June newsletter

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The Glue Factory June newsletter

This newsletter is to let you know about forthcoming events and/or publications

involving writers and creative practitioners I admire, all of whom have taken part in

our online gatherings over the last few years and who will therefore be familiar to

many of you.

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Blowing my own trumpet

Published on 3rd June, 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. The first launch event is

in Dublin at Hodges Figgis bookshop on Thursday 12th June. There are plans for a London launch later

in the year and details will follow. For those of you unable to get to Dublin or London there will also be an 

online launch later in the summer. You can pre-order the book on my publisher’s website here.

An extract from A Crumpled Swan appears in the June/July issue of The London Magazine, which can 

be ordered here.On Friday 13th June I’ll be in Dublin for a second night, hosting a live Dada cabaret at the 

James Joyce Centre, part of their Bloomsday week celebrations. I’ll be joined by Rónán Hession (in a rare 

appearance as his musical alter ego Mumblin’ Deaf Ró) performing with his son Jacob; performer Stephanie 

Ellyne and the poet/novelist Nuala O’Connor for an evening of readings, music, performance

and natter. Details and tickets here. Copies of Multiple Joyce (2022) will be available.

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Julian Stannard klaxon!

Julian Stannard will be launching his campus novel The

University of Bliss at 49 Great Ormond Street (London)

on Tuesday 17th June. Drinks at six followed by

readings : all welcome !

‘This is a work of high satire and Stannard vents his

frustration with more than a touch of Swiftian saeva

indignatio. His ridicule is extreme and addictively

readable.” (Spectator) Order a copy here.

Julian will share the evening with the poet Zarina Rafiq, who is coming over from

Italy to read from her book Postcards from An Ordinary Day.

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Brrrrm brrrmm!

Pillion is a new film based on the novella Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones published

by Fitzcarraldo Editions. It was screened last month at the Cannes Film Festival and attracted this

glowing review by The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw (“…like a cross between Alan Bennett and Tom of

Finland with perhaps a tiny smidgen of what could be called a BDSM Wallace and Gromit.”)

Adam writes very entertainingly about his time on the red carpet in Cannes for The Guardian here. 

Buy Box Hill here

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Buzz buzz!

Just announced, The Bee Magazine (‘a home for working

Class Writers and Readers’) will be edited by Richard

Benson and published twice a year, the first issue being in

autumn 2025. It will contain short fiction, extracts, non-

fiction, poetry and art. Look out for this.

Podcast Corner

Here’s episode 4 of The Last King of Elmet in which the Two Kevins, Duffy and

Boniface, discuss being called Kevin; brief encounters with Mr Briggs; Kevin B’s

London Trip, pipe smoking, coach travel etc. Includes a humiliating but true account

of my own wardrobe malfunction during my last trip to Dublin a year ago.

In late May I recorded a Bloomsday-linked podcast for Robin Allender, who curates a

substack called The Allender Calender (with the lovely design iinspired by the Berthold Wolpe 

cover of The Hawk in the Rain by Ted Hughes). This will be shared on or around 

Monday 16th June.

I urge you to listen to an earlier episode in this series - an absolutely extraordinary

and illuminating interview with author Evie King whose book Ashes to Admin: Tales

from the Caseload of a Council Funeral Officer (2023) is a profound and intensely

moving account of her job.

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Wendy Erskine klaxon!

Wendy Erskine’s keenly-anticipated first novel The

Benefactors will be published by Sceptre on Thursday

19th June. This follows her two acclaimed collections of

short stories Sweet Home and Dance Moves which (in my

view) have done for Belfast what Joyce did for Dublin in

Dubliners. Described as ‘a daring, polyphonic

presentation of modern-day Northern Ireland.’ 

It was recently featured in The Observer’s list of ’most exciting

debut novels for 2025.Wendy will be at the LRB Bookshop in Bloomsbury 

on Thursday 26th June from 7pm, in conversation with Sheena Patel. Tickets here.

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Belated congratulations

Last month saw the launch of Susanna Crossman’s very fine novel The Orange

Notebooks, published by the mighty Bluemoose Books. Here she is, flanked by her

agent Jessica Craig and publisher Kevin Duffy.

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Johnny White Really-Really

Some of you will know the name. Some of you will have seen and heard this

miraculously gifted comedian, writer and musician at the launch of Kevin Boniface’s

short story collection Sports and Social.

Johnny has just launched ‘From the Booth,’ a new Weekly Story

Subscription Service and you can sign up here. You can (and really

really should) follow Johnny White Really-Really on Bluesky :

@johnnywreallyx2.bsky.social

Leonard and Hungry Paul on the telly

Announced last week, the six-part telly adaptation of Rónán Hession’s acclaimed

debut novel Leonard and Hangry Paul has started filming in Ireland. It’s a six-part

series that will feature Alex Lawther, Laurie Kynaston and Jamie-Lee O’Donnell

(below) Plenty of details here.

Following the extraordinary small screen version of The Gallows Pole by Benjamin

Myers, publisher Bluenose Books is fats becoming the Hollywood of Hebden Bridge.

You can watch Shane Meadows’ series on BBCiPlayer (but only in the UK) and I

expect Leonard and Hungry Paul will be released before the end of this year

(apparently on iPlayer and BBC3). Congratulations to all.

It was also confirmed last month that Leonard will be

included as one of the novels on the Republic of Ireland’s Junior Certificate

curriculum, and form part of the exams in 2028-2030. 

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And finally

We’re working with Jake Goldsmith and others to re-launch the Barbellion Prize.

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 in September. Special thanks to

Gav Clarke who is currently working on the new

website. Watch this space!

That’s all for now. If you’re still reading this, thank you.

These are dark times. Let’s keep the lights on.

DavidPS 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.