arts byMark Fisher


Books Blurred Faces Allan Radcliffe November 13, Fairlight Books Two men meet on a dating app – one remembers the other as a playground bully. This is the second novel by the theatre critic and NUJ member after the award-winning The Old Haunts. https://tinyurl.com/27qxsdp4


Hearth of Darkness Matt Blake October 31, Elliott and Thompson It started as an article in the Guardian about moving into a house previously occupied by a serial rapist, the man


In depth A rough-and-tumble reporting life


It starts with a teenager making tea in a Birmingham news agency. It ends with a reporter covering revolutionary Nicaragua. In between is a litany of increasingly forgotten newspaper practices – from copy boys running to the nearest phone box to the NUJ maintaining a closed shop. This is the story of


Peter Deeley’s life as recounted in A Reporter’s Lament: the Final Deadline, proudly self-published without, as he writes, “the disbenefit of literary agents, mega publishers or Amazon”. It spans his working life


from 1951, when he joined Cater’s News Agency straight out of grammar school, to the 1990s, by which time he was


24 | theJournalist


covering cricket for the Daily Telegraph. That was after stints at


Reuters and The Sun, as well as the Observer as a general reporter under David Astor and later home news editor under Donald Trelford – jobs that could be challenging on a Sunday paper more interested in analysis than hard news.


Deeley’s book is not


an autobiography. While it follows his career, it offers scant details about life beyond the office. Rather, it is a testament to a changing industry, whether that be the demands of filing match reports to several newspapers in a pre-digital age or working under a patrician editor with a preference for ‘amateur’ writers over professional hacks. Working his way up


from the bottom was tough; enjoying a Michelin-starred lunch in France on the supposed trail of Lord Lucan, less so. Drawing on the


memories of colleagues as well as his own, Deeley fills the book with


anecdotal colour, whether he is sweet-talking the local constabulary in Birmingham or getting ill from impure water in Vietnam. An NUJ life member, he


recalls tensions at The Observer over the employment of untrained graduates and about coverage of Vietnam, South Africa and the miners’ strike. It is all part of the


journalistic rough and tumble of a book that can cover Winston Churchill one minute and Geoffrey Boycott the next. A Reporter’s Lament:


the Final Deadline, Peter Deeley, out now, available for £10 (including p&p) from pdknapton@ gmail.com


known as the E17 night stalker. Now freelance journalist Matt Blake has extended his account into a full-length book – part true crime, part paranormal investigation. https://tinyurl.com/2bjzqzbw


Do It Yourself: Making Political Theatre Common/Wealth Out now, Manchester University Press Bradford and Cardiff theatre company Common/Wealth suggests ways to root performances in the lives of working-class communities. https://tinyurl.com/2c4rebx3


Exhibitions Cecilia Vicuña: Reverse Migration a Poetic Journey Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin November 7–July 1 First solo show in Ireland for the Chilean artist, poet and activist who has discovered she has ancient ties to the country. Her new work makes links between the design of the Aran sweater and a traditional Andean system of communication involving knotted cords. https://tinyurl.com/2bfnmobt


Festivals Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival Various venues, October 20– November 9 ‘Comfort and disturb’ is the theme of the annual festival showcasing multiple art forms, promoting the use of creativity to ease mental health problems while helping people live mentally healthier lives. https://www.mhfestival.com


Being Human Festival Various venues November 6–15 Led by the School of Advanced Study at the University of London, this celebration of academic research in the humanities focuses this year on ‘between the lines’: stories about erased histories, neglected protest movements and forgotten migration routes. https://tinyurl.com/2d82qlhg


Edinburgh Radical Book Fair Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh, November 6–9 Hosted by the Lighthouse bookshop, this long weekend of talks and workshops typically covers topical issues such as climate change, the war in Gaza and gender equality. https://tinyurl.com/2anhu3kx


Stage


David Olusoga: a Gun Through Time November 2–22 The historian and broadcaster takes to the stage with three weapons – a rifle, a machine gun and a Tommy gun – through which he tells a social and cultural history of war and conflict and how these three firearms changed the lives of our ancestors. https://tinyurl.com/2btlvqe3


KAREN ROBINSON


Comedy Matt Green: Legitimate Concerns On tour until November 30 Satirical comedy for an age of autocrats on the one hand and uninspiring opponents on the other – plus bonus material about selling a flat and moving house. https://tinyurl.com/2cvdc44r


Films Souleymane’s Story General release from October 24 An award-winning hit in Cannes, Boris Lojkine’s fast-paced movie covers two frantic days in the life of a Guinean asylum seeker (Abou Sangare)


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28