Sunday, 29 May 2022

Newsletter 34

A word from the Archbishop of Canterbury by way of introduction:

 

The gloomy implication being that, if such standards in public life are now something to rediscover, then they are no longer self-evident. 


Enough. Every Sunday The Glue Factory newsletter will bring to your attention the kind of things you need to know.


I welcome suggestions from authors, indie publishers, press agents and creative practitioners of all kinds, in any medium, so please email me with anything you’d like to share with our readers in future issues. 


And don’t forget that if you receive this newsletter you’ll also get an invitation to the live online gathering on Sundays at 7:30pm UK time. They are always free to join (but donations to The Trussell Trust or your local equivalent outside the UK are appreciated).


Let me know if you’d rather not receive this regular update and I’ll happily stop bothering you.  


Let’s stick together.


David



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Newsletter contents



1 Aid for Ukraine


2 This week’s online gathering


3 Indie press news


     Sagging Meniscus Press

     Tilted Axis Press

     Indie book fair in Peckham


4 Claire-Louise Bennett in The New Yorker


5 Sara Baume in conversation


6 Wynne-win situation


7 Multiple Joyce launch events (reminder)


8 Banana monarchy


9 Chiara Ambrosio exhibition at the Horse Hospital


10 Manchester Fiction Prize 2022


11 Hammersmith Irish Centre bequest and exhibition


12 Nudge


13 About next week





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1. Aid for Ukraine



Newscast by Ian Hamilton


The Vietnam war drags on

In one corner of our living-room.

The conversation turns

To take it in.

Our smoking heads

Drift back to us

From the grey fires of South-east Asia.


And the Ukraine war drags on, disastrously. You’ll have many calls on your time and generosity when it comes to supporting the people of Ukraine and the ghastly term ‘compassion fatigue’ has been circulating. This weekly newsletter will continue to highlight some of the less visible initiatives, but the most far-reaching programme is the British Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal. You can donate here.


Ian Hamilton poem (c) Faber and Faber/The Ian Hamilton estate

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2. This week’s online gathering


This week's online gathering (starting on Sunday at 7:30pm UK time) will feature the hugely popular 1940s author Nigel Balchin with his biographer Derek Collett and academic Luke Seaber, who has a special interest in the period.


In the second half we welcome back Vik Shirley and her guests Cassandra Atherton, Tom Jenks and Ian Seed. I have no idea what they have in store for us, and that's just how I like it.


________________________________



3. Indie Press news



Multiple Joyce London launch: Glue Factory subscriber discount


A plug for my forthcoming books from the New York indie Sagging Meniscus Press.If you're free and have something better to do a great way to spend the evening of Monday 27th June is at the Irish Literary Society in Bloomsbury. I'll be launching Multiple Joyce: 100 short essays about James Joyce's cultural legacy, in conversation with Ronán Hession and with some very special guests. Copies of the book will be on sale and I'll be happy to deface them personally at the point of sale. 



 



It's free to ILS members and £10 to non-members BUT Glue Factory subscribers get a 50% discount by entering the 'Buke' when booking. So a night out in the West End for a fiver. How's that? 


https://irishlitsoc.org/event/multiple-joyce/


Monday 27th June

7:30 - 9pm

The Bloomsbury Hotel

The Bloomsbury Hotel, 

16-22 Great Russell Street

London, WC1B 3NN 


Nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road (Central and Northern lines)



There's also a Dublin launch on 16th June at Hodges Figgis (the bookshop that's mentioned in Ulysses). I'll be joined by Nuala O'Connor (author of the brilliant novel NORA) and we'll have readings by Stephanie Elleyne. 

https://www.waterstones.com/events/multiple-joyce-book-launch/dublin-hodges-figgis



Indies dominate International Booker Prize 


Four out of five books from this year's International Booker shortlist are by independent publishers: @CharcoPress, @FitzcarraldoEds, @TiltedAxisPress, @honfordstar.


The winner was ‘Tomb of Sand’ by Geetanjali Shree, translated from Hindi to English by @shreedaisy and published by @tiltedaxispress


Congratulations to the judges and all shortlisted publishers and authors.


Sumer is icumen in


And finally, a second plug for this indie book fair in South London on 11th June:




____________________


4. Claire-Louise Bennett in The New Yorker


I have nothing to add to that headline. Click on this link and I'll see you back here in 15 minutes:


https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/05/30/invisible-bird


____________________


5. Sara Baume in conversation


One of our favourite Irish writers (and her latest novel Seven Steeples is attracting wild acclaim) Listen to this exceptional #writer talking about life, art and writing

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6IUlbJbAG9BaQRXKjGD6E0?si=oC1MLvXIRkG_i9CvzNhrtQ&nd=1

____________________



6. Wynne-win situation 


Winner of the 2022 Dublin Lit Award is Alice Zeniter's The Art of Losing, translated from the French by Frank Wynne: https://www.rte.ie/culture/2022/0523/1300670-french-author-alice-zeniter-wins-2022-dublin-literary-award/


Frank it so happens, was the very first guest on the very first online gathering in March 2020, when he appeared to talk about his superb translation of Animalia by Jean-Baptiste del'Amo.


Since then he's made numerous appearances - launching his magnificent QUEER anthology, appearing unforgettably in a double act with Julian Stannard as Tweedledum and Tweedledee in our live pantomime Through the Looking-glass and (you'll remember this if you were lucky enough to be there) in the after party for our Beckett poetry night.


Congratulations Frank!


____________________



7. Multiple Joyce launch events



Did I mention before that I've got a new book coming out next month? 


Multiple Joyce: 100 short essays about James Joyce's cultural legacy is published by Sagging Meniscus Press and there are two launch events:


Thursday June 16th Hodges Figgis in Dublin. A Bloomsday gathering in Dublin's leading bookshop (which is mentioned in Ulysses). I'm delighted that I'll be joined on the night by Nuala O'Connor (author of NORA, the brilliant novel selected as this year's One Dublin One Book campaign). Stephanie Elleyne will do some readings (and there's a serendipitous connection between her and James Joyce that some of you will know). Other guests are lined up. 6pm onwards. All welcome.


Monday June 27th Irish Literary Society, London. I'll be in conversation with Rónán Hession (who wrote the very generous foreword to my book, which just goes to show that no good deed goes unpunished). 


Details and tickets here.


Other dates and venues to be confirmed.


There will also be a modest online launch during our regular Sunday online gathering on 12th June.


____________________


8. Banana monarchy


In the week the Prime Minister deleted all references to integrity, honesty, transparency and accountability in his introduction to the Ministerial Code, only one contemporary artist has his finger on the pulse of how we live now.


Coldwar Steve's magnificent Platinum Jubilee commemoration is now available as a FREE high res download: we.tl/t-xbH44lzMw0 Giant Charity Postcard:

coldwarsteve.bigcartel.com/product/the-co Signed, numbered limited editions:

coldwarsteve.bigcartel.com/product/the-co


As a footnote, I took a walk up and down our local high street yesterday and noted that, of the 83 businesses trading there, only four had any kind of decoration to mark the forthcoming Platinum Jubilee. They were:


W. H. Smith: poster in window offering '3 for 2 on Jubilee partyware'

Rymans: poster in window offering 'Jubilant deal' (half-price sharpies for £7.49)

Private opticians: single chain of bunting and 'ironic' cut-out corgi

Kitchenware shop: single chain of bunting and 3 union flags stuck in jugs


There's no bunting anywhere else - the local church, banks, cafes and so on. The local Sainsburys had quite a lot of bunting strung above the check outs. And that's it. So there's that. 

____________________



9. Chiara Ambrosio at The Horse  Hospital


Come to a private view of "RAFT- A Fragile Display", Chiara's exhibition, residency and festival at The Horse Hospital in Holborn, opening on Friday 10th of June, 6-9pm! https://www.thehorsehospital.com/events/chiara-ambrosio-raft

This will be the culmination of her very long project about London including an upcoming feature film, her monthly radio show on Resonance 104.4fm "Raft- A London Story" (https://raftalondonstory.com/), and a body of work on paper, photography and printed matter.

Part exhibition, part shrine, part alchemical laboratory, RAFT is a fragile display, a constellation, a monument, a temporary site-specific configuration of people, objects, practices, ideas, histories, dreams and visions.

Chiara will be working inside the exhibition space on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, from 12-6, please feel free to come in for a chat, to share some stories, to listen to some music and dream together a while...

As part of this exhibition, she has also devised a RAFT festival; this programme emerges from a deep urge to celebrate alternative and eccentric narratives, voices, and bodies, tracing the lines of connection between them to create a vision of the city as a garden, where chance collisions, juxtaposition, collaboration and personal histories create a radical alchemy; a powerful and hopeful alternative communal space- a vessel- to hold our collective dreams and expectations together and
 afloat. 

You can find more info on programming, times and tickets here: https://www.thehorsehospital.com/whats-on

RAFT- A FRAGILE DISPLAY runs until the 8th of July.

 ____________________


10 Manchester Fiction Prize 2022


Congratulations to Leone Ross, who was this week announced as winner of the Manchester Fiction Prize.


With thanks to Simon Okotie (one of the judges) the six shortlisted stories are available to read here: https://mmu.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2022-05/2021-Manchester-Fiction-Prize-shortlist.pdf


And (sticking with Simon) here's a link to an engaging piece he wrote for the Financial Times this weekend: https://www.ft.com/content/42fd3829-be39-404f-87b2-98c71c3a560f

____________________


11 Hammersmith Irish Centre bequest and exhibition


The son of the artist Carl Kohler has generously donated his father's portraits of leading Irish writers to the Irish Centre in Hammersmith, which will be the basis for a forthcoming exhibition: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/irish-cultural-centre-in-london-gifted-portraits-of-joyce-beckett-and-behan-by-artist-carl-kohler-1.3955073

____________________


12 Nudge
David Collard
Reply
Simon Okotie
@SimonOkotie
'The Firm' by
@OhDannyBoyShhh
is a stunning satire of corporate culture. Intimately familiar with the habits and rituals of modern office life, it deploys ironic distance to devastating effect. At turns searing and chilling, it is also very funny.
1
Simon Okotie
@SimonOkotie
'What I Need To Tell You Now' by
@peckhamshell
recounts the doorstep encounters of a lockdown census-taker. Its incantatory prose provides a poignant, powerful glimpse into lives lived during these long pandemic years, and the humanity that can exist on both sides of officialdom.
1
Simon Okotie
@SimonOkotie
'The Ishtar Pin' by
@SarahHegarty1
conveys the tender tragedy of a father-son conflict in the ruins of a Middle Eastern warzone. Its atmospheric yearning encompasses the fragility of memory, ancient civilisation and culture, and the durability of love.
1
1
Simon Okotie
@SimonOkotie
I have particularly enjoyed describing the premise of 'Sweet Boy' by
@NicholasRuddock
to friends. The coming-of-age story of a young man dusting for Prince, the musician, at his mansion in Chanhassen, it flawlessly demonstrates the boundless possibilities of the short-story form.
1
Simon Okotie
@SimonOkotie
'Quarry' by Naomi Wood - the cathartic, structurally inventive, wonderfully innovative story of a taciturn husband caring for his dying wife - made me cry.
1
Simon Okotie
@SimonOkotie
'When We Went Gallivanting' by
@leoneross
is a story that will resonate - and, I hope, be studied - for many years to come. An astonishing, seemingly inexhaustible post-Grenfell magic-realist fable, its vivacious multi-faceted humour belies the depth of its social commentary.
1
Simon Okotie
@SimonOkotie
It was such a privilege to be in the presence of these incredible authors at last night's prize-giving. My two regrets: not having the chance to chat to you
@SarahHegarty1
(my mingling left much to be desired - another time, I hope) and not taking more (or any!) photos.
1
1
12 write more about the six extraordinary stories later.
Simon Okotie
@SimonOkotie
'The Firm' by
@OhDannyBoyShhh
is a stunning satire of corporate culture. Intimately familiar with the habits and rituals of modern office life, it deploys ironic distance to devastating effect. At turns searing and chilling, it is also very funny.
1
Simon Okotie
@SimonOkotie
'What I Need To Tell You Now' by
@peckhamshell
recounts the doorstep encounters of a lockdown census-taker. Its incantatory prose provides a poignant, powerful glimpse into lives lived during these long pandemic years, and the humanity that can exist on both sides of officialdom.
1
Simon Okotie
@SimonOkotie
'The Ishtar Pin' by
@SarahHegarty1
conveys the tender tragedy of a father-son conflict in the ruins of a Middle Eastern warzone. Its atmospheric yearning encompasses the fragility of memory, ancient civilisation and culture, and the durability of love.
1
1
Simon Okotie
@SimonOkotie
I have particularly enjoyed describing the premise of 'Sweet Boy' by
@NicholasRuddock
to friends. The coming-of-age story of a young man dusting for Prince, the musician, at his mansion in Chanhassen, it flawlessly demonstrates the boundless possibilities of the short-story form.
1
Simon Okotie
@SimonOkotie
'Quarry' by Naomi Wood - the cathartic, structurally inventive, wonderfully innovative story of a taciturn husband caring for his dying wife - made me cry.
1
Simon Okotie
@SimonOkotie
'When We Went Gallivanting' by
@leoneross
is a story that will resonate - and, I hope, be studied - for many years to come. An astonishing, seemingly inexhaustible post-Grenfell magic-realist fable, its vivacious multi-faceted humour belies the depth of its social commentary.
1
Simon Okotie
@SimonOkotie
It was such a privilege to be in the presence of these incredible authors at last night's prize-giving. My two regrets: not having the chance to chat to you
@SarahHegarty1
(my mingling left much to be desired - another time, I hope) and not taking more (or any!) photos.
1
1

Food banks in the Trussell Trust's UK network gave out 2.1 million food parcels to people facing hardship between April 2021 and March 2022 and, can you believe, 830,000 of these were given to children. Read this Byline Times piece and think about donating. Thank you https://bylinetimes.com/2022/05/13/food-bank-britain/



_____________________________________



13 Next week's online gathering


Join us on 5th June when Dr Penny McCarthy will share her thoughts on the dating of Shakespeare's plays and Alexander Waugh will argue against Shakepeare's authorship of them, with readings by Michael Hughes, Samuel Skoog and myself, a song by soprano Anna Kenyon, poetry from Nuzhat Bukhari, our raving reporter Melissa McCarthy and news of an exciting new literary project.



And that’s it from The Glue Factory for this week. Thank you all for your continued interest and support. Please spread the word, and let’s stick together. 





David

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