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Latest
  • [ 5th February 2026 ] Planetary Blues: A Rubbish New Year – Literally Memoir
  • [ 5th February 2026 ] Two More Poems by Tina MacNaughton Poetry
  • [ 2nd February 2026 ] Portsmouth Climate Choir Rock QA Hospital Culture
  • [ 2nd February 2026 ] Portsmouth-based Palestinian Student and Family in Need of Financial Help News
  • [ 2nd February 2026 ] ‘We Were Having None of It!’ Activists Voice Concerns at Southern Water Meeting News
HomePortsmouth writing scene

Portsmouth writing scene

Culture

Scientist, Broadcaster and Southsea Resident Professor Jim Al-Khalili Supports Portsmouth’s City of Culture Bid

14th December 2025

Based in Portsmouth, Professor Jim Al-Khalili is a widely respected theoretical physicist and broadcaster. In an exclusive article for S&C, Jim presents a compelling argument for why Portsmouth should be City of Culture 2029. Here [… read more ]

Poetry

Portsmouth Performers for Palestine: ‘The Sorrows’ by Amanda Garrie

1st June 2025

There are ten days to go before the Portsmouth Performers for Palestine event and tickets are still available. In advance of the event, which is brought to you in association with Star & Crescent, the [… read more ]

Culture

Making the Dead Speak: A Portsmouth Writer on Identity and Emotion

7th January 2025

The big issue in fiction is subjectivity, argues Sue Harper, fiction writer and Emeritus Professor of Film History at the University of Portsmouth. And it is the most tricky. You can, of course, write about [… read more ]

Culture

Portsmouth Author on Libraries, the Environment and Seaside Towns

21st December 2024

Local writer Tom Sykes presented his new book about our deteriorating seaside communities at Southsea Library. Peter Gruner reports. Coast of Teeth: Travels to English Seaside Towns in an Age of Anxiety, with drawings by [… read more ]

Culture

Advice from a Portsmouth Author: How to Write

3rd December 2024

In the second of local author and Emeritus Professor Sue Harper‘s ruminations on the writer’s craft, she examines pleasure, novelty, influences and structure. That title seems a little presumptuous: after all, one might say, ‘what [… read more ]

Culture

Advice from a Portsmouth Author: Writing from the Edge

21st November 2024

Sue Harper, local author and Emeritus Professor of Film History at the University of Portsmouth, presents a series of short essays about writing – how to do it, how it feels, what it means. To [… read more ]

Memoir

The Snow Leopard: A Portsmouth Cat Tale

18th November 2024

Writer and planetary modeller David Angus shares a feline story of deception and aggression. Spring had arrived and the warmth of late March brought the trees out in bloom, then cold winds in April inhibited [… read more ]

Fiction

The Shop: A Portsmouth Playlet

18th November 2024

The writer and academic Jo Bryant was inspired to write the following by a Wednesday afternoon in 1964, in her parents’ sweetshop in Winter Road.  Mrs Clifton, diminutive and smart, is in her 70s, retired [… read more ]

Culture

The Energy of a Pop Concert, the Excitement of a Book Launch: Wild Seas, Wilder Cities Launch Review

14th November 2024

Pens of the Earth’s book Wild Seas, Wilder Cities launched on 21st October 2024 at the Portsmouth Guildhall’s Lens Studio. Jackie Green reports. Environmental events can be a hard sell but Pens of the Earth’s [… read more ]

Culture

Holmes Fest 2024: A Portsmouth Creative Extravaganza

7th November 2024

Does Holmes Fest ring any bells? Some of you might recall the successful festival from pre-pandemic days, when local writer Matt Wingett launched a celebration of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his most famous character, [… read more ]

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Latest News

News

Portsmouth-based Palestinian Student and Family in Need of Financial Help

2nd February 2026

Abedelraheem Hamad is a talented Chevening scholar who was evacuated from Gaza by the British government to study for a Masters in Crisis and Disaster Management at the University of Portsmouth in September 2025. Over [… read more ]

News

‘We Were Having None of It!’ Activists Voice Concerns at Southern Water Meeting

2nd February 2026

David Langley was one of a quintet activists who attended a meeting with Southern Water in Waterlooville on 30th January. Here he tells us what happened. I am pleased to report that we were well [… read more ]

News

Together is Stronger: Portsmouth Climate Choir at the Green Forum

2nd February 2026

Portsmouth Climate Choir is part of a national movement called the Climate Choir Movement, which was founded with the intention of using the power of music to draw attention to critical environmental issues and mobilise [… read more ]

News

Man Arrested At Protest Outside Stephen Morgan’s Office and Released Without Charge

2nd January 2026

A Portsmouth man was arrested yesterday outside the office of local MP and Labour Friends of Israel member, Stephen Morgan, under the Terrorism Act 2000. The man was holding a sign reading ‘Palestine Action are [… read more ]

News

Portsmouth Palestine Hunger Strike Protestors Step Up Pressure on Local MP

30th December 2025

For the second day this week, Portsmouth South constituents have demonstrated outside their MP Stephen Morgan’s office. George Hibberd reports. The protestors are demanding that Morgan, a member of Labour Friends of Israel and a recipient [… read more ]

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