Author Description

Beside a lake, a boy draws the horoscope charts that determine his fate. In Hammersmith, paths cross - and then cross again - as immigrants navigate London. Somewhere in rural England, brother and sister share murderous secrets. Fathers go bad and mothers come clean; would-be lovers dream; biobots and cyborgs probe the limits between terror and beauty. The poems, short stories and stage play that make up Screams and Silences are as diverse as they are vivid, by turns confrontational and contemplative. The richness comes through in the different voices, from Mauritania to the Blackpool seashore: there in all their colours, textures and rhythms. It was the Austrian writer and musician Alfred Brendel who pointed out that the words 'listen' and 'silent' use exactly the same letters. This second anthology of new student writing from the University of Roehampton offers a chance to listen to the screams in the silence, and the silence in the screams.