INTERVIEWS
Interview
JR Thorp
Writer, Lyricist and Librettist
The Wise Owl talks to Dr J.R. Thorp, a writer, lyricist and librettist. As a writer Dr Thorp has worked across a variety of genres, from novels to traditional motets and operatic texts. She was ranked as one of The Observer‘s top 10 debut novelists of 2021. Her debut novel, Learwife, was a 2021 Waterstones Book of the Year, Indie Book of the Month and Apple Books Book of the Month in November 2021. The novel also won an Audiofile Earphones Award and has been longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize and the Authors Club Debut Novel Award. JR Thorp was awarded a Markievicz Award by the Irish Arts Council in 2021. Her work has been published in the Cambridge Literary Review, Manchester Review, Antithesis, Wave Composition, among others. JR Thorp wrote the libretto for the highly acclaimed modern opera Dear Marie Stopes and has had works commissioned by the Arts Council, the Wellcome Trust and St Paul’s Cathedral. She is the musical composition partner of award-winning British composer Toby Young and has also worked with acclaimed composer Alex Mills. Born in Australia, she now lives in Cork, Ireland.
Interview
The Singh Twins
Contemporary British Artists
The Wise Owl talks to The Singh Twins, internationally renowned, contemporary British artists whose award-winning work explores important issues of social, political and cultural debate and re-defines perceptions of art, heritage and identity. Their work has pioneered a modern revival of Indian miniature painting within contemporary art practice. The Singh Twins have received many awards and official recognition for their work - including an MBE for ‘Services to the Indian miniature tradition of painting within Contemporary Art. They are recipients of the UK Asian Achievers Awards for Media, Arts and Culture. Solo exhibitions of their work have been hosted globally by prestigious galleries. Their ground-breaking exhibition Slaves of Fashion is showing at Firstsite Gallery, Colchester until 11th September 2022 and then opens at Norwich Castle Museum Gallery and East Gallery on 1st October 2022.