Twisted Spoon Press

14/04/2025

M.A. Orthofer at The Complete Review on The Arsonist (due out soon):
"The Arsonist is unsettling on multiple levels, and Hostovský is particularly good at the layering -- including that of the various passions and disappointments of the two Simon teens. He weaves a lot into the relatively short novel, and it holds up very well."

https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/ceska/hostovskye.htm

order here:
https://www.twistedspoon.com/arsonist.html

07/04/2025

Out in the UK today, Ceilings reviewed by Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings:

"The prose is hypnotic and often very beautiful, but the narrative is fragmented; that, of course, is deliberate, to replicate the state of Ema’s mind as she undergoes her detox, with her mental state often spiralling out of control. The surreal imagery, the shifts of location, the fluidity of her identity are all brilliantly rendered by Brabcova, and the result is an exhilarating and sometimes dizzying work which leaves you a bit stunned."

Some books are a quick and pleasurable read, giving a lovely dose of escapism just when you want it – and I’m fond of those. However, others demand more commitment from a reader, and I …

15/03/2025

Ceilings by Zuzana Brabcová (tr. by Tereza Veverka Novicka) is now in the UK, shortly in bookstores, but you can always order directly from us here:
https://www.twistedspoon.com/ceilings.html

About the book:
Kin to the work of Leonora Carrington and Unica Zürn, Ceilings is a polyphonic novel that takes place in a mental hospital in Prague where the "narrator" is undergoing detox treatment for substance abuse. As the borders blur between inner experience and the outer world, between reality and dream, as the walls and ceilings hemming in the desire for freedom fantastically break open as if into the unknown and gender fluidly shifts between brother and sister, who are one and the same, Brabcová’s flights of imagination portray how difficult it is to “come out of oneself” and to engage with the other in a multifarious world that demands it of us, no matter how ambivalently.

12/03/2025

Coming this fall.

02/03/2025

Nice review of Ceilings by Zuzana Brabcová, tr. by Tereza Novická, in International Times courtesy of Rupert Loydell:

"‘No matter what, it’s going to be one hell of a trip’ declares our narrator, and it is. It is a world of desires and rollercoaster emotions, where one can enter a wall painting, chat to or email dead relatives, dance with the wind, or step outside oneself to calmly assess and evaluate the other you that has been left behind."

Full review here: https://internationaltimes.it/the-dark-scar/

Available for order here:
https://www.twistedspoon.com/ceilings.html

24/02/2025

According to the The Atlantic, The Maimed by Hermann Ungar (tr. by Kevin Blahut)is an "older book that deserves to be popular today," noting that:
"With its swirl of erotic anxiety and its ambiguous ending, The Maimed heralded the beginning of a promising literary career that, like Kafka’s, was cut short when Ungar died in his prime, in 1929, at age 36."

In recent years, these titles have found themselves justifiably rescued from oblivion.

19/02/2025

Writing in a kind of critical-poetic journalism, Czech surrealist writer Vítězslav Nezval captures his beloved city of Prague on the brink of the N**i invasion. Reviewed by Allan Graubard

02/02/2025

Travis Jeppesen writes about On the Needles of These Days in the current edition of Artforum :

"Death, of course, embraces all of us; cities live much longer; and art is eternal. Needles manifests as a paean to Prague at its darkest hour, and as a defiant and harmonious assertion of life by two of its most distinctive voices."

A new translation of On the Needles of These Days, a landmark of Czech surrealism by Jindřich Heisler and Jindřich Štyrský.

29/11/2024

From Stephan Delbos: "The long-awaited English translation of Czech Surrealist poet Vítězslav Nezval’s seminal work of poetic prose, A Prague Flaneur is fascinating and revealing: of Nezval, Prague, interwar politics, poetry, urbane bohemianism and romance. The writing (and translation) here is often beautiful and constantly inspiring, as Nezval’s meandering sentences encapsulate his life and life in his adopted city."

Four recent volumes of poetry, prose, and letters, reviewed by our editors:

https://www.bodyliterature.com/2024/11/29/books-in-brief-4/

29/09/2024

Gerhard Rühm, whose collection Cake & Prostheses we published in Alex Booth's great translation, will be making a rare appearance in Prague to present his latest book (hopefully something Alex might be able to translate as well) at the Rakouské kulturní fórum v Praze (Austrian Cultural Forum) on Monday, October 7, at 6 p.m. It will be primarily in German, maybe some Czech translation, but should certainly be worth attending.
More info here:
https://www.rkfpraha.cz/veda/gerhard-ruhm-die-gefaltete-uhr-100-zahlendichtungen-2024-10-07/