New edition, new title and HYPERTEXT Virtual Book Fair

Hi everyone, I hope you are all OK during such a difficult year. Despite everything happening in the world, I’ve felt so supported by the bookselling community; I couldn’t be prouder to be working with our amazing authors, designers and all of the shops who have all been pulling together to keep things going. I know that you know this––but it can never be said enough––now is the time to support independent press and booksellers.

Strangers was recently launched by our wonderful local indie bookshop, Pages of Hackney and you can watch the whole event–hosted by Katherine Angel, including some great questions from the engaged audience here. The book was selected by one of our favourite projects (now a physical shop in Finnieston, Glasgow) Burning House Books as the inaugural title for their new monthly book club, was the feature window in Waterstones Crouch End and has been a London Review Bookshop bestseller for three consecutive weeks! Recent press includes, The Arts Desk, Splice and The Skinny. Huge thanks to everyone who has supported the title already – it means the world.

Pre-order the limited edition version of Strangers

For those who want an original green copy – they are in Waterstones across the land and these excellent independent booksellers all offering it online;

Pages of Hackney
Burley Fisher
Good Press
Mr B’S Emporium
Storysmith
Village

Master animator, James Paulley recently produced a short film for the cover reveal of the 2nd printing. You can watch night become day here and see more of James’ stunning work here.

Click image to view

New title – Middex: Perpetual Skip

Next up is a new pamphlet, the seventh in our New Words series. Perpetual Skip is available to pre-order now, with or without an embroidered patch and will be launching as part of HYPERTEXT Bound Art Book Fair.

Perpetual Skip is the new collection of poetic prose from the electrifying voice of Middex. In this bookwork, 11 sermons, once soaked in pools of echo are orphaned from the noise – taking on an urgent and compelling archive—(non) prayers stoked by vivid light. Here, words are on the move, crossing all zones—sprawling grounds of a strange borough—with broken catholic memories and colour. In Skinhead on a Raft we follow the arc of a smoked and discarded cigarette and stay with it on the floor. Discarded cigarette, discarded truths. Glue Preference honours the writers in the unlit underground yards. Stories look outwards; through a scratch-tagged bus window, to the ceiling (and beyond) of a rented flat, and into the canal—rank and receiving. Perpetual Skip is a constant. A beautiful mess with a million stories. ‘Oh it loves a mess – and the mess – is the moss – of denial.’

Middex has previously released records through Polytechnic Youth, The Tapeworm, Makina Books and Infant Tree.  Their first album, No Home was released in 2018. Middex performs very occasionally.

I couldn’t be prouder to publish this pamphlet. Listen to Middex here.

Pre-order Perpetual Skip here

OK. that’s it! We’ll be back soon to announce our Spring programme where we will be announcing a new format and focussing mostly on longer-form books. Got some amazing collaborations we have been working on and cannot wait to share them.

Thank you for reading and supporting Makina x

🌿 Face becoming green, leaves pouring out of its mouth, its eyes…

STRANGERS: OUT NOW! 

Strangers by Rebecca Tamás is out now! Signed copies, bookmarks and badges are scattered across the land, in beloved independent bookshops–and from our online shop. We couldn’t be happier to tell you that this vital book is featured in the current issue of Idler, is Caught By The River’s October Book of the Month and London Review Bookshop’s Book of the Week. I’m adding a press section to the site, but for now if you need any more convincing you can read Kerri ní Dochartaigh’s insightful review for Caught By The River, here and Amy Clarkson’s wonderful piece for Spam, here. Additionally, two of the books essays are available to read, in full. On Mystery is being hosted by London Review  Bookshop and On Panpsychism is being hosted by the wonderful Hotel. If all that wasn’t quite enough you can also listen and watch a short film of On Greenness and this beautiful trailer made by and with new sounds from the books designers, Frontwards Design.

Pages of Hackney Launch Event – This Wednesday 

Please join us on Wednesday evening for the Strangers launch event hosted by our local independent bookshop, Pages of Hackney

Rebecca will be in conversation with one of our favourite writers, Katherine Angel on
Wednesday 14th October at 19.30 BST
Instagram Live – www.instagram.com/pagesofhackney

Help Us to Support Black Minds Matter UK

This event is free to attend, however you can show your support with a donation here. All contributions for this event will be donated to Black Minds Matter, an organisation that connects Black individuals and families with free professional mental health services across the UK.

“A slim but powerful invitation to see ourselves and the world through new eyes.”

Pages of Hackney have signed copies of Strangers in stock here! 

Thank you to all the booksellers and team at Crouch End Waterstones who made this Strangers window display – seeing this 100% made my week!

Order Strangers by Rebecca Tamás with 20% off

In Strangers, Rebecca Tamás explores where the human and nonhuman meet, and why this delicate connection just might be the most important relationship of our times. From ‘On Watermelon’ to ‘On Grief’, Tamás’s essays are exhilarating to read in their radical and original exploration of the links between the environmental, the political, the folkloric and the historical. From thinking stones, to fairgrounds, from colliding planets to transformative cockroaches, Tamás’s lyrical perspective takes the reader on a journey between body, land and spirit—exploring a new ecological vision for our fractured, fragile world.

For booksellers, the ISBN is 978​1916060890​. Please contact ​jordan@jordantaylorjones.com with any PR queries.

Recommended: Flo Brooks: Angletwich

Showing at: Brighton CCA, 17 October – 13 December

Flo Brooks’ practice encompasses painting, sculpture, collage, publishing and social engagement. For this major new commission with Brighton CCA, Brooks has expanded the scope of his work to site this suit of paintings within a sculptural installation for the first time. The title of the show, Angletwich, takes its name from a Devonshire dialect term for a worm used in fishing bait, but has evolved to describe a fast moving creature or child. It speaks to the frenetic layering of people and activity within the works as well as recurrent motifs of migration and the makeshift.

Weaving together this semi autobiographical narrative of queer and trans experience, Brooks has turned to the rural South West England where he grew up and in particular its marginalised spaces and communities. These new works centre on a series of rural archetypes; from the livestock fair and the post office, to a lonely bus stop, generating a simultaneous sense of familiarity and isolation. Each work in the exhibition is part of a wider whole; depicting characters, scenes and places which together develop a critical narrative of place and queer experience in Britain. The installation mirrors the environments found within the work, creating a dramatic context to more closely connect the world of Brooks’ painting with the experience of encountering them

Currently / recently reading

I’m Afraid That’s All We’ve Got Time For by Jen Calleja (Prototype), Hollow Places by Christopher Hadley, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Anne Dillard, Kingdomland by Racheal Allen, Swims by Elizabeth-Jane Burnett and Weird Walk.

Thank you for reading and supporting Makina
Robin x

‘if you’re reading this, Shia, you’ve an advocate and friend in me’

Makina Books invites you to the launch of

Shia LaBeouf by A K Blakemore
with Andrew McMillan

On Tuesday 15th September at 19.00 BST.
Instagram Live – instagram.com/makinabooks

I’m delighted to be publishing A K Blakemore’s stinging–weird–and tender new poetry collection–in which every detail crackles–Shia LaBeouf.

‘some poetry just slips into the accidental realm of the iconic, where language refracts and dazzles’
– Maria Sledmere, SPAM

Order a copy of Shia LaBeouf with free postage, here – for booksellers the ISBN is: 978-1-9160608-6-9

Click the video below to see the book page by page. Shia LaBeouf is another Frontwards Design classic that turns everything on it’s side!

Order a copy of Shia LaBeouf with free postage, here

A K Blakemore is the author of two full-length collections of poetry: Humbert Summer (Eyewear, 2015) and Fondue (Offord Road Books, 2018), which was awarded the 2019 Ledbury Forte Prize for Best Second Collection. She has also translated the work of Sichuanese poet Yu Yoyo (My Tenantless Body, Poetry Translation Centre, 2019). Her poetry and prose writing has been widely published and anthologised, appearing in the The London Review of Books, Poetry, Poetry Review and The White Review, among others. Her debut novel, The Manningtree Witches which will be published in spring 2021 by Granta.

Praise for Shia LaBeouf

‘While the Beat Gen Men said what they wanted to say about society and masculinity in thousands upon thousands of words, AK Blakemore expresses 21st century alienation, for women, in just a few well-chosen ones.’
– wouldbeepoet.com

‘Blakemore excels at sudden and drastic changes of tone and imagery that marry the beautiful to the painful. Evocative and unsettling, it also boasts a wry humour.’
– The Indie Insider

‘Sharp, bleakly funny, mordant and tender poetry from one of British poetry’s most original talents.’
– Rebecca Tamás

‘I think in some moods one of the only poets around now worth reading, that is, who hasn’t forgotten about pleasure.’
– Sam Riviere

‘We all know AK Blakemore is a bolt of lightning. And in this stinging new work, she’s weirder, wilder, even more fun.’
– Wayne Holloway-Smith

Shia LaBeouf is the new poetry collection from the startling voice of A. K. Blakemore. Delivered with succinct precision and bright salient menace in her inimitable style—each poem suspends from the space around it with unapologetic leavings that will reside with you. Here, every detail crackles and comes at you sideways; a bad poem is dedicated to William Faulkner (and also your mother) – we are shown male models dancing to Roxy Music – a crosswise salver – a drinking spider – a sparrow’s wet dream and an altercation at a South London pub. A. K. Blakemore’s latest offering will take readers into a burnished and strange place. Shia LaBeouf cements her reputation as an electrifying voice in British poetry. ‘if you’re reading this, Shia, you’ve an advocate and friend in me’

Shimmering Surface, Radical Depth

Irregulars 

I’ll be on Soho Radio today (Monday 17 August) with poets, A.K Blakemore and Emily S. Cooper for a ‘Makina Books takeover’ of the brilliant Rough Trade Books Irregulars show. We’ll be talking about short poems, dentistry, Selling Sunset, solitude as well as their upcoming poetry books;  Shia LaBeouf and Blakemore’s forthcoming debut novel, The Manningtree Witches (Granta, 2021) as well as Emily S. Cooper’s Glass (Makina Books, 2021). There are new readings by; Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal, Rebecca Tamás, Alanna McArdle & Middex. It’s all happening at 2pm and you can listen to it here if you want to!

Shimmering Surface, Radical Depth

We are so excited that MAP have commissioned a series of responses to our forthcoming title, Strangers by Rebecca Tamás. The first is by Rosalind Blake, an artist and academic based in North Uist in the Outer Hebridesis. You can read Rosalind’s response here.

On Panpsychism – short film

You can listen to Rebecca Tamás reading an extract from On Panpsychism – one of seven new essays in Strangers in this short film here.

A. K Blakemore  – Shia LaBeouf

‘some poetry just slips into the accidental realm of the iconic, where language refracts and dazzles’
– Maria Sledmere, SPAM

A.K. Blakemore’s latest collection Shia LaBeouf will be published in just three weeks! Stay tuned for the launch event. The book was recently the subject of an amazing review by Maria Sledmere in SPAM which I urge you to read and has received coverage in TLS, Hotel and Would Bee Poet. You can pre-order the book with free postage and a bookmark, here.

Everything Looks Different in the Dark

‘Carlyle’s photographic encounters are clear evidence that wild nature is rare and seldom untouched by our presence.​ ​Nature can be a source of comfort and delight but it never stands still and it always fights back.’ – Photomonitor

Angus Carlyle’s stunning bookwork Night Blooms was recently reviewed alongside the work of Fleur Olby in Photomonitor. You can read the essay by Anneka French here and grab one of the final copies of Night Blooms here.

‘Pointillist zooms, far-echoing found sounds, mysterious and charged photographic images: Night Blooms is a force field that seduces and singes.’
— Sukhdev Sandhu, author of Night Haunts

Strangers: Essays on the Human and Nonhuman

‘A fascinating, lyrical exploration of the eco-political, from human and non-human bodies to landscapes. Tamás’ essays are deeply rooted in folklore and the fragility of existence. A stunning work of enquiry and eloquence.’
– Sinéad Gleeson

‘Bursting with intellectual generosity. Deep wide roots and radical shoots.’
– Max Porter

‘Strangers is an extraordinary, essential book. Both quiet and loud. Strange yet explicit.’
– Sara Baume

‘exciting and clear-eyed’
– Melissa Harrison

‘Erudite yet intimate, moving yet fierce, her hungry exploration of the world – occurring at the porous boundary between literary forms – made me rethink what it means to be humane.’
– Olivia Sudjic

In Strangers, Rebecca Tamás explores where the human and nonhuman meet, and why this delicate connection just might be the most important relationship of our times. From ‘On Watermelon’ to ‘On Grief’, Tamás’s essays are exhilarating to read in their radical and original exploration of the links between the environmental, the political, the folkloric and the historical. From thinking stones, to fairgrounds, from colliding planets to transformative cockroaches, Tamás’s lyrical perspective takes the reader on a journey between body, land and spirit—exploring a new ecological vision for our fractured, fragile world.

Essays:
On Watermelon • On Hospitality • On Panpscychism • On Greenness • On Pain • On Grief • On Mystery

You can pre-order the book today in one of two limited edition options—both with free UK postage: a standard edition with 20% off the cover price and a bundle option (limited to the first 100 pre-orders) in a hand-stamped newsprint wrapper with a screen printed book bag and set of Strangers badges. Scroll down for more info. The book has been full-colour litho printed, with flapped covers and perfect-bound on uncoated Munken paper stock.

Pre-order Strangers by Rebecca Tamás with 20% off and free UK postage

Rebecca Tamás’s poetry and criticism has been published widely. She is the co-editor of Spells: Occult Poetry for the 21st Century, with Sarah Shin, published by Ignota Books and her first poetry collection, WITCH was published by Penned in the Margins in 2019; to praise from the Poetry Book Society, the Guardian, Telegraph, Irish Times, TLS, White Review and The Paris Review. Rebecca is a lecturer in Creative Writing at York St John University, where she co-curates The York Centre for Writing Poetry Series.

We have also produced a limited run of these screen printed organic heavy shopper bags, 58mm badge sets and hand-stamped newsprint-wrapped editions for the  pre-order bundle. The bags are screen-printed on both sides with eco friendly water-based screen printing inks – they are 350mm wide x 320mm deep and have a long strap so you can carry it over your shoulder.

For booksellers, the ISBN is 978​1916060890​. Please contact ​jordan@jordantaylorjones.com with any PR queries.

New Prints

There are five new A2 and A3 giclee prints up on the web shop; Kitchen, Garden, Lamp, Bowl and Jug. At least 20% from all sales will be donated to Black Minds Matter UK. Prints are produced on heavy Somerset textured paper and will be sent in a sturdy tube.

New from Rebecca Tamás – Strangers: Essays on the Human and Nonhuman

We are delighted to announce Strangers by Rebecca Tamás! Published October 8 2020

In Strangers, Rebecca Tamás explores where the human and nonhuman meet, and why this delicate connection just might be the most important relationship of our times. From ‘On Watermelon’ to ‘On Grief’, Tamás’s essays are exhilarating to read in their radical and original exploration of the links between the environmental, the political, the folkloric and the historical. From thinking stones, to fairgrounds, from colliding planets to transformative cockroaches, Tamás’s lyrical perspective takes the reader on a journey between body, land and spirit—exploring a new ecological vision for our fractured, fragile world.

The striking cover, illustrated by Frontwards Design is based on the books unique perspective on ecology. Head to our site to read an excerpt from ‘On Greenness’ – one of seven brilliant new essays in the book.

Essays:
On Watermelon • On Hospitality • On Panscychism • On Greenness • On Pain • On Grief • On Mystery

You can pre-order the book today in one of two limited edition options—both with free UK postage: a standard edition with 20% off the cover price and a bundle option (limited to the first 50 pre-orders) in a hand-stamped newsprint wrapper with a screen printed book bag and set of Strangers badges. Scroll down for more info. The has been full-colour litho printed and perfect-bound on uncoated Munken paper stock.

Rebecca Tamás’s poetry and criticism has been published widely. She is the co-editor of Spells: Occult Poetry for the 21st Century, with Sarah Shin, published by Ignota Books and her first poetry collection, WITCH was published by Penned in the Margins in 2019; to praise from the Poetry Book Society, the Guardian, Telegraph, Irish Times, TLS, White Review and The Paris Review. Rebecca is a lecturer in Creative Writing at York St John University, where she co-curates The York Centre for Writing Poetry Series.

Limited pre-order bundle with screen-printed bag, badge set and hand-stamped book.
**Limited to the first 50 pre-orders only**

Pre-order Strangers by Rebecca Tamás with 20% off and free UK postage

We have also produced a limited run of these screen printed organic heavy shopper bags, 58mm badge sets and hand-stamped newsprint-wrapped editions for the  pre-order bundle. The bags are screen-printed on both sides with eco friendly water-based screen printing inks – they are 350mm wide x 320mm deep and have a long strap so you can carry it over your shoulder.

For booksellers, the ISBN is 9781916060890. Please contact jordan@jordantaylorjones.com with any PR queries.

Praise for ‘WITCH’ by Rebecca Tamás (Penned in the Margins, 2019)

‘My heart pounded as I read WITCH; I felt as if Tamás’s words were burning the page as I read. WITCH is sexy, frightening, and cerebral at once; full of the weight of history, while also being witty, contemporary, and playful. What Tamás does with language, and with the legacy of the witch, is thrillingly strange. She is the real deal.’
– Katherine Angel

‘Opening with a “penis hex”, WITCH is intent on reclaiming the sorcerer as a symbol of female empowerment, conjuring spells where “the smell of freedom is the smell of vomit”. Freewheeling and spirited, these poems tend to take the form of lengthy streams of consciousness, blurring statements, non sequiturs and disembodied confessions to unpick themes as various as logic and friendship.’
– Ben Wilkinson, The Guardian

Pre-order Strangers by Rebecca Tamás with 20% off and free UK postage

More from Makina Books

Shia LaBeouf by A.K. Blakemore
Pre-order with 20% off and free UK postage

The wait for Shia LaBeouf the new collection from A.K. Blakemore is almost over.

‘I think in some moods one of the only poets around now worth reading, that is, who hasn’t forgotten about pleasure. Or as if imagism happened again, only this time you could think in it.’
—Sam Riviere

‘We all know AK Blakemore is a bolt of lightning. And in this stinging new work, she’s weirder, wilder, even more fun.’
—Wayne Holloway-Smith

‘While the Beat Gen Men said what they wanted to say about society and masculinity in thousands upon thousands of words, AK Blakemore expresses 21st century alienation, for women, in just a few well-chosen ones.’ – wouldbeepoet.com

Shia LaBeouf is the new poetry collection from the startling voice of A. K. Blakemore. Delivered with succinct precision and bright salient menace in her inimitable style—each poem suspends from the space around it with unapologetic leavings that will reside with you. Here, every detail crackles and comes at you sideways; a bad poem is dedicated to William Faulkner (and also your mother) – we are shown male models dancing to Roxy Music – a crosswise salver – a drinking spider – a sparrow’s wet dream and an altercation at a South London pub. A. K. Blakemore’s latest offering will take readers into a burnished and strange place. Shia LaBeouf cements her reputation as an electrifying voice in British poetry. ‘if you’re reading this, Shia, you’ve an advocate and friend in me’

A. K. Blakemore is the author of two full-length collections of poetry: Humbert Summer (Eyewear, 2015) and Fondue (Offord Road Books, 2018), which was awarded the 2019 Ledbury Forte Prize for Best Second Collection. She has also translated the work of Sichuanese poet Yu Yoyo (My Tenantless Body, Poetry Translation Centre, 2019). Her poetry and prose writing has been widely published and anthologised, appearing in the The London Review of Books, Poetry, Poetry Review and The White Review, among others. She is currently working on her debut novel, which will be published in spring 2021 by Granta.

the blue room in SPAM

Alice Hill-Woods recently reviewed the blue room by Eloise Hendy for SPAM Zine. You can read the whole thing, here. Last copies are in our shop.

‘Her bright and broad imaginings disrupt verse’s dreaminess, slapping a splash your way to bring you back into the glistering present’

Books to your door!

Lastly, although we have sold out, our friends at Cornerhouse Publications have the last copies of Night Blooms by Angus Carlyle and split ends / rooms by Alanna McArdle — all here.

Thank you for reading and for all your support.

A glow to show the racing clouds

Introducing Night Blooms

I am delighted to reveal the cover for Night Blooms, Angus Carlyle’s extraordinary new collection of poetry, landscape and photography. Night Blooms is a remarkable bookwork charting an exquisite series of South Coast nocturnal explorations—caught in motion over 64 full-colour pages. The book, designed by Frontwards Design, is a beautiful production and the third title in our ongoing series, New Words. Night Blooms is printed in a very limited run—don’t snooze on this! You can listen to Angus reading from the book on episode 2 of our podcast.

***Scroll down for full details***

Angus Carlyle’s Night Blooms collects nocturnal explorations of an area of woodland close to his home on the South Coast of England. Poetic prose and photographic experiments document Carlyle’s chosen medium of running, an everyday act he has repeated across specific trails in solitude for years. In Night Blooms, public space becomes unrecognised – trespassed underfoot and collected.

Pre-order the book

We encounter the smells, noises, the presence of inhabitants; bats, a nightjar, laughter, concrete. A head torch provides a prism of vignetted light and acts as a portable studio, like a lantern to the understory of a secret yet shared space. Everyday objects take on a new status – shrine-like, sinister, glowing. The exhale of breath, bad weather, a deflated bouncy castle are seemingly snatched at pace from the air. If there is a constant character here, it is the blooms which remain more familiar, unwieldily and delicate. Night Blooms takes us up high – as territory, trails and terrain overlap and collide, re-assembled glimpses offer study caught in motion.

Night Blooms presents the exquisite traces of the night-runner as artist. Often an urgent poetry of action, yet with The delicate / Appearance of wreathes of smoke. Here is the runner’s pain of mantras drained empty, but also faith in the solidity of the world –
— Mark Goodwin

Angus Carlyle is interested in landscape and in other things besides. He works collaboratively and on his own. Publications include On Listening (co-edited with Cathy Lane), Autumn Leaves (as editor), In The Field and Rough Notes. His creative work frequently involves collaboration

Night Blooms teaches us that it is only through meaningful dialogue with our surroundings that we truly come to know them. This is an intimate, kinetic document of the South Coast woodlands; while the rest of us are sleeping Night Blooms is off, sharing moments with the night.”
— Isobel Anderson

Pre-order the book

Podcast Episode 2

Here’s something to listen to during self isolation; episode 2 of our podcast features Alanna McArdle, AK Blakemore, MIDDEX, Maike Hale-Jones, Eloise Hendy and Angus Carlyle. Click here to listen 🙂

Thank you

OK thats it. I hope everyone is OK out there. Thank you for reading and thank you for supporting us; I know its a hard time for everyone right now. I’ve been so humbled by some of the amazing support I’ve seen for small press, booksellers and publishers in the last few weeks. There are too many people to mention but I want to particularly highlight 3 of Cups Press, Burning House Books and Pages of Hackney who have been doing such an amazing job during difficult times.

We have some amazing titles lined up this year and next and I can’t wait to share them with you.

Robin x

Sardonic, arresting and fiercely feminist: split ends/rooms and the blue room published today

 

Last Thursday we kick started 2020 with a sold out reading event at Pages Cheshire Street to celebrate the first two New Words titles; the blue room by Eloise Hendy and split ends/rooms by Alanna McArdle. Two rising female voices in UK poetry, Naomi Morris and Karen Correa da Silva also delivered astonishing readings. >>> Order today w/ free postage<<< Upcoming titles include new works by a host of distinctive voices, including poets (A.K. Blakemore, Emily S Cooper, Angus Carlyle) writers, translators (Michelle Steinbeck, Jen Calleja, Maike-Hale Jones, Middex) and many others. Sometime last year I started a process to try and make a new shape of book that would be less standardised than our previous titles one that could house a new series, New Words. After a false start and many book dummy’s we ended up with something new and exciting an oversized, wider pamphlet that gave more space for text and bold design with a loop binding. The series has been printed on heavy-stock recycled paper and was beautifully designed by Frontwards Design who took my flimsy brief to draw inspiration from a 6×7 medium-format photo frame and made something really exciting. Anyway, I couldn’t be happier about this series and I hope you like it too. They are in the shops soon via Cornerhouse and on our site with free UK postage. **Scroll down for our 4 books for £20 flash sale.** Eloise Hendy: the blue room Eloise Hendy’s debut is a candid collection of poems that are sardonic, arresting and fiercely feminist. the blue room is dotted with sharp imagery—the heart rate of smashed glass, a dentist with stiff fingers, regurgitating confetti. Hendy’s brilliant voice seems to relish the role of both salvager and confidante of memory. Retold glimpses punctuate the narrative, from the unpredictability of cyclical relationships to the rhythm of the things we grasp. >>>Order today w/ free postage<<< Alanna McArdle: split ends The residue of trauma is ever present in Alanna McArdle’s stunningly-achieved debut poetry collection split ends. These are 12 confrontational poems that swell and contort perspective, conversing with and following one another. McArdle’s words are emotional, arresting, and obtrusive. She writes, “crepuscular, fetid, she sniffs like a fox / screams like a fox” and as the ripples retreat, she leaves readers to decide which way they view the conversation. >>>Order today w/ free postage<<< “Alanna McArdle’s poetics carves for itself a place between insouciant wit and the stingingly vulnerable. It claims agency and reclaims symbolic space over the terrible, the oppressive, by biting down hard on the articulate nerve of the thing. I’m excited by this pamphlet, and so so glad it exists.” —Wayne Holloway-Smith Eloise Hendy is a poet and writer living in London. Her work has appeared in Ambit, Frieze, The Tangerine, and The Stinging Fly, amongst others, and she was recently shortlisted for The White Review Poet’s Prize 2018 Alanna McArdle is a writer from London. She has had poetry published in print and online in Shabby Doll House, Prelude Magazine, Poems in Which, For Every Year, and The Chapess, among others, and she was recently included in episode three of the podcast Poets In Bed. Her non-fiction and journalism has featured in Pitchfork, Crack Magazine, The NME, The Talkhouse, Noisey, and Broadly. Her short story ‘Butter’ was shortlisted for the 2018 Desperate Literature short fiction prize. Flash sale! Click the image below to get all four of our books for £20, UK postage paid Thank you for all your support last year Robin x

 

NEW WORDS!

split ends and the blue room Pre-order both books today for £15 with free UK postage We are delighted to introduce two stunning debut poetry collections by Alanna McArdle and Eloise Hendy! Both titles are oversized full-colour pamphlets with loop binding designed by Patrick Fisher. These are the inaugural releases of our ambitious New Words series—celebrating independent voices in poetry, fiction and prose! ***Scroll down for full details and Pages Cheshire Street launch details*** Eloise Hendy: the blue room Eloise Hendy’s debut is a candid collection of poems that are sardonic, arresting and fiercely feminist. the blue room is dotted with sharp imagery—the heart rate of smashed glass, a dentist with stiff fingers, regurgitating confetti. Hendy’s brilliant voice seems to relish the role of both salvager and confidante of memory. Retold glimpses punctuate the narrative, from the unpredictability of cyclical relationships to the rhythm of the things we grasp. Alanna McArdle: split ends The residue of trauma is ever present in Alanna McArdle’s stunningly-achieved debut poetry collection split ends. These are 12 confrontational poems that swell and contort perspective, conversing with and following one another. McArdle’s words are emotional, arresting, and obtrusive. She writes, “crepuscular, fetid, she sniffs like a fox / screams like a fox” and as the ripples retreat, she leaves readers to decide which way they view the conversation. “Alanna McArdle’s poetics carves for itself a place between insouciant wit and the stingingly vulnerable. It claims agency and reclaims symbolic space over the terrible, the oppressive, by biting down hard on the articulate nerve of the thing. I’m excited by this pamphlet, and so so glad it exists.” —Wayne Holloway-Smith Alanna McArdle is a writer from London. She has had poetry published in print and online in Shabby Doll House, Prelude Magazine, Poems in Which, For Every Year, and The Chapess, among others, and she was recently included in episode three of the podcast Poets In Bed. Her non-fiction and journalism has featured in Pitchfork, Crack Magazine, The NME, The Talkhouse, Noisey, and Broadly. Her short story ‘Butter’ was shortlisted for the 2018 Desperate Literature short fiction prize. Eloise Hendy is a poet and writer living in London. Her work has appeared in Ambit, The Tangerine, and The Stinging Fly, amongst others, and she was recently shortlisted for The White Review Poet’s Prize 2018 NEW WORDS Launch at Pages Cheshire StreetMakina Books invites you to the launch of the blue room, split ends and the New Words series at Pages Cheshire Street on Thursday 16 January from 7pm to 9pm. Readings from Eloise Hendy, Alanna McArdle + more TBA! The Lisa and John Slideshow at Martin Parr Foundation and in the BJP! I had a great time running a table at BOP Bristol 19′ Photobook Festival. Huge thanks to Jenni, Nathan and everyone at MPF and RPS for having me there. Copies of Lisa and John are now in good book shops (distributed by Cornerhouse) including Tate Modern and The Photographers’ Gallery—and with 20% off in our online shop—it makes a great gift! Marigold Warner wrote a nice piece about the project in the British Journal of Photography, you can read that here   David was also a guest on Ben Smith’s excellent podcast, A Small Voice, which you can listen to here and on all podcast platforms.Lastly, I’ll be at the London Centre of Book Arts BOOK FAIR this Sunday 1 December, 11am–6pm, at the London Centre for Book Arts. Last year they welcomed more than a thousand visitors to their beautiful studio in east London to celebrate artist books and publications by independent publishers. Where: LONDON CENTRE FOR BOOK ARTS an artist-run print studio and bindery housed within one of the few remaining Victorian industrial buildings in Fish Island E3 OK thats it. Thank you for reading! Robin x

It was always hectic, but in a nice way …Autumn news from Makina

I’m typing this in Devon and where I just took the train along my favourite stretch of railway. The best part of the journey is between Exeter and Newton Abbot where you pass mud, fairground and sea over 18 minutes. Its been a really busy month working on Portrait of A London Road a new show I’ve curated that which was featured in the Evening Standard yesterday (thanks for making that happen, Jake May) and of course, launching David’s excellent book, The Lisa and John Slideshow at Calder Bookshop and Theatre. What an amazing night that was and such a powerful performance from Sarah Toogood and Alan Mosley. I enjoyed listening to Paul Graham discussing his new book, Mother at Foyles and Kharanni Barokka‘s excellent reading at Burley Fisher for The White Review. Lots of things are happening and I hope to be in touch soon with news of two new poetry titles. Do come and say hi if you are in Bristol this weekend and thanks for reading this ramble..

BOP BRISTOL 19′
David Moore and myself are taking part in BOP Bristol—a brand new photobook festival hosted by Martin Parr Foundation and The Royal Photographic Society, which will be based at Paintworks, Bristol. It’s all happening at the Martin Parr Foundation and Royal Photographic Society. David will be signing copies of Lisa and John at our table on Saturday from 3.30pm. Please come and say hi. The full programme of talks, signings and events is here.

LISA AND JOHN IN THE BRITISH JOURNAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY
The British Journal of Photography have just published an excellent piece on The Lisa and John Slideshow here.

A SMALL VOICE PODCAST
David will be featured on the next episode of A Small Voice Podcast, released tomorrow (Wednesday). You can subscribe to that here…

Buy the Lisa and John Slideshow today for £12.00 (20% off)

The Lisa and John Slideshow by David Moore with Essay by Val Williams • ISBN: 978-1-9160608-1-4 • Paperback • 210 x 148 mm • 64 pp • October 2019 • Munken Lynx, full-colour offset litho, section sewn binding

The Lisa and John Slideshow | New Podcast

Pre-order today for £12.00 (20% off)

In 2012, photographer David Moore returned to the site of his celebrated 1980s colour documentary series Pictures from the Real World. Moore offered the full archive of the project to Lisa and John, two subjects of the original series and asked them to make their own selections. The outcome released many previously unseen photographs and became the acclaimed script and play The Lisa and John Slideshow – a contemporary piece of documentary theatre addressing family memory, loss and the everyday.

The Lisa and John Slideshow (148 x 210mm, 64pp, full colour) is the first title in our new Makina Archive series, it’s out on 27 September and available to preorder online. It features an introduction from writer and curator Val Williams, the full script to The Lisa and John Slideshow play and more than 40 previously unpublished colour photographs. The book is unlike anything else and essential (in my opinion) for anyone interested in British colour photography, theatre and the documentary archive and family memory.

£12.00, Scroll down for launch details

Launch Party

The book will be launched on September 26 at Calder Bookshop and Theatre—one of the most amazing shops and spaces in London. We’d love to see you there! There will be drinks and a reading from actors Sarah Toogood and Alan Mosley, who starred in the original production of The Lisa and John Slideshow at Format Festival. David and myself will introduce the book and signed copies will be available on the night. Please note that space is very limited so please RSVP via Eventbrite here if you’d like to join us so I can keep track.

Praise for The Lisa and John Slideshow

‘Poised between one form of documentary and another, a pivotal place where social realism meets an altogether more provocative approach.’
—Sean O’Hagan, The Guardian

‘A photographic documentary archive from it’s very insides, where content is redrawn with the subjects’ own words.’
—Karen McQuaid, Senior Curator, The Photographers’ Gallery

‘The 80s were a great decade for British colour documentary photography. The Lisa and John Slideshow is unique as it brings to life photographs of the family first seen in Pictures from the Real World and as such is a valuable contribution to understanding this decade.’
—Martin Parr, Photographer

The Makina Books Podcast!

After what feels like years of saying I would do one, I took the microphone I bought last year out its box and recorded the first episode of a podcast exploring narratives in publishing. Episode 1 is with David Moore, it’s 36 minutes long and you can click here to listen on Soundcloud.

 

New Words

We are busy working on the upcoming New Words series which we are launching later this year. New Words is a new affordable series of oversized pamphlets celebrating independent voices in poetry, fiction and prose. Patrick Fisher at Frontwards Design has created an oversized pamphlet, inspired by a 6×7 medium format photo frame. They look great and I can’t wait to start sharing them soon.

 

Livia Franchini’s Shelf Life

Congratulations to Livia Franchini on her incredible debut novel, Shelf Life which is published by Doubleday this month and is quite rightly picking up great reviews! Livia is part of an evening of Magic and Witchcraft with Rebecca Tamás at Storysmith Bookshop in Bristol on Thursday 22nd August. We still have a few copies of Livia’s stunning poetry collection, Our Available Magic available for £5.00—but you need to be quick!

 

Thanks so much for reading and please support these amazing sellers: Books Peckham, Burley Fisher Books, Camden Arts Centre, Chener Books, Foyles, Good Press, Housmans, London Review Bookshop, Minnow Books, Pages of Hackney, Specialist Subject Records, Storysmith Books, Ti Pi Tin, Tome Records

Makina publishes Livia Franchini’s ‘Our Available Magic’

We are so excited to announce Livia Franchini’s first poetry collection—and our twelth title—Our Available Magic. In Our Available Magic, poems and short poetic prose fold across 42 carefully observed pages that are insightful, fresh and craftily bold.

In August the dust was deafening, all things dry. Small anxieties of high summer. Drops of water from your plastic bottle cutting circles like coins on the pavement. Eating a tomato from the hand in an empty apartment. Stand in the corridor, think of all the other flats stacked below you, the ones above you, all empty. When you hear her car pull in, cross the street running.
—from Estate

Livia Franchini is a writer and translator from Tuscany, Italy. She has translated Natalia Ginzburg, James Tiptree Jr. and Michael Donaghy among others. Her poetry has appeared in 3 a.m. magazine, Funhouse, LESTE, Spells: 21st Century Occult Poetry (Lingua Ignota, 2018), Wretched Strangers (Boiler House Press, 2018) among others. Her debut novel Shelf Life will be published in English by Doubleday in August 2019 and in Italian by Libri Mondadori in Spring 2020.

THE LAUNCH
The book will be launched with a reading from Livia and special guests on Tuesday 9 April at Pages of Hackney—one of the best independent bookshops in London. We’d love to see you there! Please note that while this event is free to attend, space is limited so please RSVP via Eventbrite here if you’d like to join us.

PREORDER TODAY
The first 50 preorders will ship with a 58mm badge and Makina bookmark. We also offer a Collect from Makina option via the website for local customers.

I’ve been busy working on a number of projects this year including upcoming titles with David Moore, Maike Hale-Jones, Martha Orchard and Angus Carlyle.

Good friends of Makina, Tome Records told me about an interesting collection currently being published online as the Dalston Rio Tape/Slide archive. The account is updated most days and is full of wonderful ’80s work by photographer Alan Denney—I am hooked! The photographs (which were recently discovered in the basement of the Rio Cinema) have so much joy and fun within them.

I have been looking forward to Paul Reas’ monograph Fables of Faubus (GOST publishing) for what feels like years now. I first saw his documentary photographic work for the project I Can Help on a poster at work about 15 years ago and it felt electrifying. The book is very beautifully put together with several great essays and includes earlier projects by Reas in large colour reproductions that do so much justice to his works—much of them lit with bright flash in daylight on a medium format camera.

The People on the Street is an interesting new bookwork by photographer Nigel Shafran that tackles homelessness in London but without showing a single homeless person in it. The book is bound in polystyrene and contains 52 images. You can buy a copy (all proceeds to homelessness charities) here.

Richard Phoenix‘s DIY as Privilege (published by The Fringe and Underground Music Group at Goldsmiths) pamphlet is an essential 13 point read of what Phoenix has “learnt over the past 12 years being involved with supporting people with learning disabilities”. Buy this, share it widely and put it up at work  on the noticeboard.

I just got a parcel from the essential Dostoyevsky Wannabe publishers (amazing project using print on demand models) and am currently reading the writer and critical theorist Isabel Waidner’s We Are Made Of Diamond Stuff and now I can’t wait to read Gaudy Bauble. Give Dostoyevsky Wannabe everything you have!

Lastly, we are delighted that Patrick Doyle‘s book, Max was recently featured on It’s Nice That and obtained by The Whitney Museum of American Art. Thank you to all who supported the project—in particular Marion Herbain and Owen Myers who helped coordinate the book and also to Paul Sammut, Roxanne Clifford, Helen Skinner, Good Press and Monorail and The White Cubicle Gallery. Keep your eyes peeled for a reprint (again with proceeds to the LA LGBT Center). We love you Patrick.

Thank you for reading

Robin x