22nd May Newsletter

What’s On At Veranda

Welcome, welcome! We’re not claiming we can take all the credit, but is it just a coincidence that since we created our Mediterranean-themed shop window, the sun’s come out and Seymour Place is looking positively Riviera-like. Well, you’re welcome! And just in time for the long weekend – we hope yours is a good one 😎

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This week’s events…

On Saturday, we hosted our first ever weekend event – and feel sure it won’t be our last! Shida Bazyar, whose novel The Nights Are Quiet In Tehran was shortlisted for this year’s International Booker Prize, was in London for Tuesday’s prizegiving at Tate Modern, along with the book’s translator Ruth Martin. Shida may have missed out on the prize, but being shortlisted is a stunning achievement and will no doubt place this soulful – and timely – book in the hands of many more readers.
Fresh from the European Writers’ Festival which ran at the British Library over the weekend, we were honoured to welcome Artem Chapeye on Monday evening. Currently serving in the Ukrainian Army, Artem is also one of his country’s leading writers, and we gathered to celebrate the translation (by Daisy Gibbons) of his 2021 novel The Weathering. The rich and wide-ranging conversation was led by UCL’s Uilleam Blacker. Artem’s other books The Ukraine, and Ordinary People Don’t Carry Machine Guns (both translated by Zenia Tompkins) are also available (and highly recommended) at the shop.
And finally, on Thursday we spent an hour investigating the gloriously fertile imagination of Bolivian writer Liliana Colanzi, as she talked us through her short-story collection You Glow In The Dark. A work of speculative fiction, with elements of science fiction, and a fascination with the gothic, this is a book full of surprises – and hearing about Liliana’s writing process and inspirations was the perfect way to round off our busy week.
June’s events will be up on our website very soon, so please take a look if you fancy joining us for a glass of wine, and a literary-led conversation. We’d love to see you at something soon!
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International Booker Prize 2026 - the winner!

Described by the judges as ‘a captivating, slyly sophisticated novel’, Yáng Shūang-zi’s Taiwan Travelogue was awarded the International Booker Prize 2026 at a glitzy ceremony held at Tate Modern this week. Yang will share the £50,000 prize with the book’s translator Lin King, emphasising the vital work of translation in bringing international literature to wider audiences. It still surprises us that it’s not standard practice among publishers to put the translator’s name on the cover of the book – but no such concerns with indie powerhouse And Other Stories, who publish Taiwan Travelogue in the UK; founded in 2009 by Stefan Tobler, a translator himself, and committed to publishing “world-class writing” from the anglophone world and beyond. Keen observers may remember that they also published last year’s International Booker winner, Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq (translated by Deepa Bhasthi) – a publisher well worth having on your radar, and we always have plenty of their books on our shelves ready for a browse.
Taiwanese Travelogue ​is a real one-off, intriguing and complex. It’s a bittersweet story of love between two women, set between Japan and Taiwan, rich in history and cultural detail, particularly its descriptions of food. We sold out of all our copies earlier in the week, but have fresh supplies arriving in time for the long weekend.
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An evening with Valentin Deudon

To kick off the World Cup, we’ll be hosting the launch of Éric Cantona’s 82 Goals (tr. Ian Monk), hosted by poet, author and football fanatic, Valentin Deudon and Jerôme Chevrier, who heads up the Book Department at the Institut Français. Published by our friends at Open Borders Press, this is an idiosyncratic account of every goal scored by the enigmatic Frenchman during his time at Manchester United. Join us for drinks, readings and plenty of football nostalgia on the 11th June, 6.30-8pm.

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Our Recommended Reads

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I Want You to Be Happy by Jem Calder

For those eagerly awaiting a new Sally Rooney novel, Leo recommends Jem Calder’s debut novel, I Want You To Be Happy. 
The story follows Chuck, mid-30s, who works as a copywriter and has recently split up with his fiancée. On the rebound, he meets Joey, an aspiring poet, who is in her early 20s and works in a coffee shop. Their different life stages and varying perspectives on life aside, they are drawn to each other. What follows is, on the surface at least, a conventional boy meets girl tale of complicated connection. What elevates this novel though, is its acute observations on what it’s like to be young and a bit confused about how to navigate life in modern-day London.

Love Forms by Claire Adam

Newly out in paperback, Emily’s recommendation this week opens with a 16-year-old girl being transported from car to car by her mother. There is a sense of unease and tension as we learn that she’s journeying to Venezuela to give birth and hand her baby over to a house run by nuns. Cut to the present day and Dawn is in her late 50s, living in London and has had a life involving marriage, children and divorce. She is consumed by a need to find her first daughter. This is a novel that takes its time, and describes a life in great detail. Subtle, beautiful and heart-wrenching, it’s a masterclass in how to write a great story.

What we’re loving this week…

Emily took advantage of the balmy summer weather by taking Sonny to play crazy golf. Attempting a round of golf with an inexperienced 3-year-old was quite the challenge, though fun nonetheless. After abandoning all the rules, we ended up playing ‘our way’ which involved multiple hand-balls and attempting a hole-in-one with a swift kick. A restorative beer was had afterwards by both parents!
Leo walked to The Serpentine at lunchtime to see David Hockney’s 90-metre long frieze, A Year in Normandie. Constructed out of about 100 separate digital images taken at his home in France, this is a perfectly good way to spend half an hour at lunchtime, but if you want to see how great this artist really is then I’d suggest you go back to the source and enjoy his actual (by hand) paintings in Tate Britain. 
Alison saw Paula Rego: Story Line at Victoria Miro, N1, a major exhibition of the Portuguese artist’s drawings, including sketch books and simple pencil-on-paper pieces, alongside larger scale works. Symbolism and darkness infuse Rego’s work, lending her art a nightmarish edge, which is always intriguing. Well worth a visit – though it’s closing this weekend!

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