| https://mailchi.mp/tramppress/thanks-for-reading-may25 Thu, May 8, 2025 Dear Friends, It’s a lovely sunny day! Here are some reasons to get our bookish selves out and about this month! (And some book recommendations if you’d rather stay in and avoid sun damage; we understand.) First up, it’s launch time!This Thursday, join us for the launch of Water in the Desert, Fire in the Night, the striking and unforgettable debut novel by Gethan Dick. Tense, funny, and richly imagined, this end-of-the-world road trip novel will be launched in Hodges Figgis, Dublin, on 15 May at 6pm, with very special guest Mike McCormack.You can now pre-order your copy from Kennys, The Gutter Bookshop, Foyles, Waterstones, your favourite independent bookseller, or directly from us. Buy the ebook Upcoming Events ILFD: To Begin at the Beginning with Gethan Dick and Patrick Holloway Saturday 17 May | International Literature Festival DublinJoin us at ILFD for a panel with Gethan Dick and Patrick Holloway called ‘To Begin at the Beginning’. ‘The thing about the end of the world is that it happens all the time’: Two exciting, energetic debuts explore the search for meaning and the wonderful mystery of humanity. In conversation with poet and co-host of the Books for Breakfast podcast, Enda Wyley. Tickets here. Daily Debut: Lost Voices & Old Romantics with Jack Fennell and Maggie Armstrong June 1st | Kerry Writers’ Museum | Part of Listowel Writers’ Week (28 May–1 June)Join two of Ireland’s most exciting contemporary writers for a conversation about memory, storytelling, and literary discovery. Maggie Armstrong presents her debut short-story collection, Old Romantics – a sharp, tender exploration of the awkward spaces between expectation and reality. Jack Fennell introduces Your Own Dark Shadow, the latest installment in our Recovered Voices series, shining a light on forgotten voices from Ireland’s literary past.Together, they’ll discuss the creative process, the power of rediscovery, and the evolving tradition of Irish storytelling. Tickets here. Other News In April, the Prix littéraire des Ambassadeurs de la Francophonie was presented to Tramp Press author Doireann Ní Ghríofa and her translator Elisabeth Peellaert for A Ghost in the Throat/Un Fantôme Dans la Gorge. We published Ghost in 2020, in the early months of global lockdown. It is a literary sensation, won multiple awards and has been translated multiple times, with support from Literature Ireland. We are very proud to see the continued recognition of Doireann’s talent, especially with a prize that awards a translator too, as fans of the book will know that the story is about the creative ambition of working in translation. Congratulations to Doireann and Elisabeth Peellaert!Buy A Ghost in the Throat And finally, Recommendations from Team Tramp Sarah I saw in the Bookseller that author Jane Gardam died. It’s always sad of course when a writer you love dies but it does present an opportunity to take delight again in their work: I’d just been reading A Long Way From Verona a couple of weeks ago and if you haven’t come across it it’s really worth treating yourself. The voice and intensity and the humour are so unusual. Right now, I’m reading The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. I’m aware that both of these are classics, making a note to read something contemporary next! I’m listening to the album Horror by Bartees Strange, recommended by my friend Louise Hodgson who has thank goodness been telling me what to listen to for the last three decades. Lisa Speaking of horror, Grady Hendrix’s Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is a horror novel set in 1970s Florida, where a group of teenagers are sequestered in a care home until their babies are born and put up for adoption. It’s a familiar story of cruelty, with the delicious twist that a mobile library visits every two weeks, and the librarian gives one of the girls a book on witchcraft. It pays homage to Ira Levin, Stephen King, The Craft and a little bit of Matilda. The author did a lot of research that gives the story real weight. I thought the scariest scenes were the ones with childbirth and the way the system treats its most vulnerable, and not, say, the magic spells that gave people violent gooey illnesses. 10/10 summery fun.I’m excited for the new Fallow Media journal and I just loved Ian Maleney’s article for the Irish Times about it, opening with a note on the ‘dark forest’ theory of the internet. It made me sad to think of the heyday of Irish Twitter and the easy way literary people made connections then. By the way, we’re now on Bluesky and finding it promising!That’s it for now. Thanks for reading and see you at the launch! Team Tramp We are grateful for the support of The Arts Council. |