A site-specific experience: Meshwork Worcester

While attending the bi-annual Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment conference in September I found myself unexpectedly in the middle of a site-specific event. All conference delegates had been given two options of ‘day trips’ in the middle of the conference: either a walking tour of the local Malvern hills or the …

Home and Away

The place where I live in Nottingham is pretty close to the City Ground, home of Nottingham Forest FC. On match days I enjoy opening the windows or inventing jobs that need doing in the garden so that I can hear the noise of the crowd rolling and rumbling towards my house.  The noise has …

Literary norths

Recently, I’ve been reading a collection of essays, The Literary North, edited by Katharine Cockin. Reading the book in Nottingham has prompted a bit of reflection upon the role of the definite article in the title, as well as the ambiguous status of its governing noun, for the River Trent is often taken to mark …