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colmmckenna.bsky.social @colmmckenna.bsky.social · Jul 11

It was a pleasure to cover Jacques Sternberg’s The Employee (@wakefieldpress.bsky.social) for @thetls.bsky.social. Matt Seidel's translation (The Employee’s first into English) is excellent.

www.the-tls.com/regular-feat...

Molecules on strike

For the Belgian author Jacques Sternberg, attributions of genre were insults. Once heralded as “the best hope for French science fiction”, he proceeded to

www.the-tls.com

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The TLS @thetls.bsky.social · May 21

Colm McKenna on letters from the orchestra minions

‘Acrobatics bereft of inner order’

www.the-tls.co.uk

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colmmckenna.bsky.social @colmmckenna.bsky.social · May 15

Had the pleasure of covering Hermann Burger's Diabelli (translated by @anathanwest.bsky.social and published by @wakefieldpress.bsky.social)
for this week's @thetls.bsky.social.

Diabelli by Hermann Burger | Book review | The TLS www.the-tls.co.uk/regular-feat...

‘Acrobatics bereft of inner order’

In the title story of Diabelli – a collection of short fiction by the Swiss writer Hermann Burger (1942–89), first published in 1979 – a washed-up

www.the-tls.co.uk

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The TLS @thetls.bsky.social · Mar 20

Gisèle Pelicot’s dignity; how Agnès Varda revolutionized cinema; Hamlet, via Grand Theft Auto; Djuna Barnes’s moral satires; expeditions to the North Pole – and much more.

This week’s TLS is out now: www.the-tls.co.uk/issues/cu...

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colmmckenna.bsky.social @colmmckenna.bsky.social · Feb 24

Wrote about Sister on the Road/Boxcar Bertha (@akpress.org) for ExPat Press. A lovely "autobiography" and a sweeping portrait of the Depression Era.

expatpress.com/home-is-surr...

Home is Surrounded by Places to Go: Sister of the Road (Boxcar Bertha) by Ben Reitman – Colm McKenna - ExPat Press

Boxcar Bertha reflects a lost mode of living. It pays tribute to "the world of careless living detached from the rest of the world." Bertha had no formal education. Her mother was a hobo, drifting thr...

expatpress.com

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The Rumpus @therumpus.net · Feb 10

“Like the reader, he has read through a book that purportedly celebrates a great man, while achieving the total opposite.”

Endless Leisure: Colm McKenna reviews Augosto Monterroso’s The Rest is Silence.

Read the full review at https://buff.ly/4gvCK7k

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colmmckenna.bsky.social @colmmckenna.bsky.social · Feb 10

New review out in @therumpus.net. Great book. Punchy throughout, it's out to expose literary pretensions for what they are - boring obsessions that render meaningful conversations about books impossible.

therumpus.net/2025/02/10/t...

Endless Leisure: Augusto Monterroso’s The Rest is Silence - The Rumpus

Under the right eyes, everything that Torres touches turns to gold.

therumpus.net

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colmmckenna.bsky.social @colmmckenna.bsky.social · Jan 31

A new title from @bhousepress.bsky.social comes to mind.

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colmmckenna.bsky.social @colmmckenna.bsky.social · Jan 24

Wrote about a collection of Mario Levrero’s short stories for @clereviewbooks.bsky.social. I cannot recommend his work (in English translation from @andotherstories.bsky.social) highly enough. It makes the days stop repeating.

www.clereviewofbooks.com/writing/mari...

A Snail’s Pace Suits Me Fine: On Mario Levrero’s “The Thinking-About-Gladys Machine” — Cleveland Review of Books

Levrero rewards his characters for having faith in false starts, knowing that certain times are conducive to certain events.

www.clereviewofbooks.com

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bhousepress.bsky.social @bhousepress.bsky.social · Jan 9

🎉BOILER HOUSE PRESS IN THE TLS!!🎉

We’re delighted to share @colmmckenna.bsky.social review of Red House Alley (by Else Jerusalem), in the latest issue of the @thetls.bsky.social!

🔗Read the review here: www.the-tls.co.uk/regular-feat...

🔗Get the book here: www.boilerhouse.press/product-page...

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colmmckenna.bsky.social @colmmckenna.bsky.social · Jan 2

Need new shoes, suddenly.

colmmckenna.bsky.social @colmmckenna.bsky.social · Jan 2

Pleasure!

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colmmckenna.bsky.social @colmmckenna.bsky.social · Jan 2

Wrote about the first full English translation of Red House Alley for @thetls.bsky.social. Cheers to @neglectedbooks.com and @bhousepress.bsky.social for snatching this from the jaws of obscurity! Always nice to see unfairly forgotten titles get another go around.

www.the-tls.co.uk/regular-feat...

Red House Alley by Else Jerusalem | Book review | The TLS

Now relegated to obscurity, Else Jerusalem’s novel Der Heilige Skarabäus, fully translated into English for the first time as Red House Alley,

www.the-tls.co.uk

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colmmckenna.bsky.social @colmmckenna.bsky.social · Dec 21