Very excited to go see Ira Sachs's Peter Hujar's Day, with Ben Wishaw as Hujar. Almost as excited as I am to be publishing @andrew-durbin.bsky.social's magisterial dual biography of Hujar & Paul Thek. THE WONDERFUL WORLD THAT ALMOST WAS: A Life of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek (April 2026)

‘A dark & lucid novel, offering not a satire of office life but a horrific riff on our inability to be fully present – at work or at home.’ The Expansion Project by @benpester.bsky.social review31.co.uk/article/view...

Very much looking forward to this. It's a solid shortlist with some exceptional novels. Of course, I hope @benpester.bsky.social's The Expansion Project takes the prize tonight. But whichever way it goes, I'm so pleased Ben was shortlisted for what is my favourite book prize.

Nice to see Mariana Enriquez's A Sunny Place for Shady People picking up a World Fantasy Award (for Best Collection). locusmag.com/2025/11/worl...

'Combines aspects of classic horror such as Stephen King or Clive Barker, with elements more usually found in authors like Roberto Bolano or William Burroughs.' #MarianaEnriquez' Our Share of Night is No 1 in The Quietus' 25 best pieces of #Horror Fiction of the 21st Century buff.ly/C4B49ZM

Pleased, but not entirely surprised, to see Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez at # 1 in this excellent list.

'Absorbing blend of mystery, psychological confusion & corporate over-reach...Megan Nolan, one of the @goldsmithsprize.bsky.social judges, described The Expansion Project as a “magnificently destabilising rendering of work life...Disturbing, funny & deeply odd”' www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...

'A freeform – & very funny – play on everything from art & authenticity to cancel culture. Fans of [Nicola] Barker’s distinctive brand of literary comedy will not be disappointed. Newbies, welcome to the party.' TonyInterruptor www.marieclaire.co.uk/entertainmen...

My huge face in the New Statesman today www.newstatesman.com/culture/book... @grantabooks.bsky.social @goldsmithsprize.bsky.social @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

Liadan Ní Chuinn's Every One Still Here ‘Extraordinary’ Guardian ‘Astonishing’ Sunday Times ‘Phenomenal’ Observer ‘Utterly brilliant’ Daily Mail ‘Deserves to be considered among the best Irish books of the 21st century’ Irish Times ‘Phenomenal' Lucy Caldwell 'A properly exciting writer' Max Porter

@benpester.bsky.social, Sarah Hall, @cdrose.bsky.social & @ericawgnr.bsky.social on stage last night @southbankcentre.bsky.social. Colwill Brown, @yrsadaleyward.bsky.social & Charlie Porter contributed in virtual form. Thanks to everyone for a stimulating evening of readings and discussion.

So pleased to see that Liadan Ní Chuinn, author of the brilliant Every One Still Here, has been shortlisted for an Irish Book Award (Newcomer of the Year).

It’s been a fab week for book events. Sayaka Murata wowed a huge crowd at the wonderful Ps & Gs church in Edinburgh on Monday. Thanks to the brilliant @argonautbooks.bsky.social for that.

@benpester.bsky.social reading from The Expansion Project at the @goldsmithsprize.bsky.social shortlist event last night. A great evening.

#GoldsmithsPrize2025 Chair of Judges, @asack.bsky.social, on @benpester.bsky.social's 'unsettling' and 'very funny' novel.

From the archive, 2022: fiction by Ben Pester. ‘We have this space and we have permission to summon each other into it. Sibspace.’ granta.com/the-durhams-...

Another sold-out event for Mariana Enriquez on her UK tour. This one at @foylesforbooks.bsky.social and chaired by the brilliant @akblakemore.bsky.social.

What a list to be on! Very happy about this. @grantabooks.bsky.social @jasonarthur.bsky.social

@goldsmithsprize.bsky.social judge Megan Nolan on @benpester.bsky.social's The Expansion Project: 'A magnificently destabilising rendering of work life which is both familiar and totally foreign...Disturbing, funny and deeply odd, this is a novel for the ages, but especially ours'

The Expansion Project (and @benpester.bsky.social) in good company here. Goldsmiths Prize 2025 shortlist www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

Yes @benpester.bsky.social truly amazing and well deserved news❤️

Yay! Thrilled to see @benpester.bsky.social's The Expansion Project on the @goldsmithsprize.bsky.social 2025 shortlist. Congratulations, Ben (and all the other shortisted authors).

Where better to host an event for Mariana Enriquez's new book than a chapel in a Victorian cemetery. Thank you Storysmith in Bristol for hosting, and @chrispower.bsky.social for orchestrating an excellent conversation. Somebody is Walking on Your Grave

‘The Expansion Project has echoes of texts such as Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go (for the institutional sci-fi) & the plays of Sarah Kane (for the howling emptiness bumping up against the mundane). But @benpester.bsky.social’s fiction is its own beast.' The Expansion Project

Reading -or not reading-in bed with HarryInterruptor. Loving it. @grantabooks.bsky.social

Some nonfiction from Mariana Enriquez. Translated by Megan McDowell. Somebody is Walking on Your Grave.

'A sharp eye for character & a nose for linguistic mischief mark @davetynan.bsky.social’s prose out from the pack…The real pleasures of this collection are the author’s attention to the tiny twists that send our lives spinning’ We Used to Dance Here www.the-tls.com/literature/f...

'If you're experimenting with things, you're always writing against the culture' Goldsmiths Prize 2017 winner Nicola Barker talks to @tanjilrashid.bsky.social about piecing the novel back together again after H(A)PPY, and much else . . . podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...

Excellent interview with @benpester.bsky.social.

'@davetynan.bsky.social brilliantly captures romantic longing, including in men – a rarity in contemporary fiction…Tynan’s stories effectively explore modern masculinity but also convincingly portray female characters…His societal observations are spot-on’ The Irish Times on We Used to Dance Here

A unique, searing voice, and exceptionally good:

‘A debut novel with echoes of Kafka, Flaubert & the office sitcom… Both poignant & disconcerting… Beautifully observed… A fever dream of a novel – disconcerting, strange & unexpectedly touching’ Terrific review of @benpester.bsky.social's The Expansion Project in @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

‘Sharp, funny & vivid, these stories are brilliantly attuned to the messiness of life.’ @wednesdayerskin.bsky.social ‘Gritty & soulful, spiky & incisive...A memorable debut collection.’ @colinbarrett.bsky.social @davetynan.bsky.social's We Used to Dance Here published today.

'Smartly skewering artistic & intellectual pretensions...Offers her readers much to contemplate about honesty, the influence of social media, authenticity & relationships, at the same time making them laugh & wince in recognition.' TonyInterruptor By Nicola Barker

'@catherinelacey.bsky.social was named as one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists in 2017, and rightly so – this new one runs the emotional gamut.' The Möbius Book 'Best Books to Read in 2025' www.telegraph.co.uk/books/author...

'@benpester.bsky.social’s debut novel is truly brilliant, both a satire on office culture and a bizarre thriller.' The Expansion Project 'Best Books to Read in 2025' www.telegraph.co.uk/books/author...

@waidner.bsky.social @koernputer.bsky.social @kirkdalebooks.bsky.social I have finished! I really really like it, and I have read most of her books. It’s kind of like a concentrated Nicola Barker with some of her themes revisited but still fresh and sharp. One of her best.

'You’re always trying to write what you don’t feel is out in the world already. Dave Tynan's We Used to Dance Here will be out in the world this Thursday!

Nicola Barker's TonyInterruptor 'Heading up' in the Sunday Times 'Style Barometer'. 🔥🎺🔥🎺🔥🎺

Stunning window dispaly for a stunning novel! Thanks @foylesforbooks.bsky.social.

Nicola Barker & @waidner.bsky.social discussing TonyInterruptor tonight at @foylesforbooks.bsky.social. Wonderful event.

'[Nicola Barker's] is a maximalism that earns its keep by virtue of its easygoing openness to risk…It shouldn’t be so much fun to read, but it is. The author gets special dispensation from the Gods of Good Style…A kind of crackpot balance is achieved' So many fab lines in this review by Nat Segnit!

‘Nicola Barker is the kind of novelist to arouse a baffled envy in the reader...The novel is both loose & tight, at its ease & willed… As elegant as it is quietly moving. TonyInterruptor is an eccentric triumph’ Terrific review in the @thetls.bsky.social 🎺🎺🎺🎺 www.the-tls.com/literature/f...

Finished Vanishing World by Sayaka Murara translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori. A world in which the norms of sex, family, marriage, pregnancy are all topsy turvy in a big F You to societal conventions. Again, she is transgressive and calmly shocking in a psycho way.

Coming to the end of a crazy four months of publishing but v. proud of every one of these singularly brilliant authors. Sayaka Murata Issa Quincy Irene Solà @catherinelacey.bsky.social Liadan Ní Chuinn Nicola Barker @benpester.bsky.social @davetynan.bsky.social

'@davetynan.bsky.social moves persuasively between male & female viewpoints...Dublin is the downbeat setting…lifted by Tynan’s fine eye for the telling detail, his terse & exact dialogue & exquisite descriptions’ Financial Times on We Used to Dance Here

‘Inside the closed world of the novel, [@benpester.bsky.social] has succeeded in creating an extreme “drowning out” of the normal sounds of human life & activity. [A] vision of a genuinely soul-sucking workplace… Magical, folk horror-informed & time-twisting' Financial Times The Expansion Project

‘Pounds with dark energy, the prose as hypnotic as the dance music that pulses from clubs’ Daily Mail We Used to Dance Here by @davetynan.bsky.social is published next week!

'This funny, inventive & unsettling debut has elements of J.G. Ballard as well as Stephen King, plus cringeworthy workplace comedy made familiar by The Office.' The Expansion Project by @benpester.bsky.social www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/a...