"I found myself so intrigued by the whole book that I wanted to go back to the start and read it all over again. It’s fascinating!"

"Fec and Bichette move around in the underbelly of Paris, a place where all is not what it seems and where money seems to be the main motivator."

Now available: The Folded Clock, text and images by Gerhard Rühm, trans. by @wordkunst.bsky.social who also translated Rühm's Cake & Prostheses for us last year. Both incorporate images with the text and lexical play with roots in Dada. More info here: www.twistedspoon.com/folded-clock...

Enjoying, in a literary sense, rather than it filling my soul with innocent glee, this from @twistedspoon.bsky.social

Good interview with translator @wordkunst.bsky.social in this month's issue of @theberliner.bsky.social . Alex's translation of The Folded Clock by Gerhard Rühm is out soon. www.scribd.com/document/929...

In time for Banned Books Week, The Tigress by Walter Serner is now available and on the way to the distributor. Serner's only novel, it's a nihilistic "love story" where a grifter and an escort team up to scam the casino crowd of the Riviera. More info here: www.twistedspoon.com/the-tigress....

Lovely to revisit Bookart bookshop near Old St tube 🚇 post-renovation - like my new bag and bought something intriguing from the @twistedspoon.bsky.social list

Great review of Z. Brabcova's Ceilings (tr. @terez-veve.bsky.social ) by Garrett Biggs in Asymptote: "[Novická] has bravely and fluently rendered Brabcová’s work, and her talents are most evident when she captures the author’s dark humor." www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2025/08...

James Dyer on V. Nezval's A Prague Flaneur for @fullstopmag.bsky.social "A Prague Flâneur reads as an individual’s lonely account of being with people in a city that inspires dreams to no end." www.full-stop.net/2025/08/11/r...

This @twistedspoon.bsky.social novel is deeply intriguing, unsettling and funny. The tale of the narrative voice becomes a palimpsest of characters, times and places.

A nice review of Gerhard Rühm's "cake & prostheses" (in my translation) www.complete-review.com/reviews/aust...

"It's a fun collection, especially in the creative stage-experiments. Rühm is not unserious, but there is a humorous edge to many of the pieces -- and quite a few are quite erotically charged as well. There's nice variety here, too, making for a good sampler of Rühm's work and language-play ..."

My round-up of recent translated fiction is now online (details of the books reviewed are below). www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

In this weekend's The Irish Times, a roundup on recent translations by Declan O'Driscoll, who says this about The Arsonist: "First published in 1935, the novel is beautifully written, with a narrative style that whispers confidences to the reader."

Thanks JS : "Its raw, unapologetic narrative slips seamlessly between voice and perspective, continually cross-referencing itself, to create a world—one woman’s world, past and present—that for all its surreal elements is cohesive, sympathetic and real."

Dream follows dream: Ceilings by Zuzana Brabcová, tr by Tereza Veverka Novická @twistedspoon.bsky.social roughghosts.com/2025/07/07/d...

In bookshops this November, back from the printers in summer. For more info and individual orders: www.twistedspoon.com/the-tigress.... www.twistedspoon.com/folded-clock... #dada #demimonde #translation #germanliterature #alexanderbooth #walterserner #gerhardruhm #centraleurope #vienna #paris

Thanks Daniel Barbiero for such an incisive review of A Prague Flaneur: "The streets, bridges, buildings, and cafés “where Prague lives” provide a wealth of stimuli to which Nezval responds with a catalogue of memories." compulsivereader.com/2025/06/07/a...

Happy that these 3 poems have found a home in Prague's BODY journal . . . thank you @sdelbos.bsky.social www.bodyliterature.com/2025/05/27/a...

Tonight at Riffraff in Providence, RI, 7 p.m., Agniezska Taborska will be discussing The Unfinished Life of Phoebe Hicks. Stop by if you're in town. www.twistedspoon.com/unfinished-l...

"I have to say up front that Hostovsky’s writing is wonderfully individual and quite hypnotic."

If you're in or around Providence next Monday, on April 21, at 6:30 p.m., Metcalf Auditorium at Rhode Island School of Design, Agniezska Taborska will be presenting The Unfinished Life of Phoebe Hicks. It's free and open to the public. Info here: involved.risd.edu/event/11193857

New review: Egon Hostovský's 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡 www.complete-review.com/reviews/cesk...

"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."

For an introduction to Czech #poetry and to have a beautiful book in content and design, you can't do much better than May, by Karel Hynek Macha, from the glorious @twistedspoon.bsky.social

Zuzana Brabcová's Ceilings (Book acquired, 22 March 2025) biblioklept.org/2025/03/30/z...

Missed this from a few months ago, but Richard Clegg at Bookmunch wrote about A Prague Flaneur: "Nezval’s marvellous narrative takes us back into an earlier period. [...] The book is worth reading for its set pieces that have the fluency of the River Vlatava." bookmunch.wordpress.com/2024/12/13/g...

Boho redux via @twistedspoon.bsky.social 🥄📖

New arrivals from @twistedspoon.bsky.social @books

In the mail: 2x Czech-prize-winning novels from @twistedspoon.bsky.social — one in 1936 (twistedspoon.com/arsonist.html), one in 2013 (twistedspoon.com/ceilings.html) !

Thanks to Rupert Loydell for his perceptive review of Ceilings in International Times: " ‘No matter what, it’s going to be one hell of a trip’ declares our narrator, and it is." internationaltimes.it/the-dark-scar/ Available for order here: www.twistedspoon.com/ceilings.html

Per the The Atlantic, The Maimed by Hermann Ungar is an "older book that deserves to be popular today," noting that: "The tense, terse novel follows a hapless bank clerk, Franz Polzer, as he finds himself drawn into a sadomasochistic affair with his landlady." www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...

From today until midnight on Monday, Feb. 24, Waterstones is running a special pre-order discount of 25% on select forthcoming books. To receive the 25% discount on Ceilings, use promo code PREORDER25 at checkout in the shop, online, or on the app. www.waterstones.com/book/ceiling...

More review copies, this time from the always fascinating Prague publisher, @twistedspoon.bsky.social - two forthcoming titles which I can't wait to read. Thank you! 😊📚💙

Allan Graubard on A Prague Flaneur in Rain Taxi: "Nezval’s writing style mirrors the kind of critical-poetic journalism with which surrealists captured the currents of cities—particularly their marvelous, disorienting, delirious, or dreamlike aspects." raintaxi.com/a-prague-fla...

The Arsonist by Egon Hostovský is now back from the printer and available for preorder. It will be at UK & US distributors this spring. More ordering info here: www.twistedspoon.com/arsonist.html

A beautiful collection of books just arrived from independent publisher @twistedspoon.bsky.social ❤️ in Prague. All recommended (or in one case written) by our friend Travis Jeppesen.

In the current edition of @artforum.com courtesy of Travis Jeppesen: "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." www.artforum.com/columns/czec...

A production of Bruno Jasienski's play "The Mannequins' Ball" premieres tomorrow in Chicago. Would love to see it performed some day. "The Mannequins’ Ball joins the absurdity of modern politics with the concept of human mechanization." (from the promo blurb) trapdoortheatre.com/the-mannequi...

Now available for preorder: Ceilings, a novel by Zuzana Brabcová trans. by Tereza Novická info & ordering at www.twistedspoon.com/ceilings.html The Arsonist, a novel by Egon Hostovský trans. by Christopher Morris info & ordering at www.twistedspoon.com/arsonist.html Thanks! #prague #bohemia

Recent English translations of a selection of contemporary Czech poetry by Marcela Sulak and @sdelbos.bsky.social. thehighwindowpress.com/2024/11/27/c...

"The long-awaited English translation of Czech Surrealist poet Vítězslav Nezval’s seminal work of poetic prose, A Prague Flaneur is fascinating and revealing:"

Fun, fascinating, revealing: of Nezval, Prague, interwar politics, poetry, urbane bohemianism and romance. @twistedspoon.bsky.social

Now available for order in the US: www.twistedspoon.com/transparent-... www.twistedspoon.com/cake-and-pro... www.twistedspoon.com/unfinished-l... www.twistedspoon.com/prague-flane... Distributed to the trade by SCB Distributors at: www.scbdistributors.com

Next Tuesday (Nov. 12) at AAU Library, Letenska 1, Agniezska Taborska will be discussing Surrealism and presenting her recently published The Unfinished Life of Phoebe Hicks. Stop by, it should be a fun evening.

"Every corner collapse into self. Every loss of future tense. The nervous busy, now east, now west" Thank you to Yanina Spizzirri @yanina.bsky.social & Tobias Ryan @tobiasvryan.bsky.social