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 Against Interpretation by Susan Sontag was first published in 1961. It is hard in 2020, to accept that this was almost 60 years ago, especiall y since many of the works reviewed in this volume of criticism, containing essays as late as 1966, would probably not make it into the mainstream today. If - and if must be repeated for emphasis - if the objects of her criticism in the 1960s were manifestations of the current mainstream in the arts, then 60 years ago, at least to this reader, then contemporary theatre, film and art of today seem much more conventional, even conservative. No-one now, it seems, takes risks. There are names that remain familiar in Susan Son tag's critiques. We have a Genet, Sartre, Camus, Ionesco, Godard, Brooke, Arthur Miller, but there are many others who would now claim only anonymity. But what is truly interesting is how reluctant Susan Sontag is even to mention trends from popular culture, the term I personally regard as a misnomer. Indeed, the essays ar...

 FORMER Witness and award-winning journalist Nivashni Nair-Sukdhev has written the first of many books to come (one hopes). It is a personal account that tells of the remarkable nexus between faith and science leading to triumph over seemingly insurmountable odds. This book is not a self-help book on how to make babies. Got it! Instead it's a play on Facebook's daily question to prod you to post: "What's on your mind?" She has with wit, and rare wisdom, cleverly transcribed a digital social-media diary into the traditional medium of a book. On the surface, it is about infertility and the leading cause thereof, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). While it can be considered an official PCOS c ampaign manuscript, it isn' t a textbook or a medical journal article, but, instead, part memoir and part romantic adventure. Mostly, however, it is a story of hope, love and heartache. Nair Sukdhev shares the beautiful story of her upbringing in the sleepy hollow of the ...