Twisted Spoon Press

17/09/2024

" 'Flaneur' is a complex and not always easy book to read; yet perseverance brings great rewards if you sink yourself into the prose and just let it wash over you. The writing is often lyrical, obviously that of a poet, and the atmospheric prose does transport you into the past of the city."

Nice to hear Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings' thoughts on Vítězslav Nezval's "A Prague Flaneur." To be honest, we were not sure how his sometimes over the top Stalin praise would land, but most seem astute enough to understand the context without giving Nezval a pass on his views, nor should he be given a pass.

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2024/09/17/i-shall-never-consent-to-contribute-to-a-universal-dejection-twistspoonpress-apragueflaneur/

As I’ve mentioned several times on the Ramblings, a favourite indie publisher is Twisted Spoon, an outfit based in Prague. I’ve reviewed a number of their books here, most recently the …

15/09/2024

"At its heart, THE UNFINISHED LIFE OF PHOEBE HICKS is a quirky love letter to the city of Providence."

Jess Jensen Mitchell reviews Agnieszka Taborska's book of collage-fiction with art by Selena Kimball in Ursula Phillips's new translation from the Polish: https://www.full-stop.net/2024/09/13/reviews/jessjensenmitchell/the-unfinished-life-of-phoebe-hicks-agnieszka-taborska/.

13/09/2024

"Reading the list of aphorisms in one sitting feels a touch overwhelming: each maxim is a finely-cut gem of philosophy that deserves its own moment of contemplation."

11/09/2024

The latest issue of The Berliner Magazine has a review of The Unfinished Life of Phoebe Hicks by Mathilde Montpetit, who says this:
"This book – atmospherically interspersed with collages by Selena Kimball – stays with you long after the seance is over."

Full review here:

A review of The Unfinished Life of Phoebe Hicks in the September 2024 issue of The Berliner

07/09/2024

Yes.

Physical copies are currently in the mail but we will make a PDF version available for download in the next couple of days...

04/09/2024

Happy 90th to Jan Švankmajer. Known best for his films and objects, his book illustrations are no less a marvel.
For example, Baradla Cave : https://www.twistedspoon.com/baradla-cave.html

Dnes slaví své 90. narozeniny významný český filmový režisér, scenárista, výtvarník a surrealista Jan Švankmajer, který svým dílem ovlivnil nejen českou, ale i světovou kinematografii.

Jan Švankmajer se podílel na několika kultovních snímcích, jako jsou Adéla ještě nevečeřela, Tajemství hradu v Karpatech, Deváté srdce, Upír z Feratu či Něco z Alenky.

Jeho unikátní styl a imaginaci obdivují i světoví filmaři jako Tim Burton nebo Terry Gilliam.

Přejeme všechno nejlepší!

11/08/2024

125 years ago today, the birth of Jindřich Štyrský. Died too young, but left his mark.

Jindřich Štyrský, a Czech painter, photographer, graphic artist, publisher, writer, poet, and stage designer for the Liberated Theatre, was a man of boundless talent.

08/08/2024

With the recent passing of Annie Le Brun, Kenneth Cox of the Leeds Surrealist Group (Phosphor - a surrealist luminescence) has translated her new preface to a recent reprint of Qui vive. A necessary corrective and reminder amid all the anniversary clamor and attendant productions, many thanks to Kenneth for doing this and making it available.

To mark Annie Le Brun’s death on 29th July 2024, I have translated the introduction that she wrote for the new, augmented edition of Qui vive: Considérations actuelles sur l’inactualité du surréali…

31/07/2024

17/07/2024

Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings unequivocally recommends Agnieszka Taborska's The Unfinished Life of Phoebe Hicks (tr. by Ursula Phillips):

"As I read through this wonderful book, I realised that Phoebe Hicks had to be a construct, created quite brilliantly by her author and blended with history."

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2024/07/17/the-absence-of-order-between-the-worlds-twistspoonpress/

29/06/2024

Thanks to the Polish Book Institute for supporting the translation.

Ukazał się angielski przekład książki „Niedokończonego życia Phoebe Hicks” Agnieszki Taborskiej. Wydanie tłumaczenia pióra Ursuli Phillips wsparliśmy w ramach Programu Translatorskiego ©POLAND.

Przekład wydała niezależna oficyna Twisted Spoon Press która ma siedzibę w Pradze, ale zajmuje się przybliżaniem zachodnim czytelnikom literatury z krajów Europy Środkowej i Wschodniej.

03/06/2024

All three of our Kafka editions are translated by Kevin Blahut, as are the Kafka excerpts in Jiří Kolář's "Responses • Kafka's Prague."

28/05/2024

The Unfinished Life of Phoebe Hicks by Agniezska Taborska (tr. by Ursula Phillips) with collage artwork by Selena Kimball is back from the printer. It will available from the distributors in the UK in (late) July and in the US in November, but can be preordered from us here: https://www.twistedspoon.com/unfinished-life-of-phoebe-hicks.html

About the book:
Phoebe Hicks owes her unexpected career as a spiritualist to a photograph taken of her through her bedroom window after having eaten spoiled clams. What comes out of her mouth is taken to be ectoplasm, and word spreads that she is able to commune with the dead. As the prototype for the medium, she establishes the standard for how a séance should be conducted during the sessions held in her Providence, Rhode Island, home where a growing number of curious participants witness materializations of such figures as Ivan the Terrible, Harry Houdini, Catherine the Great, Hatshepsut, Elizabeth Báthory, and a host of others. Told as a compilation of episodes conjoined with Selena Kimball’s haunting collages, The Unfinished Life of Phoebe Hicks is a feminist surrealist exploration of the rise of Spiritualism and the role of the medium in 19th-century America alongside the expectations, and constraints, imposed on women.

21/05/2024

Thanks to Minor Literatures for posting some of Alex Booth's translations of Gerhard Rühm from our recent edition. Hopefully more to come.
Here's the actual link:

tablesonatina props :a little table with a metal plate, matchbox, sparkler, bottle of piccolo sekt, slender sekt glass; microphone(s) to amplify the sound.1. movementthe bottle of sekt is opened. t…

10/04/2024

20/03/2024

In American Book Review, Allan Graubard reviews The Illuminated Burrow by Max Blecher, tr. Gabi Reigh

A couple fo quotes:
"[Blecher] leaves an imperishable sense of having drawn you in so thoroughly that the book he has made of his body – this riposte to the illness that ravaged him – and his metaphorical title, illuminated burrow, lives on the page as if it were off it."

"He didn't know what to do. Rightly so. But Gabi Reigh did, with her lucid and vivacious translation."

More here:
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/17/article/921784

order here:
https://www.twistedspoon.com/illuminated-burrow.html

More about Blecherand his work here also by the author: Adventures inImmediate Irreality Scarred Hearts Transparent Body & Other Texts

05/03/2024

Farewell Pavel. Rest easy.

Dne 5. března 2024 v dopoledních hodinách zemřel významný český básník, hudebník, spisovatel, výtvarník, zakladatel souboru DG 307 a signatář Charty 77 Pavel Zajíček (narozen 15. dubna 1951 v Praze). Podlehl dlouhodobé nemoci, k níž se v posledních dnech přidružil zápal plic, zemřel v nemocnici
PZ, jak ho mnozí znali, patřil k významným postavám československé nezávislé kultury a zanechal po sobě stopu v podobě díla, které ovlivnilo celé generace mladých lidí.
Vydavatelství Guerilla Records považuje za velkou čest, že mohlo s Pavlem Zajíčkem, ať už jako sólovým umělcem, anebo členem skupiny DG 307 spolupracovat od samého počátku a vydalo mu v průběhu let 2001 až 2023 celkem 22 titulů na CD, DVD či LP.
Patřil nejen k naprosto zásadním umělcům vydavatelství, ale byl také citlivým a vnímavým přítelem.
A takovým zůstane už na věky věků.
Za Guerilla Records Vladimír „Lábus“ Drápal

05/03/2024

Next week, March 12, the RCI London will be hosting a presentation of new English translations of Romanian work, including Gabi Reigh discussing her Max Blecher translations for us.

Wor(l)ds without Borders. New Romanian Books in English

25/02/2024

Also see: https://www.twistedspoon.com/narcotics.html

21/02/2024

Yep, it's out, all preorders have been posted.

12/02/2024

Available as of today in the UK/Commonwealth via our distributor Central Books: Transparent Body & Other Texts by Max Blecher (tr. Gabi Reigh ) and cake & prostheses by Gerhard Rühm (tr. Alex Booth).
More here
https://www.twistedspoon.com/transparent-body.html
and here
https://www.twistedspoon.com/cake-and-prostheses.html

31/01/2024

Švankmajer exhibition opened yesterday at Galerie 1. Great to see so much of Václav's work. Definitely worth a visit.

27/01/2024

Mark Kaňák (translator of Walter Serner et al.) has a German/English "novel" out with Ritter Verlag, titled "Lie Detector."

Drall träumt von Ella, Ella träumt von Drall, und keiner der beiden traut dem anderen. Dass nichts so ist, wie es scheint, gilt als Credo in Mark Kanaks Prosabuch Lügendetektor, das in zwei Spalten formatiert, links die Perspektive des Mannes auf Deutsch, rechts auf Englisch, hier allerdings i...

16/01/2024

On February 7 and 8, in Brighton, a performance of Kafka's Contemplation with translations from Kevin Blahut, staged by Thewritersmark Natasha Higdon. Kafka year is just getting started.

10/01/2024

More Heisler on the horizon ...

UBU GALLERY IS OPEN BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. PLEASE EMAIL US AT [email protected] TO SCHEDULE A VISIT Share this NÉON The journal Néon was a unique graphic expression of Surrealism published from January 1948 to March 1949. The idea came from the Czech poet, artist and designer Jindřich Heisler: a ...

03/01/2024

The latest issue of Prehensile Tail, with our 'prophecies, signs & portents' for the coming year, is now available as a free pdf download here:https://leedssurrealistgroup.files.wordpress.com/2023/12/prehensile-tail-5.pdf

08/12/2023

Back from the printer: cake & prostheses: mini dramas and short prose by Gerhard Rühm, translated by Alexander Booth.

This edition brings together a selection of Rühm's work spanning the past seven decades, displaying a wide thematic range (as he has remarked, “there is nothing that cannot become part of one’s poetic universe”) and ingenious combinations of music, po*******hy, banality, humor, and mythology. The first section comprises “mini dramas,” the text often combined with images and musical notation to create sensorial episodes, the expression of a singular aesthetic perception. The second section is a wry deconstruction of Grillparzer’s play Hero and Leander that juxtaposes original passages with images from a swimming manual and with a more contemporary erotic retelling of the mythological tale. The final section presents 24 short prose pieces: 12 from the early 1950s and 12 from the past few years.

Pub date in February, preorders will ship right after the holidays in early January. Available for order here : https://www.twistedspoon.com/cake-and-prostheses.html