30th January Newsletter
What’s On At Veranda
Welcome, welcome! We did it! We’ve all made it through January, surely the hardest – and weirdly, the longest – month of the year. On the bright side, February’s short and it features an entire day dedicated to pancakes. February at Veranda is exciting, jam-packed with events, most of which are already sold out. If you want to be the first to hear, call in at the shop and check out the noticeboard. And if you’re online and something looks sold out, just call us or email – we’ll always try to fit you in.
Shop News
Publishing news
And the winner is…
They may not have the flamboyance or glamour of the Oscars or Grammys, but literary prizes in the UK do create a certain buzz in bookish circles, not least for those of us who like to put a face to the names and words of our favourite books of the year.
At Veranda, we enjoy poring over the longlists, speculating over shortlists and enjoying some friendly debate over the deserving winner/hard-done-by runners-up. Book awards in the UK are too numerous to list here, but these are the ones the team are keeping an eye on in the next few months:
- TA First Translation Prize: established in 2017 by distinguished translators Daniel Hahn and Jo Heinrich with support from the British Council. Awarded for debut literary translation into English, and shared between the translator and their editor. Last year’s winner was A Book, Untitled by Shushan Avagyan (tr. Deanna Cacholan-Schanz, ed. Tatiana Ryckman). Awards will take place in Feb, date tbc.
- Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards: Stanfords is probably the only other bookshop you should visit in the UK, and for this prize, their staff trawl through submissions to then shortlist 6 books in 3 categories: Travel Book of the Year, Fiction with a Sense of Place and Children’s Travel Book. Given our love of ‘books from and about other places’, there are many books on these lists that we’ve been championing over the last year, and all would be worthy winners. But if we had to pick any favourites, we’d go for Dur e Aziz Amna’s A Splintering and the exquisite Atlas of Languages (see Recommended Reads below for more detail). Winner announced 18th March.
- The International Booker Prize: 10 years old this year, the first winner in 2016 was Han Kang for The Vegetarian. This prestigious prize recognises the vital work of translation, seeking out novels and short stories from around the world – and putting their money where their mouth is, the £50,000 award is shared equally between author and translator. Last year’s winner was the short-story collection Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi and published in the UK by Sheffield-based indie publisher And Other Stories – in fact, independent publishers dominated this prize last year, a trend we hope will continue. Shortlist announced in March, winner in May.
Love it or lose it
There must be a word, in a language richer than English, for that moment when scraps of flotsam surface in your mind and connect, for no reason or benefit other than that joyful spark of dots joining. Alison experienced such a moment this week during a chance conversation about the decline of letter-writing, and wanted to share her flotsam with you here:
- First, she watched The Extraordinary Miss Flower, an intriguing film/performance piece based around the music of Icelandic singer/songwriter Emilíana Torrini. Torrini was herself inspired by the discovery in 2019 of a treasure trove of romantic letters written by numerous love-struck men to (the real-life) Miss Flower in the 60s and 70s. Seductive and luxuriant, an hour of pure creativity. (Find it on the BFI Player)
- Then, she read about a new exhibition at The National Archives of – guess what? – Love Letters (!). ‘500 years of devotion, longing, sacrifice and passion.’ From Oscar Wilde to Harold MacMillan, forbidden lovers and couples separated by circumstance…it’s all here. You have until the end of April to get to Kew and embrace your inner voyeur.
- Finally – a piece in The Guardian by Rebecca Solnit on the way in which big tech is driving us to worship productivity, profitability and convenience. She argues that this is to the detriment of the human need to interact, to think, to ‘do’. In a section titled Love letters minus the love’, we learn of a young man on a date, wearing smart glasses through which AI feeds him a stream of prompts, like a much-less romantic Cyrano de Bergerac. Solnit’s piece is a manifesto – exhorting us to “resist the annexation of our hearts and minds by Silicon Valley”. Faced with the alternative – the joy, creativity, passion and silliness of human beings (see above), who are we to argue with that?
What technology takes from us – and how to take it back | Rebecca Solnit
https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/jan/29/what-technology-takes-from-us-and-how-to-take-it-back?CMP=share_btn_url
https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/jan/29/what-technology-takes-from-us-and-how-to-take-it-back?CMP=share_btn_url
Now Booking
Fatima Bhutto in conversation with Sana Goyal - 24th Feb 6.30-8.30pm
When the opportunity arose to host an evening with Fatima Bhutto we jumped at the chance. Fatima is an established writer of both fiction and non-fiction, though you may also recognise her surname – as part of a prominent political family in Pakistan, Fatima’s life has been marked by upheaval and personal trauma. Her latest book is a memoir, a very brave and intimate portrait of a coercive relationship – and the healing powers of animals, and close friendships. We’re delighted that Fatima will be interviewed on the night by Sana Goyal, an editor and reviewer – and a judge for the International Booker Prize 2025.
NOTE: tickets for this event moved very quickly – before we could even announce it in the newsletter. However, as a subscriber to this email, you also have priority, and we have a few tickets on hold – please email Alison (alison@verandabooks.com) if you’d like to reserve a slot. If you can’t make it, but would like a signed copy of the book, please let us know.
Our Recommended Reads
The Atlas of Languages by Rachel Lancashire (illustrated by Jenny Zemanck)
If you were wondering why you got your newsletter late this week, then you can blame this book, which has been distracting Alison all week. Painstakingly researched and gloriously illustrated, for anyone – of any age – with even a passing interest in languages, this ‘Atlas’ is a must-have. It takes us on a journey through the complexity and beauty of the languages of every country in the world, from the widely-spoken to the very rare, with plenty of detail to satisfy curious minds. A total joy of a book!
Monique Escapes by Édouard Louis (tr. John Lambert)
Leo’s recommendation this week: “Uplifting” is not a word we tend to associate with ‘autofiction’ French writer Édouard Louis’ work, but his new novel offers a notably more life-affirming perspective on the concept of transformation, a recurrent theme in all five of his books published in English. The novel’s focus may be on how his 50-something mother, Monique, extricates herself from a spent and abusive relationship, but it is equally a study in how we perceive our parents as they age, and how we can all continue to evolve and grow.
What we’re loving this week…
Emily has enjoyed seeing the extraordinarily talented Levi Sct at the Union Chapel this week. Classically trained, Sct is shaking up the classical music world by adding techno and contemporary beats to Bach, Mozart and Chopin. The acoustics of the beautiful church made it an almost transcendent experience.
Leo went to see Rotus: Receptionist of the United States at Park Theatre, the venue that David Lammy names as his “London secret” in this week’s Standard. While we wait to see what lunacy Trump inflicts on the world next, this is a darkly satirical take on the way that power works within the inner circle of the West Wing, helmed by a truly virtuosic performance by newcomer Leigh Douglas.
Alison headed to The Windmill in Brixton for a night of live music – always good for the soul, but never more so than on a chilly January evening. She saw Wigan wunderkind TTSSFU and band; could be on the cusp of something big – watch this space!
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