On October 3 2023, I released a memoir, Book of Life. Four days later, the world changed. On October 7 we were in the middle of a matinee performance of …
‘We’ll Always Have Paris’ (Devika Brendon)
Humphrey Bogart says this to Ingrid Bergman in the film Casablanca. A great exit line, as he farewells the love of his life with supreme gallantry and apparent nonchalance. Paris …
I’M GAY BUT I KNOW JESUS: an interview with performer Melody Rachel
Melody Rachel doesn’t so much perform as detonate — sometimes with laughter, sometimes with prayer, sometimes with the quiet implosion of shame turned inside out. Growing up Christian, she inherited …
Editors’ Note (Verity La Reborn) Issue One: ICONOCLAST
After years of silence, Verity La returns. This is our first issue since the journal’s Managing Editor, Michele Seminara, endured a cancellation at the hands of activists. What followed was social …
The Curse of the Man Who Could See the Little Fish at the Bottom of the Ocean (Simon Leys)
For Hanfang Since the Beijing massacres, the question has already been put bluntly to me several times: “Why were most of our pundits so constantly wrong on the subject of …
The Skin I’m In (Iona Italia)
All my life, I have been accused of having the wrong skin colour. My body’s wrapper—loosening and crinkling slightly around the eyes and mouth now, like the bow-tie-shaped foil around …
The Emperor’s Return (Anne Casey)
Just one piece—they will never notice he whinnied as he secreted the piece in his pocket just before he ordered the summary evisceration of his predecessor, as black letters slicked …
The World’s Longest Daisy Chain (Jenny Lindsay)
The first time I was complicit in inflicting public humiliation on someone has left a strong enough impression on me to be writing about it thirty-five years later. For various …
Desolation Songs (Robbie Coburn)
Karma Indiscriminate rain and sunlight. muted light, the room instantly full of bodies — the way they pull up your sleeves and remove your shirt, examining your arms and chest …
Back on ‘Zac (Nina Paley)
Why I am returning to my regular dose of Prozac after 2 years of tapering off A few days ago, at a candy store in another town, I asked if …