The Glue Factory May newsletter
This monthly newsletter is to let you know about forthcoming events and/or publications involving writers and creative practitioners I admire, all of whom have appeared at our online gatherings over the years. Please do all you can to support their work.
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The Orange Notebooks
Susanna Crossman is in London this month to launch her keenly-anticipated debut novel The Orange Notebooks, ‘a dazzling novel about a mother's journey through grief to radical hope.’ Join her in the Trafalgar Square branch of Waterstones on Thursday 22nd May, when she’ll be in conversation with Catherine Taylor. This is a free event from 6pm onwards and all are welcome. Hope to see you there.
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Thanks to fiscal sponsor Fractured Atlas, it is now possible to make tax-deductible contributions to Sagging Meniscus Press, the American indie run by Jacob Smullyan (And I should declare an interest as they publish my books.) Please help them to continue to nurture and promulgate a vital literature of reinvention. https://fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/sagging-meniscus-press
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Stork news
Perhaps like me you’ve been captivated for the past month by the live feed from a storks’ nest on the Knepp Estate in Sussex. The parents Bartek and Anna both come from Poland, have been a bonded pair since 2020 and this year they’re raising three chicks. You really need to visit the site and watch their progress before they take flight.
The Knepp Estate is near the village of Storrington, which has just been recognised as the only area in the UK to be part of the Stork Villages Network across Europe. To celebrate, the locals are hosting a ‘White Stork and Nature Revival’ Festival, which takes place in and around the Chanctonbury Leisure Centre on Bank Holiday Monday 5th May 2025. It runs from 10:30 to 16:30.
Now here’s the Glue Factory connection (with apologies for the short notice): in the evening the The Bernardi Music Group will present composer Helen Ottaway’s ‘White Storks,’ a composition inspired by the Knepp Estate’s re-wilding work, as well as such bird-related pieces as Mendelssohn’s String Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20; and Handel’s Organ Concerto in F major, HWV 295, ‘The Cuckoo and the Nightingale. This is at St. Mary’s Church, Storrington, RH20 4LJ
Tickets from £25 – £35. Please use this Ticket button to order tickets.
The Little Review
A new pocket magazine for anyone interested in poetry, founded and edited by Tristram Fane Saunders in York.The first issue feature an impressive literary coup - the first appearance of a previously unpublished English translation (by Andrew Sclater) of a short story by Rilke.
There are also twenty new poems (the authors identified only by their initials, which is a neat way of sidestepping preconceptions), around twenty punchy reviews, an excellent essay on R S Thomas and no end of other good things within the chrome yellow wrappers.
And all this for only a fiver! There are launch events planned at Heifers in Cambridge (Thursday 19th June) and at Reference Point in Arundel Street, London WC2R 3DA on Monday 14th July. But it’s available to buy now. Get involved! https://www.thelittlereview.co.uk/about
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Launching in May
The Black Pool: A Memory of Forgetting by Tim MacGabhann
This is Tim’s first novel. Any of you familiar with his writing will leap on this with a glad cry and (in that antiquated analogue tradition) take the phone off the hook. It is (say the publishers) ’A raw and powerful memoir of addiction and recovery, across three continents and multiple drugs, from early childhood through adulthood.’
The launch is at Hodges Figgis in Dublin on Tuesday 27th May at 6pm.
Read an extract in The Dublin Review and buy a copy from the Guardian bookshop here
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Charles Boyle
Spare a thought for publisher Charles Boyle who last month managed to fracture a bone in his neck and is currently wearing a brace (and very stylishly, like a cybernetic ruff). He claims the injury was caused by a hibernating bear that woke up in a grumpy mood, and I see no reason to doubt that. He was on excellent form at the recent Free Verse Poetry Book Fair, and in his recent newsletter, from which I quote the following:
A not-so-good thing is that the distributor has raised charges (i.e., the percentage deducted from sales income on every book sold out of the distributor’s warehouse before it’s passed on to the publisher). And has instituted a new charge on books that sell zero copies over a 3-month period. This charge will affect a large number of CBe titles – currently including books by, among others, Caroline Clark, J. O. Morgan, Beverley Bie Brahic, Roy Watkins, Will Eaves, Dai Vaughan, Nuzhat Bukhari, David Wheatley, Julian Stannard, Dan O’Brien – and potentially, given that in the current 3-month period some other titles are selling only one or two copies, and in the next period may not even do that, many more. Selling small and slow and sometimes zero for 3 months is what many CBe titles do, and I’m fine with that, but I’m being charged here for the privilege of not making money.
Two recent titles from CB editions, both warmly recommended, are 2016 and Mrs Calder and the Hyena – and there are two more books to follow this year. In September, Patrick McGuinness: Ghost Stations: Essays and Branchlines. And 99 Interruptions, published in 2022, is down to just a few copies and needs reprinting, but instead there’ll be a revised and expanded edition: 176 Interruptions.
The CB editions website offers Season Tickets (6 books of your own choice for £50, 10 for £75), one of the best bargains in publishing.
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Podcast Corner
The Last King of Elmet Episode 3, in which the two Kevins, Messrs Duffy and Boniface, discuss: (S.A.G) St Anthony Guide, Doorstep Diorama, News from the Land of Bluemoose, A.I. and Copyright Law, Positive Mental Attitude, Fax Machines, Numismatics, Found Notes and Procrastination
New to me, Across the Pond is a podcast hosted by Texas indie bookstore owner Lori Feathers and UK publisher Sam Jordison (of Galley Beggar Press), who bring their unique perspectives on the book business, local literary trends, and author news. In each episode Lori and Sam also provide a critical take on an important book, discussing how it has been anticipated and received on either side of the pond. A spectacular cohort of guests in recent episodes include Laurent Binet, Michael Hoffman and Jonathan Coe. I can’t believe this has been running for more than 100 episodes since 2021 and I’ve only just got wind of it. My middle names are ‘Late Adopter’.
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NOT A PODCAST!
Melissa McCarthy writes:
If you happen not to live in the Glasgow radio broadcasting ambit, you might have missed my latest radio series, Who Will Win?, a three-part investigation into writing, listening, literature, and sport. Don’t worry, you can find it again here. .
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Tramp Press latest
Water in the Desert Fire in the Night by Getahn Dick will be published by Tramp Press of Dublin on 15th May. Founded in 2014 and run by Lisa Coen and Sarah Davis-Goff, Tramp is a leading indie with a magnificent backlist. They publish the likes of Sara Baume, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Mike McCormack and Joanna Walsh. Here’s the pitch for Water in the Desert Fire in the Night:
Because the thing about the end of the world is that it happens all the time.
Someone leaves and it's the end of the world.
Someone comes back and it's the end of the world.
Somebody puts their cock in you and it's the end of the world.
Somebody stops putting their cock in you and it's the end of the world.
A novel about mothering, wolves, bicycles, midwifery, post-apocalyptic feminism, gold, hunger and hope.
It's about an underachieving millennial, a retired midwife and an Irishman who set out from London after the end of the world to cycle to a sanctuary in the southern Alps. It's about the porousness of the female bodily experience, the challenges of being an empiricist with a sample size of one, what's worth knowing, what's worth living, and the necessity of irrationality. It's about the fact that the world ends all the time, and it's about what to try to do next.
More details and order here.
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Rónán Hession will be interviewing the Spanish author Agustín Fernández Mallo as part of the International Literature Festival Dublin, on Friday 16th May
“The most original and powerful author of his generation in Spain.” Mathias Énard
Full details and tickets here
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Birding in paperback!
Now available in paperback, Rose Ruane’s Birding was a fiction highlight of 2024 and is warmly recommended.
‘I have GULPED this novel down . . . Birding gave me everything I want in a novel, including a massive, cathartic cry at the end. Achingly poignant, yet ultimately hopeful, with a worn out seaside town I can see so clearly’ Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things
‘A beautiful book full of stark truths . . . Lyrical and evocative, highly recommended’ Evie King, author of Ashes to Admin
‘I’ve had my socks absolutely knocked off (again) by Rose Ruane’s latest novel Birding. It made me rage, reflect, howl with laughing, worry and blub. Gentle, strong, important and hopeful. I am in awe and couldn’t recommend it more highly’ Jessica Fostekew, writer, actor and co-host of The Guilty Feminist
In the nineties, Lydia was one half of a teen pop group. Their image was sexy, edgy, girly yet ‘in control’. The reality was very different. Now, thirty years later, with #MeToo revelations a daily reality, a famous ex-lover resurfaces with a slick, self-serving apology, demanding forgiveness. Suddenly, Lydia is overwhelmed with memories of a harmful time in her life that refuses to leave her in peace.
Meanwhile, Joyce has never left home and the suffocating grip of her mother, Betty. For decades their lives have intertwined, even wearing matching dresses and make-up, as they follow a rigid daily routine. A single misstep can send Betty spiralling, so Joyce stays inside the tracks. But something unfamiliar is rising inside Joyce – a whispered what if . . .
Against the faded backdrop of a once-grand seaside resort, Lydia and Joyce are trapped in worlds of their own making. But as they both confront their pasts – the toxic men, the forgotten dreams, the twisted expectations – fate is about to throw them together, as they wrestle with the question: Can we ever truly take flight on broken wings?
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Nearly there
A Crumpled Swan is a collection of fifty essays (all by me) prompted by a single short poem ‘In the dream of the cold restaurant,’ by Abigail Parry. Details of are on my publisher’s website here.
It’s published on 3rd June and there will be a launch event in Dublin at Hodges Figgis on Thursday 12th June, and online (date to be confirmed). Extracts will appear in Exacting Clam, The London Magazine and elsewhere.
The Dublin launch will be hosted by the indefatigable and ubiquitous Rónán Hession, with readings by Stephanie Ellyne.
The following night, and still in Dublin, I’ll be hosting an event at the James Joyce Centre as part of the Bloomsday week celebrations. It’s a kind of Dada cabaret and I’ll joined by author and poet Nuala O’Connor, Rónán Hession (again, but this time he’ll be performing as his musical alter ego Mumbling Deaf Ro), with readings by Stephanie Ellyne and (to be confirmed at the time of writing) one other VERY special guest. Friday 13th June from 7pm. Tickets are available from the Joyce Centre website closer to the date
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The Barbellion Prize
Finally - I’m delighted to be working with author Jake Goldsmith and others to re-launch the Barbellion Prize in September. This, you’ll know, is a prize for disabled writers which Jake created, funded and ran single-handedly. For health reasons it’s been on hiatus for the past two years, but will be back later this year. Since the last newsletter we’ve commissioned a revamped website, progressed application for Arts Council funding (a long shot but worth the effort) and there are fund-raising events at the planning stage. More news next time and meanwhile here’s the current website.
That’s all for now. If you’re still reading this, thank you.
David
PS Authors and indie publishers - let me know if you have a book coming out or a project you’d like to promote and I’ll be happy to include details in future newsletters. These will be monthly, more or less, throughout the year, and I’d appreciate any notifications by the end of February. And do let me know if you’d rather not be on the mailing list and I’ll happily stop badgering you. D.
