Field Ramble – Details, episodes & analysis

Send us a text

On this episode we speak to Alejandro Zambra about his latest book, Childish Literature; a chronicle of early fatherhood. Written in a 'state of attachment', it is a beautiful collection of roaming essays, poetry and short stories - that show how the birth and growth of a child changes not only the present and the future but also reshapes our perceptions of the past. 

We also hear from Alejandro's close friend and translator Megan McDowell on the process of their working relationship and her role in bringing this graceful, funny and poignant account of parenthood into being.

'Every beat and pattern of being alive becomes revelatory and bright when narrated by Alejandro Zambra. He is a modern wonder.' 
Rivka Galchen, author of Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch 

Childish Literature is published by Fitzcarraldo  

@fieldzine
www.fieldzine.com
www.patreon.com/fieldzine

Send us a text

Two suitably spooky novels on this episode.

First up, Erin E. Adams and her debut, Jackal. Published in the UK by Dead Ink Books and set in  contemporary Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Jackal is the story of one woman’s determination to uncover the truth around the disappearance of a number of young black girls. A taught, psychological thriller, Erin’s skill is undoubtedly in underscoring the existent horror within US society today. 

'A tight, thought provoking novel that transcends genre'
Los Angeles Review of Books

'Erin E.Adams makes me proud to be a psychological thriller writer.'
Gillian Flynn

Then, Edith Holler. Set at the turn of the 20th century, within the confines of the Holler theatre in Norwich this the story of 12 year old Edith and her bloody battles with the sinister figure of Mawther Meg. Cursed to never leave the theatre and in thrall to her own domineering father, it is the tale of a young writer finding her own voice and a deeply personal love letter to the arts.

'Umissable'
Olga Tokarczuk

'Delightful, eccentric, heartfelt, surprising, philosophical.'
Eleanor Catton

@fieldzine
www.fieldzine.com
www.patreon.com/fieldzine

Send us a text

On this episode we meet Lara Haworth to discuss her wonderful new novel Monumenta. It tells the story of Olha Pavic whose house has been requisitioned by Belgrade city council. They aim to bulldoze it and build a monument to an unspecified massacre in its place. 

Three architects pay Olga a visit in turn pitching their ideas for the monument that will replace her family home. The novel is in turns searching and surreal, but always a tender portrayal of a family moving through the flood of a nation’s history. 

Monumenta explores ideas of a contested past and loss and is part of a wider European project.

Monumenta is published by Canongate on July 4th

@fieldzine
www.fieldzine.com
www.patreon.com/fieldzine

Send us a text

To mark the publication of its paperback edition, this episode is a discussion with Octavia Bright around her wonderful memoir, This Ragged Grace. Published last year, many of you will already know it as an unsparing yet hopeful navigation of unravelling and recovery. It is a deeply human piece of work that asks us to consider the value of ambivalence and the acceptance we can offer ourselves. A book that remains long after  reading with much to say about the cycle we're bound in.

'To love is to welcome the spectre of loss, to grieve is to summon the spirit of love.'

'Deep and beautiful'                        Deborah Levy
'Smart and tender and honest'  Emilie Pine

Big thanks to The Kimba Unit for the use of their song Two Voices.

If you'd like to subscribe to & support Field just go to www.patreon.com/fieldzine to get involved.

@fieldzine
www.fieldzine.com
www.patreon.com/fieldzine

Send us a text

Two wonderful books on this episode. First up we hear from Elizabeth O' Connor about her incredible debut novel Whalefall. Set on a remote island off the coast of Wales in the run up to World War Two it is a story that maps the tension between home and the hope that exists in a young heart for a life of their own. We loved this book, the island is as wild & windswept as you'd want and the themes of imposition and the violence of 'progress' felt so timely. Do look it out, it's brilliant.

Kevin Barry needs little introduction. Booker long-listed author of Irish number 1 best seller Night Boat to Tangiers, The Heart in Winter is his fourth novel and is as much fun as you'd expect. Set in 1891, Butte Montana it follows the thunderbolt love affair of Tom Rourke and Polly Gillespie. If stolen horses, psychedelics, badlands, and a posse of deranged Cornish gunmen are your thing (and they are ours) then you're going to love this.

Whalefall is published by Picador and is available now

The Heart in Winter is published by Canongate on June 6th

Huge thanks to Huw Marc Bennett, Ian Hawgood & Nathan Salzburg for their use of their incredible music. 

Why not subscribe to and support  Field -  @ www.patreon.com/fieldzine

@fieldzine
www.fieldzine.com
www.patreon.com/fieldzine

Send us a text

On this  episode we meet Will Burns to hear about his latest poetry collection Natural Burial Ground. Many of you will know Will from his fantastic (lockdown set) novel The Paper Lantern, a portrait of a transforming social & physical landscape during the strangest of years. It is a book flooded with new found time unlike Natural Burial Ground. Instead there, Will’s voice is open to the complexities and trials of loss. Both books though urge the reader to look again at the wider world and the moment they find themselves in and are huge recommends.

We also hear from Kevin Boniface who reads from his brilliant collection of short stories, Sports and Social. Set in a small Yorkshire town they are written with the eye of someone who sits at the heart of their community, mapping it’s intricacies, in beautifully observed, deeply humane writing.

Sports and Social is published by Blue Moose Books. Natural Burial Ground is published by Corsair Press and The Paper Lantern is published by W&N. All books are available either at the authors or publishers websites as well as all good independent bookshops, so do check them out.

Will Burns - www.willburns.co.uk Kevin Boniface - www.bluemoosebooks.com

Huge thanks as ever go to Huw Marc Bennett for the use of his song Y Gwydd and to Ian Hawgood for the use  of I'm Not Sure We Belong

@fieldzine
www.fieldzine.com
www.patreon.com/fieldzine

Send us a text

On this episode we meet up Vida Adamczewski and Catherine Prasifka.

First up, Vida to discuss Amphibian her vividly inventive short story collection. It is provocative storytelling infused with a radical compassion that finds voice in new places and reimagines the body as a territory, a swamp we are invited to wallow in by the cover.  Amphibian is published by the wonderful Toothgrinder press - www.toothgrinder.co.uk - Do search out them out and get yourself a copy. 

Many of you will know Catherine Prasifka from her startling debut None of This is Serious. Her latest novel This is How You Remember It chronicles the rapid encroachment of technology into her unnamed narrator’s life. From seemingly innocuous video games and early teenage encounters with porn to the compulsive tyranny of social media it explores the impact of this technology on a generation that have known little of life before its emergence.

Thanks to Huw Marc Bennett and Ian Hawgood for the use of their music. 

If you enjoyed the episode please hit the subscribe button or leave us a review.

Big love x

www.fieldzine.com
www.toothgrinder.co.uk

@fieldzine
www.fieldzine.com
www.patreon.com/fieldzine

Send us a text

On this episode of the Ramble we meet Richard Norris to hear about his memoir of a lifetime in music, Strange Things Are Happening. The book spans the entirety of Richard’s career from an early pivotal meeting with John Peel, via the birth of Acid House to Californian adventures with Joe Strummer.  But Strange Things Are Happening is much more than a series of anecdotes. 

At its heart are a series of reflections on forty years of creative practice, a lifetime of collaborations and innovations in music that have brought countless people together. It is written with a rare grace, never shying from accounts of relationships imploding or ideas that don’t make it. But above all else there is a deep sense of love here for the creative act and a gratitude for a life well lived.

Strange Things Are Happening is published by White Rabbit Books and is a huge recommend.

Richard Norris lived the 20th century and beyond like no one else and this is one of the truly great eyewitness accounts of the heroic years of the counterculture.'
David Keenan

@fieldzine
www.fieldzine.com
www.patreon.com/fieldzine

Send us a text

On this episode we speak to author Niamh Mulvey about her upcoming debut novel The Amendments. Many of you will know Niamh from her short story collection Hearts and Bones. (Head back to episode 6 of the pod if not to hear our interview with her shortly after H&B’s publication.) With The Amendments (published by Picador on April 11th) Niamh takes the titular story from the collection and crafts it into what is a beautifully wrought  novel. 

Set between London and Ireland The Amendments spans the lives of three generations of women, mapping the waining impact of powerful institutions on their lives. Although the plot is at stages particular to Ireland, there is a universal quality to the struggles Nell, Dolores and Brigid meet that is all too familiar.

Niamh’s is a rare voice. In a world that so often only speaks with unthinking certainty she writes bravely with rare nuance and  compassion. The result is an unsparing,  human and ultimately hopeful novel that asks us to embrace the world in all its contradictions and ambiguity. The Amendments is a huge recommend and one to watch through-out the year. If you’re close to any of these lovely places Niamh will be speaking there on these dates, so head along:

Foyles, Charing Cross Road 20th April (with Sinéad Gleeson and Elaine Feeney)

Phlox Books, London 24th April           (with Tomiwa Owolade)

Waterstones, Manchester 25th April 

The West Kirby Bookshop, 26th April 

@fieldzine
www.fieldzine.com
www.patreon.com/fieldzine

Send us a text

On this episode we hear from Sinéad Gleeson about her upcoming debut novel Hagstone. Set on a rugged island somewhere in the wild Atlantic it centres around the life of Nel an artist who draws inspiration from the landscape, folklore and unexplained phenomena that surround her. The island is also home to a reclusive community of women, the Inions, who task Nel with the creation of a new artwork, a request that leads her to uncover truths both about them and herself. 

If you’ve read Sinéad’s essays or know her work as an editor then Hagstone is exactly as you’d imagine. Thought provoking, unafraid and above all else a work of great story-telling. It was great to get the chance to sit down with her and hear how the novel came into being. And, along the way, we also had the chance to look back at her essay collection Constellations, discuss the incredible energy of the Irish literary scene and the enduring presence of Maeve Brennan. 

Hagstone  a huge recommend and is published in just a couple of weeks by 4th Estate on April 12th 

@fieldzine
www.fieldzine.com
www.patreon.com/fieldzine