Welcome to Portobello Literary!
Welcome…
Autumn always feels much more of a new beginning that New Year’s for me. Partially, it has to do with my birthday being in September which often causes me to take stock of my life and career. But I also think the weather (especially on this dreich day in Edinburgh) and the longer nights make me want to curl up and chat around good food and drinks with friends, take the time to reconnect with people.
With certain social media platforms going down the drain, and the general toxicity of online spaces, I have found myself craving a form of community — one that doesn’t rely on clickbait and extreme emotions, but rather one that takes the time to reflect on things. I worry about my dwindling attention span, I despair at how little time I spend reading long form articles anymore, I dislike having to pick one of two sides in a perpetual binary world that simplifies complex issues into teams. I’ve been following many people on Substack over the past few years and I feel this is the right platform to engage with people so I’m giving it a go!
What will this Substack be about, then?
Shockingly, I will mostly be talking about books and the publishing industry. I also want to include some talk about craft — I’m not entirely sure what shape this will take and whether some of this content will be paid but we’ll figure it out!
I am absolutely not setting myself a target of how often these posts will come but I’m thinking roundabout monthly.
I will probably also be talking about topics that interest me like nature, disability rights, politics, history, art, baking, preserving and my four assistants (cats Jem and Scout and dogs Griffin and Agatha).
I am off to the Frankfurt Book Fair in mid-October and currently in the frazzled pre-Fair state of a full inbox and too much to do in normal human hours, let alone working ones. So, of course, this is when I decided that after months of talking about this, I needed to create this Substack RIGHT NOW.
What news from Porty Literary?
Latest news from Porty Literary and our authors:
Wendy Pratt’s utterly gorgeous book The Ghost Lake was published in August and the Observer called it ‘remarkable’. I fell in love with Wendy’s writing back when I worked at Canongate Books and we received her submission for the Nan Shepherd Prize. This is such a mesmerising, lyrical and wide-ranging book about grief, ancestry, who gets to be remembered and all the things that aren’t here anymore but still affect us.
Them! by Harry Josephine Giles was Highly Commended in The Forward Prizes for Poetry. It’s an exuberant collection of poems about trans life as it is lived today, through the lenses of work, technology and ecology. Listen to an extract of the audiobook here.
Andrés N. Ordorica was shortlisted for the Kavya Prize 2024 for his stunning poetry collection At Least This I Know. The Kavya Prize is a literary prize celebrating Scottish writers of colour, in association with the University of Glasgow.
Louis Bailey won the Creative Futures 2024 Writers’ Award competition for Underrepresented Writers for his non-fiction The Nightjar, an extract of The Night Run, his Nan Shepherd Prize-shortlisted memoir inspired by his nightly habit of running around the Dark Peak in Derbyshire. [link]
Upcoming events
I’ll be linking to all upcoming Porty literary events here:
My wonderful colleague Margaux Vialleron is doing an event at the Portobello Bookshop on Saturday 28th September and I’m bringing cake! [link]
Lighthouse Books is organising a fundraiser event for families in Gaza on Wednesday 2nd October at 19:00 with featured speakers Megan Booth, Alyson Kissner, Alycia Pirmohamed, Tisya Sanchez, Mohamed Tonsy, Lorraine Wilson and more [link]
Polly Atkin will be in conversation with me at Portobello Bookshop on 6th November regarding her new book The Company of Owls, join us in person or online! [link]. You can also catch Polly during her tour this Autumn so check out if there’s an event near you [link].
What have I been reading?
Very little, as I’ve been in editing mode for the past few months, but I have been slowly making my way through Feeding the Monster: Why Horror Has a Hold on Us by Anna Bogutskaya. Just out from Faber and utterly fascinating — anyone writing gothic/horror (and even SFF/crime&thrillers) should read this one, as it brings together thoughts on fear and hunger in an incredibly engaging way.
I also LOVED reading Emma Dabiri’s Disobedient Bodies: Reclaim Your Unruly Beauty and will be picking up the rest of the author’s books:
What’s cooking?
As I’m gearing up for the Frankfurt Book Fair (technically mid October, but a lot of work goes into it), I am not doing much cooking.
I haven’t managed (yet!) to do my yearly foraging of rosehips and elderberries to make my medicinal jellies but I’m still hoping I can do it before I leave for the fair. The recipes are from this brilliant book if you’d like to try:
Who do I follow?
Here is a non-exhaustive list people I love to read on Substack, do give them a follow if you haven’t already:
The Nature Library by Christina Riley
Right, I don’t think I can ignore my inbox any longer, but it was lovely to spend this time with you, lovely readers! Do let me know if you have any questions about the industry or would like craft talks about specific things.
Until next time, keep reading!
Caro
Welcome aboard Caro! I look forward to reading more soon!
Nice to have a link with the Portobello, which I remember very fondly from visits to my daughter when she was at Edinburgh Uni!