Image © Matt Beard Review by Elizabeth Mistry It was thanks to British author Katie Hickman that I first fell in love with a Mexican circus. Hickman’s ‘A Trip to the Light Fantastic’ is a beautifully observed homage to the skill (blood, sweat and, frequently, tears) of the artistes who formed Circo Bell’s, a traditional touring circus named in honour of …
Review by Elizabeth Mistry After reading Faces in the Crowd by the Mexican writer Valeria Luiselli (in the superb English translation by Christina MacSweeney) I had to go and sit very quietly for a while. I couldn’t imagine talking to anyone immediately afterwards because this slim but devastating volume demands so much of the reader. It is the sort of …
Many books have been written about the artefacts in museums and the histories behind them. Fascinated by how some of these treasures have survived and the often tortuous routes by which they ended up in a museum, John Hessler, Curator of the Jay I. Kislak Collection in the Library of Congress, takes this one step further. Almost unknown in the UK …
Elizabeth Mistry sees Mexican actress Gabriela Garcia sing her heart out at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre. Pictures © Richard Davenport / The Other Richard That there is a genuinely Latin American flavour to the new production of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s 1957 musical West Side Story – currently showing at Manchester’s innovative Royal Exchange Theatre – is a testament …
Chloë Sayer is a mine of information about Mexican traditions, textiles and popular art. Since her first visit to Mexico in 1973 she has become a recognised authority, as evidenced by her many books, and by the prestigious Ohtli medal that she was awarded in 2016 by the Mexican government because of her long-standing commitment to Mexican culture.