Recipes and cookery books have been a long-standing bastion of elitism, copied down by the literate, and preserved by head chefs in royal kitchens. One example, The Forme of Cury from 1390, documents several hundred dishes, and a list of ingredients for a feast held by king Richard II.
Historical fiction provides an enjoyable means of learning about the past, making history accessible for those who haven’t, or don’t want to, read a scholarly dissection of the French Revolution or the Tudor Court. Learning about history through fiction provides a fun and engaging alternative, but what are the perils and pitfalls for both authors and consumers?
By Izzy Davies ‘It’s very much about millenials’: Rosie Fleeschman’s one-woman play Narcissist in the Mirror opened in January this year, adding a new voice to the rising genre of female-authored, first-person narratives […]
By Izzy Davies Vice journalist Oobah Butler staged an experiment during which he managed to catapult a fictitious restaurant – The Shed at Dulwich – to TripAdvisor’s coveted number 1 spot. He […]
In October 2018, Ofsted, the assessors of educational standards across the country, announced a change to their focus of assessment: instead of examination results, schools will be deemed effective based on a […]
By Oliver James The history of book ownership is well-documented. Our love of books as objects has existed for centuries. Out of such love are born the terms, ‘bibliomania’ and ‘tsundoku.’ The […]
By Oliver James Whilst our understanding of the power of constraint on creativity might be relatively modern, constrained writing is no new concept. Consider, for example, the popularity of Haikus or Shakespeare’s sonnets. […]
The idea that an author’s body of work begins and ends with what they professionally publish is outdated. “What is a work?” asked Michel Foucault – a pertinent question in a society […]
Last year while frantically searching for material to use in an essay I came across a little-known modern poetics called ‘Art as Experience’ by John Dewey. His argument is simple, but it […]
‘Book art’ has become something of a phenomenon, attracting writers and artists both amateur and professional. Kelly Murray’s ‘Paper Dress’ (made entirely of phone books) and Tom Phillips’s ‘A Humument’ may not […]
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