Jen Calleja
@jencalleja.bsky.social
Wrote FAIR / GOBLINHOOD / VEHICLE / DUST SUCKER, translate German lit, publish Maltese lit at Praspar Press. Lecturer in Creative Writing, Goldsmiths & Tutor, Granta Writers’ Workshop. www.jencalleja.com
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Jen Calleja
@jencalleja.bsky.social
· Nov 15
Hello 👋🏼 I’m Jen Calleja, a writer, literary translator & small press publisher based in Hastings, UK.
I mainly write experimental & hybrid work across all forms including novels, short fiction, poetry, essays, memoir, combinations of the above. Here are my books so far…
I mainly write experimental & hybrid work across all forms including novels, short fiction, poetry, essays, memoir, combinations of the above. Here are my books so far…
Reposted by Jen Calleja
Good literary translation requires understanding (language, culture, genre--on both sides of the translation) and an ability to write well. "AI" can't do that. There are no shortcuts. Treat your work and foreign language readers with the respect they deserve. You won't fool anyone with this.
Amazon has launched a new AI-driven translation service, Kindle Translate, for Kindle Direct Publishing authors 👇 #BookSky
Amazon launches AI translation service for indie authors
ebx.sh
November 7, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Good literary translation requires understanding (language, culture, genre--on both sides of the translation) and an ability to write well. "AI" can't do that. There are no shortcuts. Treat your work and foreign language readers with the respect they deserve. You won't fool anyone with this.
Reposted by Jen Calleja
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
November 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
Very specific request: recommendations of sexy/sensual/erotic books on or about islands. It’s for an article, not just my whims.
November 25, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Very specific request: recommendations of sexy/sensual/erotic books on or about islands. It’s for an article, not just my whims.
Reposted by Jen Calleja
Exciting news ~ TL/TH in book
form, from Peninsula Press in 2026✨
Too Little/Too Hard (edited by Lucy Mercer and Livia Franchini), a collection of essays from some of the most exciting contemporary writers about literature, work, time, and value (shipping May)
peninsulapress.co.uk/products/202...
form, from Peninsula Press in 2026✨
Too Little/Too Hard (edited by Lucy Mercer and Livia Franchini), a collection of essays from some of the most exciting contemporary writers about literature, work, time, and value (shipping May)
peninsulapress.co.uk/products/202...
2026 subscription
We are pleased to announce our 2026 subscription: a selection of five books publishing next year, each delivered at least one month ahead of publication, all for a special price of £55 (saving £12 on ...
peninsulapress.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Exciting news ~ TL/TH in book
form, from Peninsula Press in 2026✨
Too Little/Too Hard (edited by Lucy Mercer and Livia Franchini), a collection of essays from some of the most exciting contemporary writers about literature, work, time, and value (shipping May)
peninsulapress.co.uk/products/202...
form, from Peninsula Press in 2026✨
Too Little/Too Hard (edited by Lucy Mercer and Livia Franchini), a collection of essays from some of the most exciting contemporary writers about literature, work, time, and value (shipping May)
peninsulapress.co.uk/products/202...
Reposted by Jen Calleja
Thursday! @draughtjournal.bsky.social first event, with @jencalleja.bsky.social and more, gonna read in my funny accent. Come along
November 24, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Thursday! @draughtjournal.bsky.social first event, with @jencalleja.bsky.social and more, gonna read in my funny accent. Come along
What a life and career Udo Kier had, have always found him mesmerising www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...
Udo Kier, German actor who starred in 200 films spanning Lars von Trier to Ace Ventura, dies aged 81
Actor who appeared in My Own Private Idaho, Blade, Armageddon and Dogville, as well as Madonna music videos and video games, died on Sunday
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:03 AM
What a life and career Udo Kier had, have always found him mesmerising www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...
Reposted by Jen Calleja
It’s here! The 2026 Dublin Literary Award Nominated Titles are out! ✨📚
69 novels nominated by 80 libraries from 36 countries, including 5 Irish authors & 30 translated works in 17 languages.
Explore the full list here: dublinliteraryaward.ie/features/new...
#DublinLitAward #DLA2026
69 novels nominated by 80 libraries from 36 countries, including 5 Irish authors & 30 translated works in 17 languages.
Explore the full list here: dublinliteraryaward.ie/features/new...
#DublinLitAward #DLA2026
November 19, 2025 at 12:04 PM
It’s here! The 2026 Dublin Literary Award Nominated Titles are out! ✨📚
69 novels nominated by 80 libraries from 36 countries, including 5 Irish authors & 30 translated works in 17 languages.
Explore the full list here: dublinliteraryaward.ie/features/new...
#DublinLitAward #DLA2026
69 novels nominated by 80 libraries from 36 countries, including 5 Irish authors & 30 translated works in 17 languages.
Explore the full list here: dublinliteraryaward.ie/features/new...
#DublinLitAward #DLA2026
Reposted by Jen Calleja
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
Why the publishing industry must back small presses, rather than LLMs.
www.thebookseller.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:48 AM
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Reposted by Jen Calleja
We need your help.
@waterstones.bsky.social, without any direct communication with us, will be opening their 6th Edinburgh branch less than 100 metres from our front door at the Foot of the Walk in Leith.
Please read on for more information
www.heraldscotland.com/news/2562908...
(1/2)
@waterstones.bsky.social, without any direct communication with us, will be opening their 6th Edinburgh branch less than 100 metres from our front door at the Foot of the Walk in Leith.
Please read on for more information
www.heraldscotland.com/news/2562908...
(1/2)
Anger as Waterstones snaps up prime site on doorstep of independent bookshop
UK's biggest bookselling chain under fire over plans for new store beside Edinburgh tram line.
www.heraldscotland.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:28 AM
We need your help.
@waterstones.bsky.social, without any direct communication with us, will be opening their 6th Edinburgh branch less than 100 metres from our front door at the Foot of the Walk in Leith.
Please read on for more information
www.heraldscotland.com/news/2562908...
(1/2)
@waterstones.bsky.social, without any direct communication with us, will be opening their 6th Edinburgh branch less than 100 metres from our front door at the Foot of the Walk in Leith.
Please read on for more information
www.heraldscotland.com/news/2562908...
(1/2)
Reposted by Jen Calleja
Argonaut takes the risk of opening a beautiful, independent, community-oriented bookshop in Leith, then big chain @waterstones.bsky.social comes in, having done none of the work, to try and steal their market. I will always support indie bookshops, especially my local @argonautbooks.bsky.social!
Argonaut Books needs your help 📣
Waterstones are set to open a store less than 100m from the indie bookshop's front door.
Full info on @argonautbooks.bsky.social's Insta: www.instagram.com/p/DRMULI1jCI...
Waterstones are set to open a store less than 100m from the indie bookshop's front door.
Full info on @argonautbooks.bsky.social's Insta: www.instagram.com/p/DRMULI1jCI...
November 18, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Argonaut takes the risk of opening a beautiful, independent, community-oriented bookshop in Leith, then big chain @waterstones.bsky.social comes in, having done none of the work, to try and steal their market. I will always support indie bookshops, especially my local @argonautbooks.bsky.social!
Support indie bookshops !!!
Argonaut Books needs your help 📣
Waterstones are set to open a store less than 100m from the indie bookshop's front door.
Full info on @argonautbooks.bsky.social's Insta: www.instagram.com/p/DRMULI1jCI...
Waterstones are set to open a store less than 100m from the indie bookshop's front door.
Full info on @argonautbooks.bsky.social's Insta: www.instagram.com/p/DRMULI1jCI...
November 18, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Support indie bookshops !!!
Cover reveal ! 💅🍒🚬
Here’s the pretty incredible cover for my translation of FAVORITA by Michelle Steinbeck, out from @faberbooks.bsky.social on 12 February.
“Part hallucinatory road trip, part feminist revenge fantasy: a wild, furious and mischievous novel…”
www.faber.co.uk/product/9780...
Here’s the pretty incredible cover for my translation of FAVORITA by Michelle Steinbeck, out from @faberbooks.bsky.social on 12 February.
“Part hallucinatory road trip, part feminist revenge fantasy: a wild, furious and mischievous novel…”
www.faber.co.uk/product/9780...
November 17, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Cover reveal ! 💅🍒🚬
Here’s the pretty incredible cover for my translation of FAVORITA by Michelle Steinbeck, out from @faberbooks.bsky.social on 12 February.
“Part hallucinatory road trip, part feminist revenge fantasy: a wild, furious and mischievous novel…”
www.faber.co.uk/product/9780...
Here’s the pretty incredible cover for my translation of FAVORITA by Michelle Steinbeck, out from @faberbooks.bsky.social on 12 February.
“Part hallucinatory road trip, part feminist revenge fantasy: a wild, furious and mischievous novel…”
www.faber.co.uk/product/9780...
Perfect reading between Halloween and Christmas @roughtradebooks.bsky.social
November 16, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Perfect reading between Halloween and Christmas @roughtradebooks.bsky.social
Reposted by Jen Calleja
A statement about David Bellos just issued by his department: www.princeton.edu/news/2025/11...
David Bellos, renowned scholar of French fiction and ‘totally brilliant translator,’ dies at age 80
His work grappled with the tricky nature of interpreting between languages and embraced the potential of language itself to help us understand the human condition.
www.princeton.edu
November 14, 2025 at 11:58 PM
A statement about David Bellos just issued by his department: www.princeton.edu/news/2025/11...
Reposted by Jen Calleja
Very much enjoyed Fair by Jen Calleja. A good read on literary translation.
prototypepublishing.co.uk/product/fair/
prototypepublishing.co.uk/product/fair/
Fair: The Life-Art of Translation by Jen Calleja - Prototype
Fair: The Life-Art of Translation is a satirical, refreshing and brilliantly playful book about learning the art of translation, being a bookworker in the publishing industry, growing up, family, and ...
prototypepublishing.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Very much enjoyed Fair by Jen Calleja. A good read on literary translation.
prototypepublishing.co.uk/product/fair/
prototypepublishing.co.uk/product/fair/
Reposted by Jen Calleja
Giving a lecture on the drafts of The Waste Land tomorrow and all the strange and haunting lines that Eliot and Pound decided to cut
November 12, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Giving a lecture on the drafts of The Waste Land tomorrow and all the strange and haunting lines that Eliot and Pound decided to cut
Now the FAIR and GOBLINHOOD tours are over, I wanted to share this essay I wrote for @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social about writing both books. thelondonmagazine.org/article/essa...
@prototypepubs.bsky.social @roughtradebooks.bsky.social
@prototypepubs.bsky.social @roughtradebooks.bsky.social
Essay | Evading Capture: On Writing Two Experimental Memoirs by Jen Calleja - The London Magazine
From our December / January 2025 issue, Jen Calleja on writing experimental memoir and the freedom of experimental forms.
thelondonmagazine.org
November 11, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Now the FAIR and GOBLINHOOD tours are over, I wanted to share this essay I wrote for @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social about writing both books. thelondonmagazine.org/article/essa...
@prototypepubs.bsky.social @roughtradebooks.bsky.social
@prototypepubs.bsky.social @roughtradebooks.bsky.social
I wrote about how getting an allotment made me reflect on life writing for the ROT issue of THE MIRROR LAMP.
You can read the whole issue here: static1.squarespace.com/static/601fd...
Art by Olivia Sterling
You can read the whole issue here: static1.squarespace.com/static/601fd...
Art by Olivia Sterling
November 10, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I wrote about how getting an allotment made me reflect on life writing for the ROT issue of THE MIRROR LAMP.
You can read the whole issue here: static1.squarespace.com/static/601fd...
Art by Olivia Sterling
You can read the whole issue here: static1.squarespace.com/static/601fd...
Art by Olivia Sterling
My Maltese great-grandfather Paulo Calleja died aged 41 fighting for the British Royal Navy. He was on the HMS Diamond when it was bombed while evacuating Allied troops from Greece. His name is on a war memorial in Plymouth, though he never set foot on UK soil.
November 9, 2025 at 8:38 AM
My Maltese great-grandfather Paulo Calleja died aged 41 fighting for the British Royal Navy. He was on the HMS Diamond when it was bombed while evacuating Allied troops from Greece. His name is on a war memorial in Plymouth, though he never set foot on UK soil.
Reposted by Jen Calleja
Today's class is on translation, translators, and the labour of translation - reading this by @jencalleja.bsky.social
November 6, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Today's class is on translation, translators, and the labour of translation - reading this by @jencalleja.bsky.social
Congratulations to @cdrose.bsky.social !
We are delighted to announce that the winner of the Goldsmiths Prize 2025 is C.D. Rose's We Live Here Now! 🎉🎉
Congratulations Chris! 👏👏
Congratulations Chris! 👏👏
November 6, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Congratulations to @cdrose.bsky.social !
Congratulations to Will Mountain Cox for The Relegation Reader anthology, a collection of work by 26 writers in the US, UK & Europe. Will has included an excerpt from my novel Vehicle & I was extremely moved by the Note he includes for it in the anthology itascabooks.com/products/the...
November 4, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Congratulations to Will Mountain Cox for The Relegation Reader anthology, a collection of work by 26 writers in the US, UK & Europe. Will has included an excerpt from my novel Vehicle & I was extremely moved by the Note he includes for it in the anthology itascabooks.com/products/the...
Reposted by Jen Calleja
"Life is about decisions. Either you write 100,000 words a day or you meet people and develop ties of affection. You can’t do both."
How to Write 100,000 Words Per Day, Every Day
Most people don’t believe me when I tell them I write 100,000 words every day of my life. If I’m being totally honest, 100,000 is probably just a b...
buff.ly
November 3, 2025 at 6:26 PM
"Life is about decisions. Either you write 100,000 words a day or you meet people and develop ties of affection. You can’t do both."
Reposted by Jen Calleja
My concrete poem about the Elgin Marbles was published at Thraca Magazine today. 🇬🇷🏛️🏺#GiveTheMarblesBack
November 3, 2025 at 11:54 AM
My concrete poem about the Elgin Marbles was published at Thraca Magazine today. 🇬🇷🏛️🏺#GiveTheMarblesBack
Reposted by Jen Calleja
The inventive, antic, justice-fighting spirit of Jen Calleja is something to behold, bent here to an exploration of translation and the role of the literary translator. A ripper.
October 28, 2025 at 11:42 AM
The inventive, antic, justice-fighting spirit of Jen Calleja is something to behold, bent here to an exploration of translation and the role of the literary translator. A ripper.