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commapress.bsky.social
Comma Press
@commapress.bsky.social
3.4K followers 550 following 400 posts
Award-winning publisher of short fiction from the UK & beyond. Championing the next generation of writers & translators. Shares do not equal endorsements.

Find us at: https://commapress.co.uk/
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commapress.bsky.social
Comma Press @commapress.bsky.social · 15d
PALESTINE - 1: Stories from the Eve of the Nakba
Ed. Basma Ghalayini 🗝️📚

📕 Pub. Nov 13
commapress.co.uk/books/palest...

📚 MANCHESTER BOOK LAUNCH
📍 Manchester Museum
📅Dec 3, 2025

Link below 👇🧵
Reposted by Comma Press
matthewepaul.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by Comma Press
hararereview.bsky.social
Love this cover
commapress.bsky.social Comma Press @commapress.bsky.social · 15d
PALESTINE - 1: Stories from the Eve of the Nakba
Ed. Basma Ghalayini 🗝️📚

📕 Pub. Nov 13
commapress.co.uk/books/palest...

📚 MANCHESTER BOOK LAUNCH
📍 Manchester Museum
📅Dec 3, 2025

Link below 👇🧵
November 10, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Reposted by Comma Press
doublenegativem.bsky.social
Out now, from @commapress.bsky.social

commapress.co.uk/books/palest...
Palestine - 1 - Stories from the eve of the Nakba | Comma Press
£11.99 (Paperback / Anthology) - Mazen Maarouf, Selma Dabbagh, Ahmad Jaber, Anwar Hamed, Mahmoud Shukair and others
commapress.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Reposted by Comma Press
yorkshiregabby.bsky.social
For our first annual @allisfullofgore.bsky.social Halloween Movie I picked Halloween III. Tagline pitches based on reviews from group: "So many things happen, & yet not", "Why does everyone want to fuck that guy?", & "Worth it for that bonkers segments".
commapress.bsky.social Comma Press @commapress.bsky.social · 14d
NEW COMMA BLOG ✍️

Nigel Kneale & the Halloween that Never Was
By @mrgeetsromo.bsky.social 🎃

Andy Murray explores the Manx folklore that fuelled Kneale's stories from Quatermass to Tomato Cain, & the Halloween III script that never saw the light of day.

📜 commapress.co.uk/blog/nigel-k...
November 13, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Reposted by Comma Press
umabreakdown.bsky.social
The first day outside the archive and I can't escape him
commapress.bsky.social Comma Press @commapress.bsky.social · 10d
“Every rejection -that you should expect- they’re just necessary steps towards ‘yes’” - Claire Daverley on “failed” manuscripts
#aspiringauthor #booklover #creativewriting #perseverance
Photo of a blonde woman with a black top and floral long skirt talking to an audience at a podium. Behind her is a projector screen with a black and white photo of a man covering his eyes with spotted mittens
November 15, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Reposted by Comma Press
bronteschiltz.bsky.social
Next Thursday, I’m going to be reading a story from Nigel Kneale’s brilliant collection, Tomato Cain, recently reprinted by @commapress.bsky.social, at @blackwellsmcr.bsky.social’s @northernfiction.bsky.social 2025 Winter Showcase!

Join us: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/northern-f...
November 24, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Reposted by Comma Press
wearebookanista.bsky.social
Tonight @britishlibrary.bsky.social Tickets still available! Here's editor Basma Ghalayini's irresistible introduction to the collection bookanista.com/alternative-...
November 25, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Reposted by Comma Press
help-alma80.myatproto.social
Even a small donation could bring food, comfort, and hope to my starving daughter

@songkangmonologue.bsky.social
@commapress.bsky.social
help-alma80.myatproto.social help Alma @help-alma80.myatproto.social · 9h
This is a mother’s plea from Gaza
My daughter Alma is fading from hunger, her cries breaking my heart. We have no food, and no way to ease her pain
Your compassion could bring her a meal or medicine she desperately needs. Please, help my girl survive
👇👇👇
www.gofundme.com/f/support-fa...
November 25, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by Comma Press
leesoclibreria.bsky.social
'The Book of Ramallah' de Ahlam Bsharat #AhlamBsharat (et al.) (ed. Comma Press @commapress.bsky.social) Lees Otras Cosas Librería Granada #Granada #Libros #Librerías #Feminismo #LGTBINBAQ+ #Cultura #Literatura #NoFicción #Ensayo #Historia #Palestina
November 25, 2025 at 6:21 PM
commapress.bsky.social
'[The writing industry] can be quite inaccessible... A day like today is really great as it means that I can access the industry in a non-traditional way.'

Many thanks to Eden & Makenna for such lovely coverage of the NCWID in MMU's aAh! Magazine ✍️

aah-magazine.co.uk/2025/celebra...
“Celebrating the vibrant creative lives being built in the North”: Comma Press and Manchester Writing School present the 2025 National Creative Writing Industry Day - aAh! Magazine
Author Claire Daverley set the tone for this year's National Creative Writing Industry Day (NCWID) on Saturday, with a keynote exploring resilience, creativity and the passion that drives writers to k...
aah-magazine.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Reposted by Comma Press
writersreview.bsky.social
Guest Lesley Glaister admires Jane Rogers' climate-themed short story collection, FIRE READY: "Marvellously eclectic ... fuelled by anger about climate change but shot through with light & hope." reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com/2025/11/gues... #clifi #shortstories @commapress.bsky.social #greatreads
Guest review by Lesley Glaiser: FIRE READY by Jane Rogers
reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:38 AM
commapress.bsky.social
PALESTINE - 1: @britishlibrary.bsky.social TOMORROW!
🎟️ tickets.bl.uk/3914/3915

📅 25 Nov 7-8:30pm
📍 Pigott Theatre, London

Writers Selma Dabbagh & Anwar Hamed, & editor Basma Ghalayini explore the themes & voices within this ambitious anthology of Palestinian fiction.
November 24, 2025 at 12:50 PM
commapress.bsky.social
‘Usually when I pick up a collection of stories, I dip in at random, but with Fire Ready, I read greedily through from beginning to end.’

✍️ Lesley Glaister on Jane Rogers’ latest Cli-Fi collection for @writersreview.bsky.social

📃 reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com/2025/11/gues...
Guest review by Lesley Glaiser: FIRE READY by Jane Rogers
reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Reposted by Comma Press
lindanewbery.bsky.social
At @writersreview.bsky.social: guest Lesley Glaister praises Jane Rogers' short story collection, FIRE READY. 'Marvellously eclectic - fuelled by anger about climate change but also shot through with hope." reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com/2025/11/gues... @commapress.bsky.social #clifi #JaneRogers
Guest review by Lesley Glaiser: FIRE READY by Jane Rogers
reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Reposted by Comma Press
mahmudelsayed.bsky.social
Comma Press (@commapress.bsky.social) +100 series has some great stuff in translation.

EGYPT+100 edited by Ahmed Naji.

IRAQ+100 edited by Hassan Blasim.

PALESTINE+100 edited by Basma Ghalayini.

(to name just a few from them)

(2/4)
November 23, 2025 at 12:02 AM
commapress.bsky.social
Meet the publishers… (and gorge on some of their books)… head down to House of Books & Friends in Manchester today 11am-3pm. Also available for stocking filling binges…
November 22, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Reposted by Comma Press
adammarek.bsky.social
Really looking forward to doing this event with Paul McVeigh at the Folkestone Book Festival on Sunday. Tickets still available…
November 21, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Comma Press
wearebookanista.bsky.social
"This was the thinking behind Palestine Minus One: for twelve Palestinian writers to process the magnitude of what has been happening, offering an alternative, more distant iteration of the old Nakba.” Basma Ghalayini #PalestineMinusOne @commapress.bsky.social 📚📖💙
bookanista.com/alternative-...
Alternative Palestines
Editor Basma Ghalayini introduces the new anthology Palestine Minus One, a collection of stories by Palestinian writers reimagining the eve of the Nakba.
bookanista.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:33 PM
commapress.bsky.social
This will be ace! Short Stories: Adam Marek & Paul McVeigh - Creative Folkestone www.creativefolkestone.org.uk/whats-on/sho...
Short Stories: Adam Marek & Paul McVeigh - Creative Folkestone
www.creativefolkestone.org.uk
November 21, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Comma Press
duckpondsreview.bsky.social
The Book of Ramallah is the last of this wonderful series I have that I hadn't read and I can report that it is very much up to scratch but like Gaza, there is a deep sadness about this town's future. @commapress.bsky.social deserve nothing but praise for this whole idea.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
#booksky
#books
The Book of Ramallah, A City in Short Fiction, from Comma Press. Unlike most other Palestinian cities, Ramallah is a relatively new town, a de facto capital of the West Bank allowed to thrive after the Oslo Peace Accords, but just as quickly hemmed in and suffocated by the Occupation as the Accords have failed. Perched along the top of a mountainous ridge, it plays host to many contradictions: traditional Palestinian architecture jostling against aspirational developments and cultural initiatives, a thriving nightlife in one district, with much more conservative, religious attitudes in the next. Most striking however--as these stories show--is the quiet dignity, resilience, and humour of its people; citizens who take their lives into their hands every time they travel from one place to the next, who continue to live through countless sieges, and yet still find the time, and resourcefulness, to create.
November 21, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Reposted by Comma Press
duckpondsreview.bsky.social
2020 #13 & #14
My first two Cities in Short Fiction, a brilliant idea from @commapress.bsky.social and I started with two British cities that I have past associations with. Currently reading my 27th in this series and I have one more on the shelf and another on pre-order.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
📚💙
#booksky
#books
The Book of Birmingham & The Book of Newcastle, Cities in Short Fiction, from Comma Press. Birmingham is a writer's city with a long tradition of distinctive literary subcultures. Long-established novelists such as David Lodge and Jim Crace have spent most of their writing lives there, and the city continues to support and inspire a new generation of voices. Bringing together fiction from some of the city's most talented writers, The Book of Birmingham showcases and celebrates original and unusual writing, in all its forms. The original Northern Powerhouse, Newcastle-upon-Tyne has witnessed countless transformations over the last century or so, from its industrial heyday, when Tyneside engineering and innovation led the world, through decades of post-industrial decline, and underinvestment, to its more recent reinvention as a cultural destination for the North. The ten short stories gathered here all feature characters in search of something, a new reality, a space, perhaps, in which to rediscover themselves: from the call-centre worker imagining herself far away from the claustrophobic realities of her day job, to the woman coming to terms with an ex-lover who’s moved on all too quickly, to the man trying to outrun his mother’s death on Town Moor. The Book of Newcastle brings together some of the city’s most renowned literary talents, along with exciting new voices, proving that while Newcastle continues to feel the effects of its lost industrial past, it is also a city striving for a future that brims with promise.
November 17, 2025 at 4:15 AM
Reposted by Comma Press
duckpondsreview.bsky.social
This, the 27th book I've read in this superb series from @commapress.bsky.social , is undoubtedly the most poignant and difficult as I suspect many of not all the places portrayed have been hit in Israel's obscene bombardment of recent years. Still an excellent selection.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
📚💙
#booksky
#books
The Book of Gaza, A City in Short Fiction, from Comma Press. Bringing together a dozen of Palestine’s greatest modern prose writers, this unique anthology sets contemporary stories against the backdrop of one of the world’s most talked-about cities, presenting them in English translation for the first time. Together, these stories will enable English-speaking readers to go beyond the global media coverage and enter into the daily life of ordinary characters struggling to live with dignity in what is effectively the world’s largest prison. The authors range from highly acclaimed writers to exciting new voices in Arabic literature, including the “Father of the Palestinian” short story, Zaki Al Ela, and a new generation of young women bloggers and activists, such as Mona Abu Sharikhm, Dawlat Al Masri, and Najla Attalah.
November 17, 2025 at 5:54 AM
Reposted by Comma Press
northodoxpress.bsky.social
Join Northodox this Saturday at House of Book & Friends for our Winter Book Fair

@commapress.bsky.social @flyonthewallpress.bsky.social @stairwellbooks.bsky.social @saraband-books.bsky.social @confingopublishing.bsky.social @writtenoffbooks.bsky.social

www.eventbrite.com/e/manchester...
Publishers Attending: Comma Press, Stairwell Books, Saraband, Confingo, Carcanet, Written Off Publishing, Fly on the Wall Press, and Northodox Press Manchester Winter Book Fair. 11am-3pm Saturday 22nd November. A wide selection of books and gifts from local book publishers. At House of Books & Friends. Ground Floor left, 81 King Street, Manchester, M2 4AH. Free Entry.
November 18, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Reposted by Comma Press
duckpondsreview.bsky.social
2020 #17
My third venture into the Cities in Short Fiction from @commapress.bsky.social is to another British city that I have connections with and this remains one of my favourites in the series. An outstanding little collection.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
📚💙
#booksky
#books
The. Book of Sheffield, A City in Short Fiction, from Comma Press. Known for both its industrial roots and arboreal abundance, Sheffield has always been a city of two halves. From elegant parks and gardens to brutalist high-rise estates and the hinterland nightclubs of ‘Centertainment’, it is a city caught between the forges of the past and the melting pot of the present. Bringing together new short stories from some of the city’s most celebrated writers, The Book of Sheffield traces the contours of this complex landscape from both sides of the economic dividing line. From the aspirations of young creatives, ultimately driven to leave, to the more immediate demands of refugees, scrap metal collectors, and student radicals, these stories offer ten different look-out points from which to gaze down on the ever-changing face of the ‘Steel City’.
November 20, 2025 at 1:18 AM
commapress.bsky.social
PALESTINE - 1 at The British Library
Reimagining Palestine's Past 🗝️📚

📅 25 Nov, 7-8:30pm
📍 @britishlibrary.bsky.social

🎟️Tickets Here
tickets.bl.uk/3914/3915

Writers Selma Dabbagh & Anwar Hamed join ed. Basma Ghalayini to explore the themes & voices of this ambitious new anthology.
November 20, 2025 at 3:20 PM