To all writers and aspiring novelists, poets and lover's of a damn fine read - this edition's for you.

Seb's beautiful, beloved wife Leda has been killed by a swan. Sorting through her belongings after her death, he comes across a packet of unopened letters from Olaf, a man whom Leda had never mentioned. Floundering professionally and sunk by grief, he decides to travel to Leda's home village in Latvia to patch her story together.

And so begins Strange Heart Beating, the debut novel from Eli Goldstone. Former prose editor of Cadaverine and current Editorial Manager here at Run Riot, Eli's novel will be published by Granta on 4th May, and this week, she's our Guest Editor.

For her interview, we tread carefully around spoilers and instead discuss how Eli landed on the strange death of Leda to begin a darkly funny, seductive tale. We examine the notions that you'll never know anyone as fully as you may feel and that there's always something more taking place beneath the surface.

Eli's Top 4 choices are suitably literary-focused and you'll have fun seeking out some new crowds, like the Pen Atlas and Funhouse magazine night at The Book Club, the Gay UK: Love, Law and Liberty exhibition at the British Library, the Free Verse poetry magazine fair and Emily Witt, author of the much-discussed Future Sex: A New Kind of Free Love, in conversation with Katherine Angel at the London Review Bookshop.

Josephine Burton of Dash Arts is our Guest Writer on the blog- she's picked out some incredible memories of the last five years, in which time she travelled to Moscow and St Petersburg to create a small season of shows with artists from the Post Soviet Space. There's an interesting tension between dredging up the past and realising our political landscape may not be so different to that of 50 years ago.

Jordan Peel's Get Out has already been dubbed by the Guardian as 'the first great paranoid movie of the Trump era', and Beatriz at Dinner may well be the second. We preview the trailer on RRTV ahead of Sundance Film Festival in London, where it will open the season.

Stretching further beneath the surface you'll find our competitions for the week- tickets to Spin Cycling Festival and some exclusive merch from the wonderful Breakin' Convention '17 hip hop dance festival at Sadler's Wells Theatre. How about tickets to the opening gala of the UK Green Film Festival at the Barbican to see How To Let Go of the World? Or a trip to A Curious Invitation's Masonic Masquerade Ball over Summer Solstice weekend.

From swans to Post Soviet spaces, it's an intriguing mix for the inquisitive and those that are willing to get a little lost. See you out there, dear players! RR x

PS. Run Riot's Jamie 'F1' McLaren is running the Hackney Half Marathon on Sunday to help raise funds for 2 Degrees Festival by arts charity Artsadmin. All funds go towards two youth projects about climate change by artists Ant Hampton and Andy Field - and a whole load of youth! Read more about the projects, and help Jamie raise funds by donating here.