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Inpress Books

Dear Reader,

One of my highlights on the Inpress website this week was an illuminating blog post by Harry Gallon, author of the forthcoming novel The Shapes of Dogs' Eyes. Talking about his development as a writer, and what it's like working with an independent publisher it's a fascinating insight into an exciting new talent.

We also heard from Antony Dunn, writer, poet and editor of Ex-Libris, a collection of poems by the late David Hughes published by Valley Press. We asked him a few questions about the process, and he was kind enough to answer

As further proof that we really are spoiling you we also have a brand new, hot off the press blog from IRON Press powerhouse Peter Mortimer musing on the peculiarities of his life as an independent publisher.

Writers, editors and publishers, we salute you! 

Yours,

Rebecca

 
 
 
 

the terrible

the terrible
 
 
 
 

Daniel Sluman’s bleak brilliance in the terrible is a masterclass in the power of poetry to confront some of the most difficult subject matter with accuracy and painstaking openness. These are rigorous and exacting poems, that dare to go to some of the darkest places and interrogate a bare language to speak out with truthful precision.

Daniel Sluman’s new collection explores acute and chronic, emotional and physical pain (and, albeit less often, pleasure) with a raw, compelling urgency. At times playful, at times harrowing, the terrible always brims with life.

Carrie Etter

 
 
 
 

The Learned Goose

The Learned Goose
 
 
 
 

The Learned Goose is a collection preoccupied with storytelling and the search for answers, often in surprising and ill-considered places.

The learned goose was a genuine 18th century touring sensation: a goose that could predict the future, tell time and read you like a book.

From reimagining historical petit récits to contemporary misgivings, The Learned Goose is a compendium of voices. The collection is arranged into fairytale motifs: Taboo Tales, Tales without Magic and Tales of Rebirth; a reminder of why we turn to words for comfort.

 
 
 
 

Dry Season

Dry Season
 
 
 
 

Gabriela Babnik’s novel Dry Season takes on the themes of racism, the role of women in modern society and the loneliness of the human condition.

A record of an unusual love affair between Anna, a 62-year-old designer from Central Europe, and Ismael, a 27-year-old African who was brought up, victimised, and abused on the street. What unites them is the loneliness of their bodies, a tragic childhood and the dry season, or ‘Harmattan’, during which neither nature nor love is able to flourish.

Cleverly written as an alternating narrative of both sides in the relationship, the novel is interlaced with magic realism and accurately perceived fragments of African political reality.

 
 
 
 
 

What's our Poem of the Week?

 
 
 
 
Kissing Angles
 
 
 

From the archives...

American-British poet Sarah Fletcher made her literary debut at fourteen in The London Magazine. Here, we have her first collection of poetry on what it is to be an adult in the modern age. Dates disappoint in surprising ways, matadors give way to hairdressers, and 21st century life is shadowed by the glamour and squalor of a 20th century that refuses to die. Fletcher’s coyly confessional poetry places the reader in the here and now and speaks volumes about social issues in contemporary life.

 
 
 
 
Blog of the Week
 
 
 

Blog of the Week

Smokestack poet Amir Darwish was on BBC Radio 4 Start the Week, speaking on his tremendous journey to the publication of his poetry collection Don’t Forget the Couscous. Joined by Claudia Rankine, Catherine Fletcher and Jules Holroyd, they discussed myth, exile, injustice, and the role of the poet.

 
 
 
 
 

Click here to see our complete list of November titles.