News - Stephen Pax Leonard

29 Oct 2020 A short story published by Elsewhere

Posted at 17:45h in Uncategorised

https://www.elsewhere-journal.com/blog/2020/10/29/hoyggja-harvesting-grass-in-the-faroe-islands Hoyggja Harvesting grass in the Faroe Islands July is the time of the hoyggja which refers to the cutting of the in-field (bøur) grass and harvesting it for the sheep’s winter feed. Families are outside; their cheery voices drift in the wind. Children’s laughter sweeps across the...

01 Oct 2020 A decree to stop political discrimination at British Universities

Posted at 09:50h in Uncategorised

Published in the Country Squire Magazine A decree to stop political discrimination in our universities British universities are in crisis. We have all heard these words being uttered the last few months as the worst epidemic for a century swept across the land. We have all read...

29 Jun 2020 A bit more of the ‘Oxford manner’ please…

Posted at 09:09h in Uncategorised

Published in the Country Squire Magazine Writing in the latter half of the nineteenth century, Oscar Wilde spoke of the ‘Oxford manner’. It was all fine and good to come down with a decent class of degree and take your Blue in water polo, but what...

24 Jun 2020 Research on radio, social relations and remembrance in the Faroes is published

Posted at 15:51h in Uncategorised

My latest research on radio, social relations and remembrance in the Faroe Islands is published in the Journal of Anthropological Research (Summer 2020): 209-31. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/708396 ...

11 Jun 2020 The toppling of statues: descent into cultural nihilism

Posted at 08:32h in Uncategorised

Published in Country Squire Magazine It was the spring of 2003. Amidst a vortex of gorging humanity, the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad was being ripped off its plinth by excitable vandals. Many western television viewers sympathised with these young men dressed in thawbs who...

30 May 2020 A short story: The Scent of Angelica

Posted at 11:36h in Uncategorised

The Scent of Angelica The day begins on the quay at Tvøroyri on the southernmost island of the Faroes. Held by their horns, rams are loaded into the make-shift wooden pen that occupies the stern of a fishing vessel. These dozen or so rams belong to...

01 Apr 2020 The 13:24 to Gorky

Posted at 19:26h in Uncategorised

I arrive at the station early. This is my first trip on a train with a dog in Russia. The information online regarding the do’s and don’ts of pet travel in Russia had been somewhat conflicting and I am eager to be prepared for every...

12 Feb 2020 The Night Train to Kazan

Posted at 17:43h in Uncategorised

A bare-chested man gazes out of the window watching the queue of passengers that wait on the platform to have their travel documents inspected. Content his entourage have made it onto the train, he walks towards me down the extremely narrow corridor that runs alongside...

18 Nov 2019 Short story: Listening to the Faroese

Posted at 17:39h in Uncategorised

Listening to the Faroese, published by Little Toller Books Listening to the Faroese A visit to the church at Sandvík, the Faroe Islands Sunday morning. The houses are sleeping. From a distant window, a spinster can be seen sidling into her sitting room with spools of wool. Time...

23 Sep 2019 Article published in Country Squire Magazine

Posted at 08:34h in Uncategorised

Article published in Country Squire Magazine: No country for straight white men The weather was disagreeable: damp, diffident and almost apologetic. It was not surprising. It was a Tuesday. The morning toast sat there silently, waiting to be marmaladed, and for a moment the world seemed...