Root: New Stories by North-East WritersRoot is a collection of short stories which re affirm the North Easts status as a vibrant area for new writing. The subjects of the 13 stories on show here range from the domestic family relationships, gardening, bullying, adoption and loss to the plain bizarre: a circus bearded lady, a woman who morphs into Elvis, and an insight into what God wears to work. The writers featured in Root include Avril Joy, Fiona Cooper, Amanda Baker and Rob Walton.

revealing weapons of mass destruction in a Whitley Bay litter bin

Poetry Review and the Times Literary Supplement

translated by Kathryn Stapley

of the search for place

the fierce on-field battles

+ A City of Women / Aleksei Alekhin

and pieces on Olive Senior

To support himself while writing he worked for a time as a meter reader and his memoir

Peter Stead has written an invaluable introduction to Dennis Potter's work

don’t weep’

Margaret Obank Damascus: Taste of a City

compelling