Beatlebone by Kevin Barry – Experimental Fiction on an Irish Island

Gesa Stedman enjoys Kevin Barry’s prize-winning novel Beatlebone which follows John Lennon’s trip to County Mayo during a creative crisis. All the reviews printed on the back of the book were right for once: Beatlebone is an exceptional novel. It is formally challenging but it is nevertheless possible to climb […] Read more

Frankfurt Book Fair 2017 – No Time to Sit Back and Relax

Last week, the literary world seemed to revolve once more around the Frankfurt Book Fair. France was Guest of Honour, visitor numbers rose compared to 2016, over 4,000 events informed and entertained the visitors. Sandra van Lente discovered great authors, publishers and mediators at the fair, but some events left […] Read more

Nobel Prize in Literature for Kazuo Ishiguro

Gesa Stedman comments on the surprising Nobel Prize in Literature winner Kazuo Ishiguro and her personal favourite, the early novel An Artist of the Floating World. With market-driven decision making in publishing, and many predictable moves – the next Girl on the Train, the next middlebrow multicultural feel-good story , […] Read more

“We believe in more good books, good bookshops with good booksellers and customers who appreciate this” – Interview with an Independent Bookseller in Berlin

Gesa Stedman interviewed Friederike Zöllner, owner of the bookshop Buchlokal in Berlin-Pankow, for the Literary Field Kaleidoscope. The German version of the interview is available via this link (German pdf), an English pdf file here (link to English pdf). When and why did Buchlokal first open? Which core areas does […] Read more