Happy Holidays!

May the next year be less like this one…

Here’s some inspiration for the holidays and beyond:

The 2020 Advent Calendar of German indie publishers: www.instagram.com/wereadindie or:  www.readindie.wordpress.com/2020/12/03/der-adventskalender-der-unabhaengigen-verlage

For German books in English translation, visit the fabulous and newly founded imprint V&Q Books (and check out their blog tour): www.voland-quist.de/verlagsblog/vq-books-die-blogtour

And last, but not least: I would like to recommend the poetry collection of the poet, writer and literature activist Jonathan Davidson A Commonplace – Apples, Bricks & Other People’s Poems (Smith | Doorstop, 2020; link to the book and reading sample). They’re not just lovely poems that resonated with me a lot, they’re also a conversation with other poets and poems and an invitation to invite poetry into our daily lives. (And it’s one of the few times I really appreciate footnotes – I think Jonathan’s are brilliant).
In addition to the poetry collection, there is a series of audio recordings and translations into various languages of some poems from A Commonplace. They were made by friends and neighbours because, as Jonathan claims, he was sick of hearing his own voice and curious to hear what they make of his poems. You can find them here “The Everyday Reader”: www.jonathandavidson.net/a-commonplace-the-everyday-reader – and more details about the idea behind this lovely project in Jonathan’s post “Hearing Voices”: www.jonathandavidson.net/2020/06/18/hearing-voices