#comma press

By M Lynx Qualey Each anthology of near-future fiction in Comma Press’s “Futures Past” series has had a distinctly different flavor. The stories in Iraq + 100, ed. Hassan Blasim, are set in 2103, a hundred years after the disastrous US-led invasion, and many of them map the catastrophic aftereffects of this war.  Palestine + 100, ed. Basma Ghalayini, is set a hundred years after the 1948 Nakba,…

Today I want to share with you a rather wonderful collection of short stories which came my way recently. The book is entitled “True North” by Sara Maitland, and it’s released by an indie publisher who’s made regular appearances on the Ramblings – Comma Press. I’ve covered a number of their city-focused anthologies as well as releases by M. John Harrison. However, Maitland is an author new to me…

HOSTED BY COMMAPRESS, MANCHESTER IN TRANSLATION WILL BE A SERIES OF FREE ONLINE WORKSHOPS AND PANELS OFFERING ADVICE AND INSIGHT INTO THE WORLD OF TRANSLATION.

Taking place over three days from 19-21 Feb 2024, the event will be an opportunity for budding translators – or those with a passion for languages – to develop practical skills for literary translation, learn about the life of the translator and discover paths to publication.

The online conference will begin with a keynote from an award-winning translator, followed by two panel events and three workshops focusing on literary translation from Arabic, as well as both a European language and one of Manchester’s community languages (Arabic, German and Bangla/Bengali) into English.

IMLD 2024: MANCHESTER IN TRANSLATION

DATE: 19-21 February 2024

TIME: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

PRICE: Free

THEME; Languages

ORGANISER: Comma Press

BOOK TICKETS

By ArabLit Staff Political scientist and multi-award-winning novelist Gazan Atef Abu Saif — author of the moving The Drone Eats with Me, an account of the 2014 bombardment of Gaza — has a new book coming near-simultaneously from at least eight publishers in seven languages. The book, Don’t Look Left: A Diary of a Genocide, is composed of diary-like reminiscences that offer a first-hand,…

As you might have noticed from my end of November post, I read a good number of short story collections during that month. Two of those were focused around stories from specific cities, and the one I want to talk about today is from an indie publisher I’ve mentioned before on the Ramblings – Comma Press. As well as publishing excellent collections by M. John Harrison, they’ve also released a…

August is, of course Women in Translation month, and I’ve taken part in this wonderful event for many years now. However, we’re quite well into the month now and I haven’t covered anything for WIT yet – so let’s put that right today, with a book from a lovely indie press! The publisher is Comma Press, and I’ve featured several of their books on the Ramblings, including a couple of wonderful…

Listen: Maya Abu al-Hayyat’s ‘The Gap’

By ArabLit Staff In celebration of Women in Translation Month (#WiTMonth), Comma Press has shared author Maya Abu al-Hayyat reading her short story “The Gap” in the original Arabic as well as in Yasmine Seale’s English translation. The story appears in the collection All Walls Collapse, ed. Will Forrester and Sarah Cleave, alongside work by Hassan Blasim, Zahra El-Hasnaui, Kyung-Sook Shin,…

#ReadIndies – some independent publishers from my shelves!

As you might have noticed, we’re edging ever closer to February and Reading Independent Publishers Month! Hopefully you’ve all been trawling your TBRs to find suitable reads, or even purchasing the odd book or three to help support our smaller presses. However, I thought it might be nice to share a few images of some of my indie books – let’s face it, gratuitous pictures of books are always fun,…