 'Preaching' Pete Kubatski in Midsomer...

Let us speak then of victimless crimes, the pretense that somehow by expunging certain acts from the criminal justice system we are in fact advancing civilization, casting aside the repressions, the myths, the lies our churches told us for centuries upon centuries that those acts were evil when of course we the educated sophisticates know ever so much better that they are not evil merely ... pleasures that do no harm to no one else. If I choose to smoke...

There is a reason I love short stories as much as I do. Show me a city, I'll write you a novel; read me a short story and you sing the whole planet. Yes I know that seems counter-instinctual. After all, how can three hundred or three thousand words possibly be more revealing of more of life than three hundred pages probing, extracting, peering at through the magnifying glass of words the lives of major characters with all their psychology...

If I might go out on a limb, there is a bit of wisdom learned through observation that I think the comedian and author Sara Pascoe and I hold in common as both truth and strategy. It is, if you want an audience to take you seriously make them laugh first. A decent framework of comedy is not to be confused with the forced smiles and gargled cough-laughs that greet your company's CEO at the Region Meeting when he hauls...

By Hubert O'Hearn and Bianca Da Silva This Belfast Book Festival has proven so far to be an absolute joy, with the only debate being what has been the most thought-provoking: Is it the discussions and readings in the various workshops, or the spontaneous chats in the Crescent Arts Centre happening over coffee? Writers in their unique and splendid way are rather like zoo animals that one hears of escaping from captivity, gamboling through cities with literal unbounded glee. Release...

Hubert O'Hearn with Bianca da Silva We were somewhere around Belfast on the edge of the Mourne Mountains when the rains began to take hold. I remember saying something like "We'll still be on time ; absolutely you should drive..." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge, bowler-hatted DUP drummers, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an...

I ask you, who amongst us has not at some point wanted a few tips as to how to commit the perfect murder? Aha! Made you smile! However we'll just ignore that little glance you just made, the one where your eyes lifted from your iPad and leveled on that burping bag of fart across the room. He's your problem, not mine and if you ask me any more questions I'm lawyering up. Besides, I'm no expert on murder, although...

There are two things about April K. Hunter that will initially surprise you, yet both have massively contributed towards her skill and success as a writer. The first is that she has worked as a professional wrestler for nearly twenty years. All those years, all those miles, all those less talented or momentarily absent-minded opponents have dealt her the lasting aches of broken bones, blown out knees and ear drums that are the life-long reminders of her first art. Indeed,...

Eventually we learn at least three things over the course of a long and frequently lively life – our wit and charm is not enhanced by copious drinking no matter what we think at the time, the pain of a loss lasts longer than the thrill of a win, and don't get your hopes up. There are more of course (the two things in life everyone you know thinks they know how to do better than you know how to...