The Review
In the first edition of The Review, an innovative new online magazine, reviewers and feature writers "stay attentive to the chimerical, disobedient, and unruly voices among us, and also ensure that originality and plurality remain at the heart of our culture."
Edited by: Guy Gunaratne
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An Interruption
Guy Gunaratne
In the first edition of The Review, an innovative new online magazine, reviewers and feature writers "stay attentive to the chimerical, disobedient, and unruly voices among us, and also ensure that originality and plurality remain at the heart of our culture."
Guy Gunaratne introduces The Review by WritersMosaic and Jhalak as an act of collective self-assertion.
Ally, Critic or Both?
Colin Grant
“What is the point of reviews anyway? And isn’t faux praise likely to curb rather than encourage good writing?”
Colin Grant, Director of WritersMosaic, writes about the online platform's role in putting an end to tokenism and short-term engagement with writers from the global majority.
How to Disrupt, Build and Flourish
Sunny Singh
“A celebration of the book review as a genre, as well as a nuanced and complex literary and cultural conversation.”
Sunny Singh, founder of the Jhalak Prize for writers of colour, sets out the case for The Review by WritersMosaic & Jhalak.
Eating the Archive & Incubation: a space for monsters
Nisha Ramayya
“What is a book, Kapil asks, irresistibly; what’s genre, to make readers snort with laughter, flinch, and rethink the narratives of our own life stories?”
Nisha Ramayya reviews the poetry collections Eating the Archive by Yousif M. Qasmiyeh and Incubation: a space for monsters by Bhanu Kapil.
This Thread of Gold & Disobedient Bodies
Shara Atashi
“Reflecting on two inspiring books that celebrate the unyielding fortitude of defiant women, shedding light on unexplored dimensions of united womanhood.”
Shara Atashi reviews This Thread of Gold by Catherine Joy White and Disobedient Bodies by Emma Dabiri.
Top Doll
Yvonne Singh
“Karen McCarthy Woolf has, through the stylish inventiveness of her prose, breathed new life into this well-worn trope (Mannequin, Toy Story … erm Chucky).”
Yvonne Singh reviews an innovative novel in verse about dolls in New York by Sharon McCarthy Woolf.
The Things That We Lost
Shani Akilah
“What ties a number of the themes in the novel together is the twisting thread of what Jyoti Patel refers to as the ‘kaleidoscope of grief’.”
A review by Shani Akilah of The Things That We Lost by Jyoti Patel about British-Gujarati identities in post-Brexit Britain.
Vlad, the Fabulous Vampire
Sharon King-Chai
“Flavia Z Drago’s monsters transcend the barriers of race and culture and bring to these stories an otherworldly presence which gives them a universal appeal.”
Sharon King-Chai reviews Vlad, the Fabulous Vampire, by Flavia Z Drago.
Safiyyah’s War
Jasbinder Bilan
“Khan’s prose flows as smoothly as the Seine in this empathetic, hopeful story. In the light of recent religious conflict, the message of helping one’s neighbour is even more poignant.”
Jasbinder Bilan reviews Safiyyah’s War, the 2023 book for children by Hiba Noor Khan.
Notable
Sarah Shaffi
“Examining, managing, strengthening and, in some cases, undoing chains – metaphorical and literal – tie together the books I’ve chosen.”
Sarah Shaffi's round up of notable, newly published books in the spring of 2024.