The Edinburgh Festival brings together artists from all over the world, and Cowrie is among them, telling stories and giving readings. But even Cowrie can’t anticipate the chemistry that will begin when a group of traditional storytellers sets off to the Orkney Islands with Ellen, to stay at her coastal family cottages. For Ellen turns out to be Morrigan, and Morrigan is a selkie, living in...

Lesbians are often told that we have no culture, that we have no history, and yet lesbians are always rediscovering hidden histories, literary traditions, codes and behaviours that have been obscured, obliterated or proclaimed irrelevant. Sybil: The Glide of Her Tongue challenges that version of history. Gillian Hanscombe has written an exhilarating and richly textured collection of poems.

Alix Clemeger, sophisticate and internationally famous composer and concert pianist, is the toast of high society. A succession of momentous milestones has determined her life and career. The last is when she meets Tansie Landon. Tansie, beautiful, enigmatic, fragile, is - although not yet successful - an exceptional sculptor. But Tansie's childhood of abuse and neglect has left her so...

No, here there's not a
straight line to be seen anywhere - chaos
in the shape of two vulval wings -
the butterfly effect.

The butterfly effect is a concept from physics in which it is surmised that small actions can have enormous consequences, and that the flutter of a butterfly's wing on one side of the world can cause devastating storms on the other side. Susan Hawthorne explores the impact of...