Instead of an anthology...
Today’s Personal Anthology was to have come from Turkish-British author Deniz Goran (pen name of Selin Tamtekin, and found on Twitter at @tamtekin_goran), but the ongoing devastation and huge loss of life caused by Tuesday’s earthquake has given us pause. Deniz’s anthology is a wonderful celebration of Turkish writers, and we have agreed to hold off on its publication for a less painful time, when we can enjoy that celebration more wholeheartedly.
I asked Deniz to suggest a relief fund for anyone wanting to donate money, and she suggested the Kahramanmaras Earthquake Emergency Relief Fund, which has a JustGiving page here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/kahramanmarasearthquake
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A Personal Anthology will return next week. If you are looking for reading recommendations in the meantime, I can point you towards the latest issue of Granta, number 162, which is titled Definitive Narratives of Escape. As editor Sigrid Rausing explains in her introduction the original title was to have been Loss, but as the issue was being edited losses seemed so numerous (including the death of former editor Ian Jack) that the title seemed too on the nose.
I was at the launch event for the issue last night, at the Centre for Contemporary Art at Goldsmiths, and Rausing introduced some of the featured writers to do readings.
Highlights included:
Raymond Antrobus reading from his essay ‘The Private and Public Performance of the Deaf Body’ (available to subscribers here), which moves between memoir and notes on the deaf 50s crooner Johnnie Ray
André Alexis reading from his excellent short story ‘Misfortune’, which starts with the line “At the age of six, Amara McNeil shot and killed her father” and doesn’t let up all the way through. You can read in its entirety here.
Emily Labarge reading from her essay ‘The Schedule of Loss’, about ways of approaching a traumatic family experience (Subscribers only, here)
And a discussion between Granta’s photography editor Max Ferguson and photographer Cian Oda-Smith to accompany the latter’s photo-essay ‘What it Promised’, about racist redlining in Syracuse, New York. You can see the photos online here, along with the introduction by Gary Younge.
Other free-to-read highlights from the issue, which I’ve blazed through in the last few days, include:
‘For the Love of Losing’, an essay by Marina Benjamin on gambling, both her own, professionally, and her father’s, disastrously.
‘Hôtel Casanova’ by Annie Ernaux, translated by Alison S. Trayer, a typically mordant piece of memoir about a short-lived affair and the death of her mother.
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We have some excellent anthologies lined up, including what I hope to be a great one to mark the two hundredth edition next month, but I’m always on the lookout for new anthologists, so if you enjoy reading this, and would like to contribute then please get in touch.
I source most of my new contributors on Twitter (@Tiny_Camels), which is where I do most of my literary networking/chatting/time-wasting, and along with many other people I’ve found the site turning in into something of a desert over the last couple of weeks… far fewer views, far fewer interactions.
So this is a general shout-out! There are plenty of slots available in the spring, so please hit me up if you’d like to take part!
* You can browse the full searchable archives of A Personal Anthology, with over 2,000 story recommendations, at www.apersonalanthology.com.
* A Personal Anthology is curated by Jonathan Gibbs, author of two novels, Randall, and The Large Door, and a book-length poem, Spring Journal. His story 'A Prolonged Kiss' was shortlisted for the 2021 Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award. He is Programme Director of the MA/MFA Creative Writing at City, University of London.