It was a brave man who would cross the Devon moorlands in darkness. For the ancient legend of the hound of the Baskervilles had persisted in family history for generations. It was Sir Charles's mysterious death in the grounds of Baskerville Hall that brought Sherlock Holmes to the scene.

My name is Julian Reid, a gardener from Wiltshire, UK. The title of this book, Totally Unexpected Poems, is based on my experiences, from things that have happened to me, things I have seen or listened to and people I have met throughout my life.

Poetry. "Caution and charity, travel and sensitivity, in sites South Asian, American, and European, control the humane tones and the short-lined free verse of THE WEATHER & OUR TEMPERS], which also reflects its author's other work as a scholar of Buddhism. Concise and welcoming, yet intricately tied to place and religion, this quiet debut could take off."--Publishers Weekly"Meditative and mysterious, these spare, intimate poems trace an inner landscape that stretches from Brooklyn to Paris, Tokyo to Kathmandu."--Lizzie Widdicombe of The New Yorker"The poet's spirit settles among objects, the quotidian flotsam. But how to keep the resulting words incantatory? This is Dominique Townsend's gift. Talismans are everywhere in THE WEATHER & OUR TEMPERS, and some of them are 'flapping encyclopedic wings.' While this is a book full of the sense of man's gentle presence in nature, it also rings with apostrophe and sharp conversations. The ache of being human hangs in the doorways of this poetry. You'll be the wiser for entering."--Peter Thompson"To read Dominique Townsend's debut book of poetry is to be seduced by a particularly spiritual, sensual, and uniquely modern world, where the questions of body, mind, and--indeed--soul, are sometimes painful, sometimes witty, sometimes searching, and always exquisite. These are poems to treasure and revisit."--Joanna Hershon

The Editors of Irish Pages - Chris Agee, Cathal O Searcaigh, Kathleen Jamie and Meg Bateman - have assembled a new issue of the journal, entitled "The Anthropocene." It aims to evoke the escalating global ecological crisis in the round, through many of its key components, including climate change, deforestation, the treatment of animals, oceanic pollution and over-fishing, the melting of glaciers, extinctions, land-use, plastic pollution and the waste crisis, the eco-vandalism of mining and the fashion industry, the extermination of indigenous peoples and languages, biodiversity and ecocide generally, and so on - and on. * A certain amount of poetry and prose deals with humanity and human consciousness more generally, in their historical, cultural, psychological, artistic and religious dimensions. * There is also a special section devoted to writing on the Pandemic. * As with other issues, however, there is also work included that does not bear explicitly on the theme of the issue.

Liverpool Playhouse and Everyman theatres present Unprotected, the world premiere of a new play tackling the contentious issue of Liverpool's plans for a managed zone for street sex workers. This hard-hitting docu-drama, written by four Liverpool playwrights, Esther Wilson, John Fay, Tony Green and Lizzie Nunnery, who spent many months researching all viewpoints in what has now become a national debate for inner cities, allows the real people involved to speak for themselves. Directed by Nina Raine with a cast including Pauline Daniels, and Neil Caple, Unprotected is on at the Everyman from 10 March-1 April 2006."

Poetry. Audio CD included. FAREWELLIA A LA ARALEE opens with a nine-poem tribute suite that tracks the end-times dynamic of the American poet, Aralee Strange, and concludes with an appendix, entitled CINEMANUENSING, that amounts to an extra-visionary tracking of the filming of This Train, her late '90s full-length feature film that was still in post-production at the time of her death, in June 2013. Consisting of poetry, prose, photos and color collages, the book also includes an audio CD of La Charity in performance, delivering his nine-poem tribute suite aloud.

Marlene hosts a dinner party in a London restaurant to celebrate her promotion to managing director of 'Top Girls' employment agency. Her guests are five women from the past: Isabella Bird (1831- 1904) - the adventurous traveller; Lady Nijo (b1258) - the mediaeval courtesan who became a Buddhist nun and travelled on foot through Japan; Dull Gret, who as Dulle Griet in a Bruegel painting, led a crowd of women on a charge through hell; Pope Joan - the transvestite early female pope and last but not least Patient Griselda, an obedient wife out of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. As the evening continues we are involved with the stories of all five women and the impending crisis in Marlene's own life. A classic of contemporary theatre, Churchill's play is seen as a landmark for a new generation of playwrights. It was premiered by the Royal Court in 1982. "Top Girls has a combination of directness and complexity which keeps you both emotionally and intellectually alert. You can smell life, and at the same time feel locked in an argument with an agile and passionate mind." (John Peter, Sunday Times)

These essays celebrate the interconnectedness of all things, examining our spiritual lives through the cathartic influence of trees, the fugitive presence of our ancestors, the magical tapestry of the natural world, the deep significance of chance encounters with wild creatures, the beneficence of silence, stillness, solitude and serenity; and the search for meaning in a seemingly chaotic world. Peter Quince is an artist as well as a writer of novels, short stories, essays and poetry. He practises tai chi, meditation and philosophy, grows bonsai trees, follows Buddhism and Taoism, and believes that a quiet cup of tea is the answer to everything...