Braddock Avenue Books

26/10/2024

I'm particularly excited to have "The Viennese Fiddler," a story adapted from material from my novel-in-progress about the life of Franz Kafka, appear in the pages of Pleiades. Grateful thanks to Fiction Editor Jennifer Maritza McCauley.

Pleiades 44.2: Fall 2024. Featuring the special folio, "Computational Poetics," edited Caroline Crew. This issue also features Josh Emmons, the winner of the Kinder/Crump Award for Short Fiction, and Svatava Antošová, tranlsated by Marcela Sulak. New work by William Archila, Chantal James,...

15/10/2024

Congratulations to UA Little Rock creative writing major, Josie Eanes. Her interview with Susan Rukeyser is full insightful questions about Susan's recent novel, THE WORST KIND OF GIRL. Check it out, Friends!

https://jmwwblog.wordpress.com/2024/10/14/that-kind-of-girl-an-interview-with-susan-rukeyser-by-josie-eanes/?fbclid=IwY2xjawF6qTBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHdv0tV_t5JFrd5eLm1_azXUkATFBCcas8STYrbC2g2o4VPDkcI6h0iZxxg_aem_x1RefKLIX6V334k7S3WfvQ

I wanted The Worst Kind of Girl to defy easy answers and categorizations.

29/09/2024

Thanks so much to Philip Martin and the Arkansas Democrat Gazette for this interview about my literary work, especially the new Zeitgeist Reading Series. May be behind a paywall today, but should be available soon.

Jeffrey Condran (Courtesy of Jeffrey Condran) Jeffrey Condran is an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the co-founder of Braddock Avenue Books (braddockavenuebooks.com), Already a subscriber? Log in! Support journalism that digs deeper into topic...

22/09/2024

Thanks to Adriana Es Ramírez and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for the opportunity to review Sally Rooney's new novel "Intermezzo." (Yes, I was one of those lucky few to receive a numbered ARC.) It's an engaging novel and Rooney Fans will love it.

The much acclaimed and sometimes controversial Irish novelist, Sally Rooney, returns with a new title that continues her Austen-like dramatization of...

12/08/2024

We're so excited about the forthcoming publication of Mary Troy's story collection, IN THE SKY LORD. Tremendous thanks to Steve Yarbrough for being an early reader!

“I have been reading and admiring Mary Troy’s work for more than three decades. In these beautifully textured and deeply humane stories, she is at her absolute best. Her characters are as real as the couple I see walking past my window this morning, and time after time she opens a window into their hearts. What a superb collection.”
—Steve Yarbrough, author of Stay Gone Days

Pre-order your copy today!

08/08/2024

My story collection, CLAIRE, WADING INTO THE DANUBE BY NIGHT, has had a difficult life. Published at the beginning of March, 2020, any real momentum it might have had was slowed by the pandemic and, this year, the university press that published it was de-funded and closed. And so it is with real gratitude that I can announce that Black Lawrence Press has agreed to take it on. Huge thanks to Diane Goettel for this new leap of faith.

So, if you missed the first life of my little book, here is a second chance. :)

Author of the award-winning Prague Summer returns with a new story collection that explores American lives both at home and abroad in the age of anxiety—a world gone sour with regret, where only the small intimacies that sometimes blossom between people offer any kind of hope or possibility for re...

07/08/2024

I'm so pleased to be able to share Naty Doris's interview with Margot Livesey. THE ROAD FROM BELHAVEN is a wonderful book, as their thoughtful conversation shows. Check it out, Friends!

06/08/2024

For those of us lucky enough to call James Brubaker a friend, you know he's just the best. I'll be raising a martini this evening this evening to celebrate this, the day of his birth. You know y'all want to drink a martini, too. Have a great one, James!

05/08/2024

We're so excited to reveal this wonderful cover for Mary Troy's forthcoming story collection, IN THE SKY LORD!

Steve Yarbrough and Leslie Pietrzyk describe the stories as "beautifully textured and deeply humane" and "irresistible."

See what all the fuss is about by pre-ordering a copy today. Link in the comments!

07/07/2024

I've reviewed Irish writer Kevin Barry's latest, THE HEART IN WINTER, for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Such a compelling writer! Thanks to Adriana Es Ramírez for the opportunity. Check it out.

Few couples have an attraction that goes too far beyond typical boundaries of love or longing and ranges into something strange and sometimes dangerous....

03/06/2024

Today is the 100th anniversary of Franz Kafka's death. He died from complications related to tuberculosis. The disease spread from his lungs to his throat. The lesions there were incredibly painful and often swelled to the point of rendering Kafka unable to eat or drink. For a while direct injections of alcohol into the neck eased the swelling, but eventually it became clear that, like the protagonist in his story, "A Hunger Artist," Kafka would eventually starve to death. In fact, just days before he died, proof pages for "A Hunger Artist" arrived from the publisher. Kafka was very much aware of the deep irony involved in editing that story at just that particular moment. While there is some thought that Kafka was administered an overdose of morphine in order to ease his passing, it was a difficult and horrible time. Nevertheless, he finished the edits to "A Hunger Artist" before he died.

Many institutions are celebrating Franz Kafka's life today and all summer, especially Oxford's Bodleian Library, who possess the majority of Kafka's papers. So, if you're a fan of his writing or intrigued by his life, spare a minute to remember Kafka today. Easily one of the 20th century's most intriguing figures.

28/05/2024

Thanks to Adriana Es Ramírez and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for the opportunity to review Abby Geni's new story collection, THE BODY FARM. Congratulations, Abby, on this wonderful book. Check out my review and get yourself a copy soonest.

Some may remember the Body Worlds traveling exhibition that controversially showed chemically-preserved dissected bodies. Viewers were able to have a...

06/05/2024

Congratulations to Jayne Anne Phillips whose novel, NIGHT WATCH, was been named the winner of this year's Pulitzer Prize for Literature!

The winners and nominated finalists of the 2024 Pulitzer Prizes were announced today by administrator Marjorie Miller via remote video stream. The winners each take home $15,000 dollars and serious…

05/05/2024

It was my great pleasure to review Colm Toibin's new novel, LONG ISLAND. Thanks to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Adriana Es Ramírez for the opportunity. Check it out, Friends.

Revisiting the characters and setting of his best-selling 2009 novel, “Brooklyn,” Irish writer Colm Tóibín picks up the threads...

24/04/2024

Incredibly grateful to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for their continuing support of my work as a writer. I've just received a generous summer research grant to continue my work on a novel about the final year of Franz Kafka's life. Berlin and Prague, here I come!

15/04/2024

Congratulations to UA Little Rock Creative Writing major, Kylie Wagoner! Her interview with author J. Robert Lennon about his recent novel, HARD GIRLS, is published today at JMWW Journal. Huge thanks to Jen Michalski.

I’ve always been interested in dysfunctional families in my fiction.

04/04/2024

Central Arkansas Friends! The great Michael Czyzniejewski will be visiting UA Little Rock tomorrow to read from and discuss his recent Braddock Avenue Books title, THE AMNESIAC IN THE MAZE. If you're free, please join us tomorrow afternoon at 2pm in the Stella Boyle Auditorium in the Fine Arts Building.

31/03/2024

I've been a fan of Colin Barrett's short stories, and so was thrilled to be able to review his debut novel, WILD HOUSES, for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Thanks as ever to Adriana Es Ramírez for the opportunity.

Acclaimed as a master of the short story, Irish writer Colin Barrett revisits his native County Mayo as the setting for his debut novel, “Wild Houses.”...