Friday Links
September 26, 2025
Our Lady of Walsingham
by Olga Shalamova
Ode to the Indies
The Middle-Distance Poem: An Elegy
John Wilson: The Enigma of Muriel Spark
The Protector of Our Nazareths
CR Episode 289: E.A. Robinson’s Gothic Verse
Ode to the Indies
Independent publishers come in all sizes, and they publish every genre. Large presses may publish a writer you’ve heard of or read, while a micro-press is more likely to showcase an unknown debut author. The five books reviewed here, three novels and two short story collections, have all been published by indie presses. I’m familiar with the workings of independent publishing because my own books were published by indie presses, so naturally I’m a supporter of this vital industry. Independent publishers are doing God’s work by giving voice to gifted but overlooked authors, and I’m delighted to be privileged to shine a light on a few.
The Middle-Distance Poem: An Elegy
I really appreciated this essay, though I think like most elegies for an art form (how many times has poetry died?), the elegies often come just as the art form is making a comeback. Not always, of course, but, in this case, I think the middle-distance (and longer) poem suffered for various reasons (journals would not publish them being a big one), but the digital age may be helping to revive them. That and the reinvigorated world of formal verse. I was directed to this essay by Victoria Moul who writes one of the best Substacks out there, Horace and Friends.
John Wilson: The Enigma of Muriel Spark
Behind a paywall…but is probably fantastic, so . . .
The Protector of Our Nazareths
I love this essay from Denise on Our Lady of Walsingham, one of Our Lady’s many roles and one we might do well to attend to today.
CR Episode 289: E.A. Robinson’s Gothic Verse
The panel at Critical Reads “discusses five poems by E.A. Robinson, with discussion centring on their use of the gothic, their shared imagery of death and hell (and their response), and particularly their formal qualities seen across three villanelles and two sonnets.” Always worth a listen!
