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25.01.2022 Earlier in the week the Judges announced the Longlist for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, an award for small publishers (less than 5 full-time staff) in the UK and Ireland. Each year the list presents an interesting selection of works, challenging and "brave". For more information about the Award and the 2021 longlist visit the link.

24.01.2022 In 1970 a low-budget feature film from the USA, directed by a woman, won the Best Foreign Film at the Venice Film Festival, it played on one screen in the USA and quickly slipped into obscurity. Given the film's popularity in Europe it later gained cult status and is now available in a restored version on BluRay. The wonderful publisher "The Dorothy Project" has released a book 'Suite for Barbara Loden' by Nathalie Léger (translated by Natasha Lehrer and Cécile Menon) where our writer has been commissioned to write a short encyclopedia entry on Barbara Loden and her film, that commission becomes this book. A blend of memoir, auto-fiction, reportage and investigation it's a worthwhile title to hunt down (watch the movie first). More at the link.

20.01.2022 You know I read a LOT of books? Well occasionally I read one that doesn’t take my fancy. Here’s an odd one, 397 pages long but I read them all even though the protagonist was a narcissistic, man-splainning, intellectual bore. More at the link. https://messybooker.wordpress.com//men-and-apparitions-ly/

17.01.2022 I’ve been writing a long fiction work for a few years now & always wondered if a publisher would be bold enough to pick any of it up. The total work (unfinished) consists of 116 fragments and three of them have been picked up by USA publisher Sublunary Editions. They will appear in ‘Firmament’ their new art & literature journal, check their tweet for details of how to buy a copy. https://twitter.com/sublunaryeds/status/1338978191243821056

12.01.2022 At the end of the 1800's, beginning of the 1900's the French decadent movement came into being, the movement characterized by self-disgust, sickness at the world, general skepticism, and delight in perversion. At the same time the turn of the century brings hopes of a fresh beginning. Octave Mirbeau's 'The Diary of a Chambermaid" (tr. D Jarman) published in 1900 is a great example from this period. Read my thoughts on this work by clicking the link.

11.01.2022 The body of work by JK Huysmans, celebrated for his decadent novel ‘Au Rebours’ (‘Against Nature’), contains numerous references to food, detailing meals, menus, eating venues and more. It got me thinking, do contemporary characters eat? A blog post highlighting the food references in four of Huysmans’ novels is at the link.

10.01.2022 Seagull Books has recently released a collection by German writer Alexander Kluge, 48 very short stories relating to the Holocaust and dedicated to German Jewish judge and prosecutor Fritz Bauer. Translated by Alta L. Price, this short book is a reminder of turning a blind eye. Read my thoughts on the collection by clicking the link.

08.01.2022 My copy of ‘Firmament’ (a magazine of considered miscellany from Sublunary Editions) arrived in the mail. Here’s a sneak peek of my contribution. I urge you all to get a copy & read what goes on in my head - and the heads of many other wonderful writers. Purchase at the link. https://sublunaryeditions.com/magazine/firmament-winter-2021

07.01.2022 I'm having a bit of a reading binge from the Decadent movement from France in the late 1800's. Today I look at 'A Decadent Woman' by Georges De Peyrebrune (translated by Brian Stableford). Although one of France's most popular female writers of the late 19th century De Peyrebrune's works have not appeared in English until this new release came along this month. More about the book and the author at the link.

06.01.2022 A short novel that is constructed like a portrait painting, some parts are lit, some are in shadow, some in complete darkness. Amina Cain's 'Indelicacy' is shortlisted for the Folio Prize and it is an enjoyable short read. More at the link (including the extremely polarised cover choices from the US and the UK).

02.01.2022 Yesterday I posted about the decadent movement in France (around the turn of the century) highlighting a novel 'The Diary of a Chambermaid' by Octave Mirbeau (translated by Douglas Jarman). Today I revisit one section of that novel, his view of nature, longing for the simpler times of the past, as opposed to another writer of the same period, JK Huysmans, who describes nature in a bleak style, a degenerate past, rusty, mournful, a gothic past. Click the link for more.

02.01.2022 Today I look at a wonderful novel from Bangladesh, 'Hellfire' by Leesa Gazi (translated from the Bengali by Shabnam Nadiya). Lovely is heading to the market today, unaccompanied for the first time in her life, it is her birthday, she is forty years old. A single day in a dysfunctional Dhaka family where the story of Lovely unfolds and then we rewind to the start of the day and see life through Lovely's mother's eyes. A really enjoyable and moving read from a country I don't visit often enough in my reading journeys. Another Women in Translation title to add to potential reading lists. More at the link.