4x4th Estate brings you four novels focal on Black identity, looking at how it shapes and inspires.
Andy Miller, author of The Year of Reading Dangerously, recently asked his incredibly talented friend Jim’ll Paint It to paint him a picture. For those of you unaware of Jim’ll Paint It’s work, he sums it up perfectly in his own words: ‘Got something in your brain that you’d really like to see with your eyes? Just ask and if I like the sound of it I’ll paint it for you for free using incredibly high tech and sophisticated MS Paint software.’
A boy is trapped beneath the ruins of a city; from far above and across the airwaves, a girl reads aloud to him. Anthony Doerr explores the inspirations behind his new novel, All the Light We Cannot See – published in the UK on 8 May 2014.
Artist and writer Stanley Donwood is known for his close associations with Radiohead, having created the album and poster art for their albums, EPs and singles since 1994. His work is startlingly recognisable, and this unique and unsettling aesthetic made him the perfect candidate to design twenty one covers for our J.G. Ballard reissue editions. When approached by editor Clare Reihill, he responded that the request was ‘better than an OBE’. Donwood’s creativity, vision and unique execution have resulted in covers that are as mesmeric as the words within them.
In 2012 Jonas Jonasson’s The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared was published and quickly became a world-wide bestseller.
A deliciously sumptuous tart from A Love for Food: Recipes and Notes For Cooking and Eating Well, the cookbook from the artisanal chefs at Daylesford Farm. Made using seasonal produce, this tart is perfect for fresh spring days.
Pen or computer? (Material)
Pen, computer, print-out; pen, computer, print-out. Repeat.
Sitting or standing? (Pose)
Walking/ running while planning; sitting while writing.
The idea to develop an exhibition based on the book Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society by Welsh socialist writer Raymond Williams was in equal parts informed by the educational ‘Keywords Lecture Series’ evaluating keywords in art, culture and society held at Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts), London since November 2010 and the Tate Liverpool exhibition ‘René Magritte: The Pleasure Principle’ 24 June – 16 October 2011.
