Author Archives: Pete Donohue
HIP LIT REVIEW
In Love With Hell Hastings Book Launch for Respected Local Writer Long established writer William Palmer has a string of novels, poetry collections and critical reviews for literary journals under…
HIP POETRY READ
William McGonagall on speed? More Poems From The Boreen By Tom O’BrienPublished by tomtom-theatre, Paperback, £ Review by Pete Donohue Tom O’Brien is an Irish writer, playwright and poet who has…
HPI READ
Always More New & Selected Poems By John D RobinsonHorror Sleaze Trash, paperback $, pp162 The Barbed & the Beautiful By John D Robinson & Marcel HermsPetrichor (NL), hand stitched…
National Literacy Trust celebrates children’s literacy in Hastings with launch of Connecting Stories
The National Literacy Trust’s Hub in Hastings was launched in January 2018 and is known as Hastings Stories. As part of the Hastings Opportunity Area programme it is a government…
HIP LIT LOCAL NEWS
Ambitious new bookshop coming to town Despite the current uncertainty of the economy and where Covid-19 restrictions might take us next, a new local independent bookshop is due to open…
Local Author Rides To Success On A Mobility Scooter
Back in HIP 148, Literature reviewer Elly Gibson reviewed Strange Exits from Hastings by local author Helena Wojtczak – and very favourably too. Since then Wojtczak has sold more than…
HIP READ
Smoking Herb & Other Stories By John D RobinsonAnalog Submission Press Review by Pete Donohue A title may not mean what you think it does. This isn’t a tale about…
Hastings Museum Seeks Volunteers To Keep A Coronavirus Journal
The COVID-19 crisis has affected, and continues to affect, the lives of all of us. Many of the resultant changes to our lifestyles will hopefully only be temporary but others…
New Jersey Poet Tohm Bakelas Hits Hastings
Tohm Bakelas is a big name on the transatlantic underground poetry scene. A native of New Jersey, he currently works there as a psychiatric social worker and declares that he…
Local Poetry Feeds Local Foodbank
Foodbank Britain is the debut poetry chapbook from local poet and community activist Dee Howard. It is subtitled ‘A mixed bag of poems looking at life in serious, fun and…
Hastings Favourite Christmas Tradition Is Back
A Penny Pincher’s Christmas CarolPreview by Pete Donohue A Penny Pincher’s Christmas Carol, Hastings’ favourite family Christmas show is returning for a five day run during the winter holiday season.…
Debut Novel at 71
Local writer Robin Young has just had his first novel published at the age of 71. Writing under the pen name R H Young, the author from Crowhurst has been…
US Poets at Bookbuster Sheer Poetry on 24th October
This month’s Sheer Poetry open mic event has been shifted from its usual 3rd Thursday to the 4th Thursday in order to accommodate two US poets who will be over…
Letter To My Father By Franz Kafka
(Translated by Howard Colyer) Introduction by HIP Literature Editor Pete Donohue Kafka’s Letter to my Father is a century old this autumn. A few years ago local writer and HIP…
Hastings Storytelling Festival – Earlier, Bigger And Better
This year Hastings Storytelling Festival is happening in October (5th – 13th), rather than November, with another packed programme of storytelling for children, families and adults, and incorporating a broad…
Shadow Times: New Poetry from Paul A Green
Independently published paperback, £ Prolific local poet, playwright, novelist and short story writer, Paul A Green has been on the national and international scene for many years. His work has…
HIP Poetry Reads – All by (or part by) Martin Appleby
RespairHoly&intoxicated Publications 2019, £5, €5, $5 + p&p three poets 1East London Press 2019, £6 + p&p (SOLD OUT) Punk CrocAnalog Submission Press 2019, £4 + p&p Hastings poet and local litzine…
HASTINGS LITFEST UPDATE Have a chat with Sarfraz Manzoor
You may know him as a journalist in The Guardian, documentary presenter on Radio 4, or a cultural commentator on Newsnight Review or Saturday Review. You may not know him…
HIP POETRY READ
Hang in Thereby John D RobinsonUncollected Press 2019, £12, €15, $15 + p&p Review by Pete Donohue Widely published Hastings poet John D Robinson has at least eight chapbooks to…
Hidden Sussex
Hastings & St Leonards writers featured in a new BAME Anthology Lisa Climie and Georgina Aboud have been published in a first anthology celebrating Sussex experience from the Black, Asian…
Write on in Hastings – Andy Oakes
HIP Literature Editor Pete Donohue hears how long-time Hastings based author Andy Oakes achieved international success by creating his own crime genre From Dyslexia to Chinese NoirAlthough a chronic dyslexic,…
grandIOTA
New Local Independent Press Launch By Pete Donohue grandIOTA is a new independent press based in Brighton and St Leonards, dedicated to imaginative, out of the ordinary prose writing. The…
Write On In Hastings: Tom O’Brien
HIP Literature Editor PETE DONOHUE catches up with fellow Hastings-based Irish writer Tom O’Brien I started writing seriously over 25 years ago. Oh, I had always been a bit of…
HIP POETRY READ
Come Home Alive By Penny PepperBurning Eye Books 2018, RRP £ Reviewed by Pete Donohue Published performance poet, author, journalist and disability rights activist Penny Pepper is no stranger to Hastings & St…
HIP READ
Too Many Drinks Ago By John D Robinson (Paper And Ink Literary Zine, £5) Poetry is more than words on a page (but no batteries required for alternative literature) It’s a simplistic…
Who Doesn’t Love A Story?
Eight years since its first appearance, Hastings Storytelling Festival returns once again for a diverse series of events happening all over town between 5th and 11th November. There’s something for…
James Joyce Inspires Local Art
Following the success of Hastings Bloomsday, a local celebration of Joyce’s ground-breaking novel Ulysses in collaboration with Hastings Library, an art exhibition inspired by this work launches at Café Rue…
Poetry by Sir David Hare – Hastings hears it first
The first Hastings Literary Festival got off to a memorable start last Friday afternoon with a world premiere reading of poetry written by Sir David Hare. The opening event of…
Polari on Sea – Back by Popular Demand
Three and a half weeks on from the successful – albeit rain-washed and eventually diverted to drier venues – second Hastings Pride festival, HIP Literature welcomes the return of celebrated…
HIP CHILDREN’S READ
Me and My Alien Friend Cosmic Poems about Friendship Written and illustrated by Ed Boxall The latest publication from Hastings writer, illustrator, performer and educator, Ed Boxall, is published by…
HIP READ: The Pursuit of Shadows By John D Robinson
Reclusive Hastings poet John D Robinson has been featured in these pages before. Hundreds of his poems have appeared in the small press and online journals, and Robinson has an…
Coastal Currents – Short Story Competition
A chance for local unknown writers On 30th September, as part of the Coastal Currents month, Hastings author, Joan Taylor-Rowan, will be reading three of her art-inspired short stories at…
HIP READ – Paper And Ink #13
Tales From The Bar Side Hastings’ own local literary zine has just published its thirteenth issue. Paper And Ink has already achieved cult status in the national and international underground…
HIP READ – Coming Home For Good Personal Reflections On Homelessness By Roger Nuttall
Hastings self-published author Roger Nuttall is a nurse co-ordinator for Hastings Homeless Service. Coming Home For Good, as the back page blurb explains, charts his personal journey from teenage rebellion…
Hastings poet nails London rap battle
Chalked Out is a new spoken word battle league where battlers are given time to research and write about their opponent and then invited to deliver the ‘writtens’ in front…
Write on in Hastings – MARCIA WOOLF
Pete Donohue catches up with hastings author Marcia Woolf ahead of the imminent publication of her second novel Woolf confesses to being a late starter. Although she’s ‘always written’, it…
HIP – LGBT LIT
We want to tell you how… A new anthology of poetry and prose written and edited by gay women features two of Hastings & St Leonards’ most celebrated lesbian print…
Peace, Poetry and Jeremy Birch Trees
It could not have been a better afternoon weather-wise to celebrate the civic life of a much-loved former Labour leader of Hastings Borough Council. Saturday 5th May saw the Peace…
BOOK BUSTER REVIEW – John Cornelius
REVIEW BY PETE DONOHUE Once you know the history of John Cornelius it’s difficult not to hear his poetry in your head, as you read it, with the deadpan wit,…
Poetry corner 100
local media gets hip PETE DONOHUE the day local media got hip was born out of disillusion with what a small group of us saw as blatant misrepresentation of tight-knit…