I wrote about the piece on Ágota Kristóf in the new issue of the LRB: sonofabook.blogspot.com/2026/04/agot...

CB Editions @cbeditions.bsky.social will have a desk at this poetry Fair on April 25th. St Columba’s Hall, Pont Street, London, SW1X 0BD (near Knightsbridge & South Kensington tubes). 12pm-6.30pm. Free entry.

This is the archived-on-the-blog version of the April CBe newsletter: sonofabook.blogspot.com/2026/04/news...

Could be a history play about a mad king, could be more sonnets. Either way, a late twist in the story of Eng Lit.

From here: www.cbeditions.com/ErinVincent....

Stendhal (Henri Beyle) died on 23 March 1842. In An Overcoat: Scenes from the Afterlife of H.B. he's still around: jogging in the park, learning to drive, in trouble with women: www.cbeditions.com/robinson4.html

TELEGRAPHY by Farah Ali (@cbeditions.bsky.social) reviewed by Kit Maude necessaryfiction.com/reviews/tele...

The new NOON (ed. Diane Williams) has landed, with cover pic, portfolio and interview with @nataliazt.bsky.social, plus work by Lara Pawson, both of the CBe tribe.

CB editions February newsletter - it's been a bad month - as archived on the blog: sonofabook.blogspot.com/2026/02/cbe-...

My thanks to David Caddy @tearsinthefence.bsky.social for permission to post Nadia Vikulina‘s full review of SOVETICA (from issue 82). @cbeditions.bsky.social

Available here: www.cbeditions.com/mcguinness.h...

Happy publication day to Farah Ali (www.cbeditions.com/FarahAli.html). Glasses will be raised at @burleyfisher.bsky.social this evening, all welcome.

First CB editions newsletter of the year, archived on the Sonofabook blog: sonofabook.blogspot.com/2026/01/cbe-...

Available here: www.cbeditions.com/mcguinness.h...

Page 1 of the notebook in which my mother recorded every Christmas present she gave, and how much it cost, 1957 to 2003 (she died the next month). The recipients included her hairdresser, the milkman, the postman, the paper boy, the dustbin-men and “Tony’s boy” (toffees, 2s. 6d). She did good.

2016 by Sarah Hesketh was named in the Guardian as a Poetry Book of the Year. Booksellers ordering in from Gardners are told “Publisher out of Stock”. The book's in stock both at the distributor and here, within arm’s reach – order from the CB editions website and I’ll post within 24 hours.

Random re-assembly: a wall with a fresco in a 12th-century monastery in Puglia, Italy, that collapsed after an earthquake; a local street corner, re-laid after roadworks.

On negative book reviews: "a whiff of iconoclasm, of smashing a statue in a church": sonofabook.blogspot.com/2025/12/teet...

CB editions December newsletter, as archived on the Sonofabook blog: sonofabook.blogspot.com/2025/12/cbe-...

Last Sunday I went to a Leicester Square premiere of the new series of Landman which stars Billy Bob Thornton and I've written about why I'm a little obsessed with that man here: sonofabook.blogspot.com/2025/11/bill...

With a neat new bag for carrying yoga mats and cricket bats CB editions is off tomorrow to the Indie Book Fair at Bath Central Library organised by the wonderful Peirene Press.

Good piece by @john-self.bsky.social on Paul Bailey, who died a year ago, who happened to live down the road and was the best of neighbours, whose last 2 books are published by CB editions: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

10 years today since my poetry collection New Life—a companion to War Reporter—was published by @cbeditions.bsky.social in London (and not long after by @hangingloosepress.bsky.social in Brooklyn) 🙏🏻 Here’s a lovely review in The Rumpus therumpus.net/2016/01/29/n...

CB editions October newsletter, archived on the Sonofabook blog: sonofabook.blogspot.com/2025/10/cbe-...

My second poetry collection ‘Scarsdale’ is 11 years old today. Still available from @cbeditions.bsky.social in the UK, and Measure Press in the US. www.cbeditions.com/obrien2.html www.amazon.com/Scarsdale-Da...

Separation anxiety: books I’m fond of that might be hard or expensive to replace if I lose them – if I see another copy of the same edition in a charity shop, I often buy it. This is the most recent, bought at the weekend. Some of these duplicates I’ve given away, some I appear to have lost.

The books, yes, but also the shelves - made yesterday from stiff cardboard, they slot together when going up and fold down flat when down. If I designed for IKEA I'd give them a name like Harald.

CB editions newsletter, as archived on the Sonofabook blog: sonofabook.blogspot.com/2025/09/cbe-...

Many thanks to Nadia Vikulina for her thoughtful and insightful review of Sovetica in the latest issue of Tears in the Fence ed. David Caddy. The book is available here: www.cbeditions.com/clark

Pick'n'mix: CB editions July newsletter archived on the Sonofabook blog: sonofabook.blogspot.com/2025/07/pick...

Sheila Ramage ran this bookshed for 45 years. “The loveliest person in the trade” – Marius Kociejowski. I’ll be talking about her (5 mins) at 2pm on Saturday, 26 July in this very place, now the Bouda Gallery (W8 4RT), at an event organised by Steven Fowler: london.czechcentres.cz/en/program/p...

From the trailer for Four Letters of Love (whose plot features a poetry competition). Helena Bonham-Carter: “What are you doing?” Brooding man: “I’m writing a love poem.” HB-C: “What is the MATTER with everyone in this house?”

All the CBe covers 2007-2026 on a poster, free to takers of Season Ticket 2 (10 books of your own choice for £75) on the website www.cbeditions.com

Endings, signing off, in novels, are so often tacky. I've written about this, I've argued that 'Everyone lived happily ever after' is metafictional. Here's a good one (Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty):

Serve cool: bookshelves for another hot day

Mended. Since the bones I fractured in my neck in March have now healed, thanks to the NHS, I owed it to this giraffe to put her/him back together.

"Run up the colours" - CB editions newsletter, as archived on the Sonofabook blog: sonofabook.blogspot.com/2025/05/run-...

All the CB editions covers, 2007 to now, on one A1 poster.

"Umarell": see the Wiki entry: men of retirement age watching roadworks, arms akimbo or hands clasped behind back, offering unwanted advice. Here's me watching a new speed bump being put in in my street.

Short reading 🧵from last night. Book 28 of 2025 Reading: Seesaw by Carmel Doohan, from the redoubtable @cbeditions.bsky.social, where else?

Shock horror, the new pope is a man.

Blog post about THAT new publisher: sonofabook.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-...

Me (with ancient author photo) on style, English puritanism, advice and Invisible Dogs: auraist.substack.com/p/was-updike...

CB editions will have a stall at this fair on Saturday: do come and chat, buy or haggle.

Last call to stream — must “close” April 22! —this reading of my adaptation of The Other Jack by @cbeditions.bsky.social. Directed by James Dacre, performed by Jasmine Blackborow & Nathaniel Parker, and produced by @csvich.bsky.social for the @lorteltheatre.bsky.social 🙏🏻 lortel.org/the-other-ja...

Just a week (well, six days) left to stream this reading of The Other Jack via the @lorteltheatre.bsky.social — directed by James Dacre & produced by @csvich.bsky.social, starring Jasmine Blackborow & Nathaniel Parker, and based on the book by @cbeditions.bsky.social 🙏🏻 lortel.org/the-other-ja...

Just 6 days left to stream for free a reading on Vimeo of @bydanobrien.bsky.social's stage adaptation of these books: register here: lortel.org/the-other-ja...

Screenshot from a reading of the stage adaptation by Dan O'Brien of The Other Jack, based on the book by myself (CBe, 2021). The reading can be streamed free on Vimeo until 22 April – you’ll need to register with the Lortel Theatre (lortel.org/the-other-ja...), who will send a link.