I HAVE just got home after my first experience of Anthology at the Everyman and am buzzing with things to say about it. For now though, here is my review. After I've slept on it, and the rest of my thoughts have settled, I will write another blog post. Although, I might first check my diary to get another few Anthology stories booked in. . .

"EVERYTHING is going to be all right," comes the reassurance as you sit in the Everyman auditorium, headphones and battery pack around your neck, an as yet functionless prop in your hand.

It's the much anticipated Anthology - seven individual plays by seven different writers, six of them local, that take you out of the theatre and into your imaginations.

A FOUNDATION is hosting the Liverpool Artists' Book Fair this weekend for the second year running.

Aimed as a vibrant platform for stall-holders to present an extraordinary array of
artists' books, zines and other paper-based works, it gives visitors the chance to buy unique and limited edition and, meet artists, illustrators and small presses from across the UK.

Participants include Alan Williams, Carol Ramsey, Deletia, Doodlezine, Drawing Paper, Julie Dodd, Kate Bufton, Linny Venables, LJMU Graphic Arts, My Dance the Skull, No Compromise Publishing, Object of Dreams, Pittville Press, Permanent Gallery Bookshop, Sam Venables, Simon Goode, Unrealised Projects by Sam Ely & Lynn Harris.

WE'RE not the only city in the world to be currently holding a biennial. These images are from San Paulo's 29th - featuring the work of 159 artists from across the globe and based on the idea that you cannot separate art from politics.

The festival opened last weekend and runs until December 12, 2010, - just in case you happen to be heading that way.

Self Portrait IV- Killing Ahmadinejad by Brazilian artist Gil Vicente

Before you click the "continue reading" link, I should point out that one image contains nudity.

TOUCHED by the pen of Tim Firth, the everyday becomes something significant.

The Wirral-born playwright has a knack of drawing out what is unusual in people's lives, while at the same time reminding the audience of how much they have in common with what is happening on stage.

In a scene in Calendar Girls, the women take it in turns to read letters sent to them by others who have lost a loved one to cancer.

It's a poignant moment, not just because it highlights how one Women's Institute branch touched thousands of people across the world, but because every single person in the theatre was thinking about someone they know who has died of the disease, or has survived it, or who they would be devastated to see to develop it.

I AM beyond disappointed that I won't be able to take part in The Innovasion, a treasure hunt-type event taking place as part of the Biennial. I'm doing my civic duty by sharing its existence with you all, because it sounds brilliant, but if you do go along please don't rub it in.

WAS Harold Brighouse blessed with clairvoyance when he penned The Game?

Or was there a handy time machine round the back of the shipping office where he worked before becoming a full-time playwright?

First performed in 1913, and ignored for the past 90 years, his warmhearted play of footballing families divided by class is surely more poignant today than when it was written. Time has brought humour to lines that may not have drawn a chuckle from an early- 20th century audience.

ONE thing you learn pretty quickly in this job is not to trust anything you read on the internet. Obviously some sources are more reliable than others (this blog for example - but I would say that), but as a general rule it's best to double check the facts.

Which was why, when I interviewed Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall last week, I asked her if it was true that she had become an American citizen in 2008. This was her reply - I should point out that it didn't feel as though she was ranting at me, more at the situation in general. She was really nice throughout the interview. Oh and I hadn't mentioned Claire Woodgate, or the rumour that she had been born in Roby...

WITH incest, tearful monologues and a body count Quentin Tarantino would be proud of, John Ford's Tis Pity She's a Whore is just as much soap opera as it is 17th-century tragedy.

Matti Houghton (Annabella) and Hugh Skinner (Giovanni). Picture: Gavin Trafford

Today's audiences may have grown immune to seeing bloodbaths enacted for their entertainment, but brother and sister declaring entirely unplatonic love for one another before heading to bed still has the power to shock, even if you know to expect it.

A modern slant also brings a more sinister perspective to other elements in this production, part of the Everyman's Unbound season marking the end of the current building to make way for the new.

Here are some other reviews of the show:

The Stage

Liverpool Student Media

Seven Streets

Defnet Media

The Public Reviews

Remote Goat

THE Liverpool Biennial may only open to the public today but it's already causing quite a stir.

Here is what people have had to say about it...

A TINY Korean house suddenly appearing in the crack between two Duke Street warehouses, a shoal of 170 concrete flat fish suspended in the new winter garden at Mann Island, a 7m bronze sword hanging just above your head - it's Liverpool Biennial time again.

For 10 weeks every two years, the festival of contemporary art takes over the city centre, placing unexpected pieces in unusual places.