Literature
I find exploring the minds of curious and imaginative authors to be the most rewarding pastime. And seeing so many people start reading because of ‘BookTok’ and other social media phenomena was very encouraging. However, I’m worried that this new literary wave is just that, a wave, and that when the tide sets in, it will become just another trend, with users stockpiling their shelves with smooth-spined paperbacks to feel part of a community or for the aesthetic rush of reading, rather than the genuine intellectual pleasure of engaging with texts.
It’s not like independent bookshops have benefited from Amazon bulk-buying, with yet another fall in independent British bookshops last year. Also, with every trend comes attentive corporations, and I can only hope publishers keep wary of seeking out work based solely on its online mass-marketability. As for now, there’s plenty of exciting literature scheduled this year, such as The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine.
Erskine will be well-known to any avid reader of The Stinging Fly. Having written several short stories for the magazine, they published her first collection, Sweet Home, a raid of the profound in the mundanity of her native Belfast, filled with characters who instantly trick you into believing they’re real, fascinating people. I’m sure her debut novel, about three mothers of sons who are accused of raping a lower-class girl, will achieve the same heights, and brim with the dark humour, rhythmic dialogue and realistic character portraits that Erskine masters so potently.
Ballet & Theatre
Sadly, my adolescence saw me abandon interests rather than gain them. I loathed feeling excluded from the other lads at school because I’d wasted time at lunch looking up star constellations in the library or afterschool twirling around in a tutu. I’m not quite as insecure anymore, but until Sheffield’s heavy light pollution stops blocking out the stars, I’ll opt for Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, coming to the Lyceum this May, or Cathy Marston’s Jane Eyre (April) to rekindle my lost passion. Watching ballet dancers hypnotically test the limits of the human body gives me the same pleasure as staring up at the vast universe; whether I’m sitting on a red theatre chair or laying on wet grass, everything feels grounded and safe. The reassurance I lacked for so many years.
Staying in the theatre houses, I’d highly recommend checking out any of the great classical music ensembles at the Sheffield Chamber Music Festival this May at the Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse, particularly the screening of the incredibly influential Soviet silent film Battleship Potemkin with an original soundtrack performance on the 19th, or the finale of Mozart, Beethoven and Elgar on the 24th.
Also at the Playhouse, on the 5th of April, will be the triple billing of British-African theatre company Tiata Fahodzi’s Everywhere, with three Black British writers each exploring the issues facing their community, from the housing crisis to class divide to how to find belonging in a society that sees you, not for who you are, but for the threat they believe you represent.
What’s On in Sheffield
As someone who loves the documentary format (they combine my two great passions: watching films and stuffing information in my head like foreign shopping in a suitcase), it joys me that England’s leading documentary festival is held annually right here in the Steel City in June.
If you have time saved between studying, working, staving off the existential dread of looming nuclear war and, of course, engaging with all this year’s great art, then I’d recommend checking out Pete McKee’s exhibit The Boy with a Leg Named Brian at Weston Park Museum before November, especially if you’re a newcomer to Sheffield curious about what imprint the city leaves on those who grow up here.
And if you want to experience Sheffield from over 70 unique perspectives, get the tram to Shalesmore and absorb the truly brilliant outdoor gallery of street art along Kelham Island and Neepsend, or take time in the first weekends of May to check out the hundreds of art-works at Open Up, or Art in the Gardens at the Botanical Gardens in September.
Finally, while Hope Work’s permanent closure this February is saddening (and another worrying example of the British nightclub’s demise), electronic music fans like myself still have Sensoria and No Bounds, two wonderful, independent live events venues celebrating music, film and art in its most human form, this October.
