Pretext: Fiction: Poetry: Criticism v. 4

by Julia Bell

With the world on the brink, the latest issue of Pretext presents writing that deals with the overt and covert threat of havoc in all our lives. Unsettling new writing from Europe includes an exclusive translations of Lars von Trier's Film Diary, a record he kept while filming "The Idiots". And testament to the world gone mad we have extracts from Spanish surrealist and dissident Juan Goytisolo.
Another exclusive to Pretext, and the piece from which we take our title, is the beginning of Ronan Bennett's new historical novel "Havoc, In the Third Year". New poetry comes from John Burnside, George Szirtes and Basque poet Jose Luis Padron, while Lawrence Norfolk describes his experiences of writing and travelling. Add these to our usual array of the best new short stories from writers such as Neil Grimmett, Claire MacDonald, Claire Birchall, Hannah Crow and Elisabeth Sheffield, and Pretext: Havoc is a spiky and relevant issue: can you afford to miss it?

250 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2001

About the author

Librarian note: there are multiple authors with this name on Goodreads.

I was born in Bristol but raised in Wales (I can speak Welsh!) and have published two novels for young adults - Massive and Dirty Work, both published by Macmillan in the UK. In the US Massive is published by Simon and Schuster and Dirty Work by Walker Books. Massive has also been translated into ten languages, including Thai! I also wrote and co-edited the bestselling Creative Writing Coursebook while I was working at the University of East Anglia, which is also published by Macmillan.

I am a Senior Lecturer at Birkbeck, University College of London where I teach on the MA Creative Writing and co-ordinate the annual publication The Mechanics' Institute Review and the new web portal The Birkbeck Writers' Hub.

I am currently working on my fourth novel - Bad Faith - and collaborating on work for the screen.