Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all who celebrate it. Here at 4th Estate, we aren’t partaking in any festivities just yet (it’s only 11am) but we’re watching the clock. Here for you are three and a half of our favourite quotes from our Irish authors. Ian Sansom only counts as half because he lives in Ireland, you see. Read more…
As part of our music-themed month on the blog, we’ve been asking our authors to talk us through four songs that have in some way shaped their writing. Here, Gavin Corbett reveals a record collection as varied and experimental as his novels, encompassing rowdy punk, twee pop, obscure Irish indie and ambient electronica.
This month’s blog theme is ‘Wish You Were Here’ – we’re jetting around the literary world to explore the concept of travel in fiction. We’ve asked some of our authors to tell us about their ideal literary holidays: here’s Gavin Corbett on his yearning for a fictional place twinned with a real-world location very close to home.
“’Tis a soft day,” shouted my father to the Dutchman across the narrow space that separated our pitch from his. The rain was coming down in pillows, thumping against the taut canvas of the awning and the aluminium of the caravan.
I’d never heard this phrase before. Later my father told me what it meant and I realised it was typical of him to say such a thing. Other times he’d say to some foreigner, “In Ireland, we say…” and as he was saying whatever it was that people in Ireland are meant to say I’d look up from his gesticulating hands and his face would be contracted in an impression of native Irish passion. Read more…
Green Glowing Skull, the upcoming novel from This is the Way author Gavin Corbett, is a half-crazed brain-shunt of a trip around the dream world, the spirit world, the cyber world and a woozily recognisable real world. A darkly comic tale of mythologies, machines and the metaphysical swirl, the book is uniquely written and is more than memorable. Here’s what happened when book blogger John Self gave it a spin… Read more…
We’re giving away five copies of This is the Way by Gavin Corbett.
This is the Way: Gavin Corbett’s Photo Sketchbook, a set on Flickr.
Here Gavin Corbett introduces This is the Way and writes about the inspiration and influences behind the novel which has already attracted so much praise. Corbett’s photographs of Dublin can be seen in the above slideshow. Read more…
