Chapman Issue 105

Issue: 105 - On with the Future!

In the first issue of Chapman’s second century, Richard Burns examines how poetry fares amid the myriad pressures of the 21st century in ‘Pour la Joie: For the Living’ while William Oxley’s ‘The Unqualified Muse’ rejoices in W S Graham and George Barker’s survival despite the commercial and academic pressures of the literary world – and their lack of ‘proper’ qualifications. Michael Lister reviews David Daiches’ astonishing literary output over his long career, from the apex in literary criticism, to poetry, and to his books on whisky! New talent abounds – fiction from Rafiq Mahmood, Rab Fulton, Sheila Puri and Michael Logan on topics from the sublime to the grimily mundane; and a spectrum of poetry from Elise McKay, Tracey Rosenberg, Stuart Paterson, Ian Nimmo White and the late Nigel Grant. Anon editor Mike Stocks shows his true colours with rangy versions of scurrilous Romanesco poet Giuseppe Belli. Chapman features new directions brewing in the work of Ian Brotherhood and Jules Horne, winners of the Robert Louis Stevenson fellowship at Hotel Chevillon, the fruits of their stays there. Featured Artist Joyce Gunn Cairns delights and disturbs with her insightful drawings, many of writers including RLS, David Daiches, Stewart Conn, Tom Scott and others. Our reviews section covers the 2004 Edinburgh International Book Festival, recent Scottish Theatre, BBC’s new series Writing Scotland and more than 50 recent titles, including pamphlets. Nov 2004, 144 pp, 215 x 150 mm, ISBN-10: 1-903700-10-8 / ISBN-13: 978-1-903700-10-5 £6.40