Make sure you get your hands on the latest edition of Urthona Buddhist Arts Magazine, to be released in May. Issue 33, The Friendship Issue, is set to be a real delight - with treats from Sahajatara, Maitreyabandhu, Ratnagarbha, Amitajyoti and more.

Editor Ratnagarbha writes "Friendship is being talked about again. But do we really know what it is? And what really has it got to do with the arts – for haven’t artists, after all, always been eccentric loners who bordered on egomania, and most of what they express about friendship merely an idle dream? In this issue we will be dwelling not on failures but on some shining examples of artistic friendship throughout the ages. For a start there is our wonderful cover image. Tobias and the Angel is a story from the apocryphal book of Tobit, for centuries an image of friendship with the divine. What emerges is a sense that friendship can be seen as a vital dimension of artistic endeavour and of creativity in general."

Ratnagarbha gives us a glimpse of the gems heading our way, and what a line up!

"Highlights include:

'The grey is silver untransformed': Haunting art photograph by new rising star, Brighton based Buddhist photographer Sahajatara.

'Why is it not wonderful?' Maitreyabandhu on his poetic mentorship with poet Mimi Khalvati.

Ed Piercy on friendships between children on screen. He also touches on the touchy area of male friendship in the Wild West!

'Being and form': an in-depth interview with talented Buddhist artist, Amitajyoti, who is half way through a major commission of a diptych for the Birmingham Buddhist Centre.

'A friendship forged in hell': Ratnagarbha on the friendship between Dante and the poet Virgil.

'Zen and the poet’s mind': writer Fleda Brown and Zen priest Sokuzan in conversation about creativity."

Visit the website to subscribe to current and back issues, wherever you are in the world, and explore a wonderful crop of essays online.

Follow Urthona's page on The Buddhist Centre and editor Ratnagarbha's Facebook page.