Join us, Berliners, as we launch this rusty wreck of a novel. You should read it because it’s relentless and beautiful and painful and radical. Long may she sail!

This photo is everything!! (Alaa with his remarkable mother Dr. Laila Soueif, who spent nearly 300 days on hunger strike to secure her son's release)

Please mark your calendars and join us for this year’s German Literature Month. #GermanLitMonth.

🤯 In Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg haben fast zwei Drittel der Menschen (64,7%) kein Auto. Die BVG-Fahrpreiserhöhungen treffen hier ins Mark. Transport und Wohnen machen uns arm.

One of many reasons why I don’t plan to return to the UK: Half of the influential people went to a small pool of fee-paying schools. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I 💜 this so much. Clemens J. Setz is such a fascinating thinker: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...

Now that I’m probably not going to do any more DJing ever, I just thought of a new DJ name: DJ Mashed Potaty Katy. (Old name with Steph Morris was DJs Lang & Scheidt, after the dictionary and my technical skill level.)

Still waiting on the Prime Minister’s statement condemning the huge, violent, Nazi mob that attacked police officers in London…

In 1990s Germany, there was a strategy called “accepting youth work” where social workers just accepted that young people were Nazis, let them use spaces and resources, etc. It didn’t go well for anyone but the Nazis. I think European politicians should do the opposite.

Our NFLB summer literature festival was excellent, if I do say so myself. We had readings from members and guests, a book swap, a hidden exhibition, performance and food. (Our work is advocating for literature and its makers in Berlin: nflb.de)

Queen of Spades, 1909, by Margaret Macdonald, one of the defining artists of Art Nouveau and the Glasgow School #WomensArt

I thought I was losing it but I finally checked, 5 pages before the end of the 100-page chapter I’m translating, and it wasn’t even in the manuscript I read last year. Not sure how Clemens Meyer sneaked it in the book so quickly, but it definitely ties up a few loose ends! #amtranslating

Today I wrote more than 100 rejection emails and tried to be kind about it. A few sweet writers said thanks anyway and they’re looking forward to the anthology 🩷

Night-time me needs to have more faith that day-time me will get shit done.

#OtD 2 Aug 1939 Walter Altmann and Gunther Mann, two Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, were deported from the UK back to Belgium where they had crossed the Channel in a small dinghy which capsized. Both were likely sent to the concentration camps stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9167...

Bummer, they’ve made the free @duolingoverde.bsky.social version shit. There goes my fantasy Italian retirement plan. I don’t have the energy!

Super-Artikel: Kunst für alle!

Look at this cool job: writing a sci-fi novel (in German) for a year. www.cyberagentur.de/karriere/ste...

If I Must Starve by Nour Abdel Latif (from Reefat Writes Back)

“Trump‘s hot streak“

Everybody read FAIR please, thank you. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

Last night of our translation workshop, thx gang.

One thing I want to think about, as a literary translator: we need a good understanding of two languages. But formal education is not the only way to get that. Delightful that people with PhDs (want to) translate—but life and writing skills are enough too.

Charles de Gaule Airport: Buy Hermes scarves and caviar! Now sit on the floor in an overheated greenhouse!

An intrepid group of @wcorklitfest.bsky.social visitors came to my workshop and delved into the mysteries of literary translation. Different Englishes, naughty punctuation, serpentine sentences… a fiendish challenge to Spot the Translation. #WCLF2025

3pm today: Spot the Translation with @katyderbyshire.bsky.social. An intimate workshop aimed at anyone who is interested in translated literature and no translation experience is needed @mercierpress.bsky.social www.westcorkmusic.ie/events/2025/...

These wildflowers near my home are brightening my days. Sharing so they can brighten yours, too 🪷 #summerfeeling

Whole book “translated” for $100? You get what you pay for, and if you don’t understand what makes human translators valuable, maybe you don’t value the creative work that goes into the writing process either. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

#SlowPublishing is the bomb! I edited this and am bringing it out with @vqbooks.bsky.social on 10 October and I feel really good about it.

Why not sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date? As you can imagine, doing #SlowPublishing means we won't exactly clog up your inbox. vq-books.eu/newsletter/

Back!

📢 THIS IS YOUR ONE WEEK CALL📢 Send your queerest dearest poems & essays to catflap #5, edited by me. Read the call for subs & FAQs before sending! #PrideMonth #BookSky outburstarts.com/events-proje...

“Dampf trat aus, fuhr, sich verwolkend, aus Rohren, aus schreienden Mündern, sprachlosen Gesichtern, weißer Frostatem, der sich in den Wintersmog mischte…“ Clemens Meyer, Die Projektoren, and *I* have the joyful task of translating it. ❤️❤️❤️#amtranslating

Stellenanzeige heute, Börsenblatt: "AiPublix ist der erste deutsche KI-Verlag. Unsere eigens entwickelte Software erstellt, layoutet, illustriert und publiziert Bücher automatisiert - mehrsprachig und ‚first-to-cover‘. Hinter der Technologie steht ein engagiertes Team aus erfahrenen Verlagsprofis."

🩷📖🌱

Just remembered how angry I got with Germany‘s ex-president Gauck for saying translators were proof of God’s existence because of Pentecost. What I can’t remember was his “logic”.

Argggh I ran into a lovely old (distant) friend and we chatted about our kids and the housing crisis and life and mutual friends and aging and we said we should go out for a drink some time soon so I gave her my number and she called me so I had hers and no I still can’t remember her name.

Good morning! www.thebookseller.com/comment/cana...

There are skills I’ve learned or taught myself that I don’t want to lose, so I’ll keep using them rather than AI, thanks. Note-taking, writing, researching, and obviously translating. Actually all of them help me remember things in and of themselves too, not just retain the skills.

"Many publishers are already using generative tools for content creation. The report specifically calls out "Hachette, Harper Collins, and Macmillan Education" who are contracting "technology providers like OpenAI, Jasper, and Google" for content creation."

If you put two NYT stories together you do get “man allegedly completely strung out on drugs uses the US government to kill 300,000 people”

A vignette from Alison Bechdel's DYKES TO WATCH OUT FOR that lampons my anthology SWITCH HITTERS: LESBIANS WRITE GAY MALE EROTICA & GAY MEN WRITE LESBIAN EROTICA, co-edited with Carol Queen (Cleis) which became REAL SWITCH HITTERS: MTF LESBIAN MARXISTS WRITE SWEATER FAG PORN in the strip. 🥰 #SoProud

Me: You’re looking good today, Katy! Young person on public transport: Would you like this seat, ma’am?

When we negotiate fair terms for ourselves, we negotiate fair terms for all translators. Be wary of work-for-hire, and of working with editors/authors/agents who don't believe translators are part of a book's success.

Basic income for the arts is amazing, report finds. I’d prefer it not to be restricted to artists, but it’s a good start. booksirelandmagazine.com/basic-income...

New lazy opening to replace “OED defines [subject] as: …” I looked up [subject] on an LLM and it told me the following lies: …”

Finished this fantastic amazing path-clearing book about #DWEnteignen and I want everyone in Berlin to read it now. It has a Creative Commons licence, so you can! Imagination meets activism meets scholarly monograph.

#OnThisDay, 23 May 1944, Madeleine Lavigne parachutes back into occupied France as a wireless operator for the British Special Operations Executive. #WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #WorldWar2 #EuropeanHistory 🗃️ 1/2

Leaving Dublin today, a little melancholy after two great events with writer #JudithHermann. Many thanks to @ilfdublin.bsky.social and @tclctdublin.bsky.social for hosting us, and to my translator pals for making our stay special.

It IS free: