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Sarah Birch

Sam Hodge: Every Contact Leaves a Trace, 195 Mare Street, exhibition review: ‘Haunting prints that linger in the mind’

The local artist puts on a ‘captivating’ show inside Hackney’s second oldest home

By Sarah Birch

/ 5 Jun 2023

Sam Hodge: Every Contact Leaves a Trace, 195 Mare Street, exhibition review: ‘Haunting prints that linger in the mind’

Tales of the Suburbs, Justin David, book review: ‘Vivid storytelling full of sharp detail’

This novel ‘paints a picture of a journey away and back that many readers will recognise’

By Sarah Birch

/ 27 Mar 2023

Tales of the Suburbs, Justin David, book review: ‘Vivid storytelling full of sharp detail’

‘Multi-layered and masterful’: Leaving Vietnam, Park Theatre – review

An enthralling one-man show, written and performed by Richard Vergette

By Sarah Birch

/ 26 Mar 2023

Leaving Vietnam at Park Theatre

‘It was a revelation in a selfish, personal way’: Artist Jock McFadyen on how his own retrospective gave him a ‘hankering to mix and match’

The Royal Academician is showing his latest exhibition at his studio gallery in London Fields

By Sarah Birch

/ 22 Mar 2023

‘It was a revelation in a selfish, personal way’: Artist Jock McFadyen on how his own retrospective gave him a ‘hankering to mix and match’

Rare Hackney, Two More Years studio, exhibition review: ‘You won’t regret a visit’

Neil Martinson’s photographs of the borough, on display to raise money for the local food bank, show ‘a community on the move’

By Sarah Birch

/ 20 Oct 2022

Rare Hackney, Two More Years studio, exhibition review: ‘You won’t regret a visit’

Cézanne: The EY Exhibition, Tate Modern, review: ‘A painter of nature’

More than 80 paintings make up the first major display of the artist’s work in London since the turn of the century

By Sarah Birch

/ 11 Oct 2022

Cézanne: The EY Exhibition, Tate Modern, review: ‘A painter of nature’

After the Olympics, Tony Mak, book review: ‘Photographs that catch the fractured mood of this social cusp’

Tony Mak’s images show ‘how unharmonious profit-maximising urban design can be’

By Sarah Birch

/ 10 Oct 2022

After the Olympics, Tony Mak, book review: ‘Photographs that catch the fractured mood of this social cusp’

Chapter of Accidents: A Writer’s Memoir, Alexander Baron, book review: ‘Portrait of a man keen to be accepted but feeling himself apart’

Launched at Hackney Archives last month, these memoirs were said by the late novelist to ‘hold the key to his writing’

By Sarah Birch

/ 3 Oct 2022

Chapter of Accidents: A Writer’s Memoir, Alexander Baron, book review: ‘Portrait of a man keen to be accepted but feeling himself apart’

A Child of the East End, Jean Fullerton, book review: ‘Highly entertaining tale of growing up in Stepney’

Fullerton’s memoir will ‘resonate with many’ who lived through the social change of the late 20th-century

By Sarah Birch

/ 29 Sep 2022

A Child of the East End, Jean Fullerton, book review: ‘Highly entertaining tale of growing up in Stepney’

Backlash, Michael Shew, book review: ‘Fast-paced story with a well-crafted plot’

The Newington Green author impresses with ‘warts-and-all’ characters

By Sarah Birch

/ 15 Aug 2022

Backlash, Michael Shew, book review: ‘Fast-paced story with a well-crafted plot’

I Am Not Raymond Wallace, Sam Kenyon, book review: ‘Elegant story of how shared values can both eviscerate and nurture’

In ‘moving prose’, this debut novel explores the life of a gay man burdened by society’s expectations

By Sarah Birch

/ 25 Jul 2022

I Am Not Raymond Wallace, Sam Kenyon, book review: ‘Elegant story of how shared values can both eviscerate and nurture’

The Getaway, Ross Armstrong, book review: ‘Summer sizzler with a twisty plot’

Everyone seems to be hiding something in the Hackney-based author’s whodunnit

By Sarah Birch

/ 11 Jul 2022

The Getaway, Ross Armstrong, book review: ‘Summer sizzler with a twisty plot’