Monthly Dispatch #1 — April 2023

A letter from the editor[s]:

It might seem like a fairy tale but there was a time when social media was a useful way to reach our readers. We started in 2013, and literally built our readership on Twitter — we wouldn’t be here ten years later without what so many like to call The Hellsite. Things have changed now, not only on The Hellsite but on every other social media platform: all are pretty useless when it comes to sharing stuff that points to a world outside. Algorithm abohorret links, we could say in fake Latin.

We’ve never been mad about stats, and always privileged quality over quantity, both when it comes to what we publish and to our readers. But we owe it to our contributors to get their work out there. We hope that this monthly round-up will help us do that. If you are subscribed to this newsletter, if you read Minor Literature[s], be more Tupperware and spread our Gospel. We shall be forever thankful.

Now without further ado, our April round-up.

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Experimental Prose & Poetry

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Dead Man — Ben Libman

“But you will be wanting a plot, a story. But I have already told you a story. I have come here to be murdered ...”

Ben Libman has published fiction in The London Magazine, 3:AM, and elsewhere. He is the author of The Third Solitude, forthcoming with Dundurn Press in 2025. Twitter: @benlibman

Cambium — Guérin Kairu

“plunging :: the thin between your fingers :: moving earth
through atomic teeth :: diatoms :: bryophytes :: fungal sports
the subtle magnetism :: sunk, in bones”

Guérin Kairu is a post-disciplinary artist, writer, and plantsperson who, when not creating, belongs to four gardens and six trees. He lives in Atlanta. Twitter:
@blkchimera

Fiction

Fear [excerpt] — Youssef Rakha

“I haven’t been dead forty-eight hours but I can tell you what will come of this revolution.”

Youssef Rakha is a novelist, poet, essayist and journalist who writes in both Arabic and English. His first novel to be written in English, The Dissenters, is forthcoming with Graywolf Press in 2025. Twitter: @Sultans_Seal

People on the roads and in the gardens — Mykyta Ryzhykh

“A woman sings the aria of a virgin at the opera house, as if she were in fact a virgin. And the night club, which is not so far from here, is about to close due to vandalism and – law enforcement officers, and above them – someone else and – someone else, according to the hierarchy.”

Mykyta Ryzhykh is from Nova Kakhovka City, Ukraine. They are the winner of multiple awards for their poetry, as well as a scholarship for young artists from the Ukrainian government. Their work has been widely published.

Oh, Mary — Rose Ruane

“We partake in the silent communion of those who continue to endure the same catastrophe. Touch is the lingua franca of survivors.”

Rose Ruane is an artist and writer living and working in Glasgow. Her debut novel This is Yesterday is published by Corsair Books. She is currently completing a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow. Twitter: @regretteruane

The Jewish Son [excerpt] — Daniel Guebel (tr. Jessica Sequeira)

“Kafka never understood the nature of paternal affection, of shame as a mask. Who told him his father never read his writing? Where did he get the idea that the best way to read a son is to read the books the son writes?”

Daniel Guebel has published over twenty-five books, including novels, short stories and plays. He won Argentina’s National Literature Prize as well as the Argentine Academy of Letters’ novel prize.

Jessica Sequeira is a writer, editor and translator living in Santiago, Chile. Twitter: @jess_sequeira

Interviews

“Translating both invites and challenges you to inventiveness, to freedom within constraints”: An Interview with Robin Myers

“Translating has made me feel less precious about the idea of ‘voice’ as some sort of essential, abiding force. It’s made me feel not just more porous as a poet but more interested in porousness, in being influenced, in experimenting with what it feels like to use language in certain ways and then explore others.”

Robin Myers is a Mexico City-based poet and translator. Alongside book-length works, her translations have appeared in Granta, The Baffler, Kenyon Review and elsewhere. Twitter: @robin_ep_myers

From the Vaults

A Utopian Vision for the Next 10 Years of Publishing — Kit Caless [14/04/2020]

“Publishers will aim to ferment revolution at all times as possible, in all areas possible, if possible”

Kit Caless is co-founder of Influx Press.

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Coming next month …

poetry from Nerys Williams, an excerpt from Bhanu Kapil’s Incubation: A Space for Monsters, and new fiction from David Capps, Attalea Rose, Addison Zeller and Simon Wortham …