Roxane Llanque

It can be tough updating a newsletter when you’re chronically ill, but on the plus side I contributed to three great books that got published this year already and look at those beauties together!

Here’s a short overview and notes on each one:

To Light The Trails: Poems By Women In A Violent World

This is a truly special poetry collection that was published by the all-women Berlin press Sídhe in February.

It remains a tragic and infuriating fact that almost all women on Earth experience sexual violence at least once in our lives and we have to fear it constantly, especially at night. This book is an account of women of all cultures and nationalities on what it means to walk this planet for us: the fear of the dark, of men, the constant consideration we ponder we have to or are forced to give on how we dress, how much we smile and when, whether we can go on a walk by ourselves and whether we should brave the night with all its dangers.

But it is also a testament to  the great bravery of all women to live, to dare, to be despite this ever-constant threat. I think this is an important book and its profits are going to UNRWA, so giving straight back to the women who need it most – buy this book and you’ll support a great course, while gaining a deep look into the female soul. I would like to end this entry with the music video of the great Mexican singer Silvana Estrada’s Si Me Matan – “if they kill me”, which like our book is a battle cry and love letter to women everywhere. We love you.

We Are All Thieves of Somebody’s Future

In a time of climate change and late capitalism this book takes us into the future consequences of our current actions. What do we do when the last drop of oil is spilled? When books become banished, when the last cup of tea is shared, and when we begin to sell time, and the seconds run out?

In We Are All Thieves of Somebody’s Future the other eleven authors and I imagine these scenarios, and don’t worry: this is not a depressing book 😊 While it reckons with humanity’s worst it is also a love letter to our best, our innovation, our capability of love, and our unending will of survival and storytelling. I leave you with a graphic summarizing my favourite stories in the book using its beautiful folding cover art.

Other Worlds

This gem of a book contains 12 stories by minority writers that open up hidden worlds within our world, be it in the context of contemporary fiction, science fiction, or fantasy. Want to learn about shapeshifters in Nigeria? The politics of Appalachian Chestnut trees? What campy tractors looking like pride parade wagons are doing in the sugarcane fields of Punjab?

This small little book packages twelve shimmering keys to little known, beautiful worlds that are well worth the journey! I think our artist Pangea has captured the heart of this work perfectly in their cover: go into that alley less taken and explore those mysterious letters of other cultures with curiosity and patience. You will find your own world all the richer for it.

I gave an interview for my story Cane Men; I’ll leave it below if you want to find out more 😊

I’ll have more exciting publication news to share very soon!

Love, Roxane