No rush

The TV is adaptation pretty good as well

Some links for you:

Cúirt tickets: www.cuirt.ie/whats-on/deb...

Tickets to Burley Fisher: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/juliano-za...

Wondering where to pre-order? Here are a few options: tramppress.com/pre-order-th...

Poster for book tour of The Steps by Juliano Zaffino. Image is photo from the jacket cover, and a thumbnail of the cover. Text reads: "The Steps Book Tour, 24 April Cúirt Festival, Galway, 4pm Mick Lally Theatre, 28 April Warwick Books, Warwick, 6:30pm, 30 April Burley Fisher Books, London, 7pm. The Steps will be published on 30 April, pre-order your copy now!"

Juliano Zaffino will be visiting a few places in the run-up to publication of The Steps on 30 April:

24 April, 4pm: in conversation with Caragh Maxwell at Cúirt Festival, Galway

28 April, 6:30pm: Warwick Books, Warwick

30 April, 7pm: official launch event at Burley Fisher Books, London

I would tell that story far and wide

Photo of authors Sophie White and Maggie Armstrong with brochure text from the festival: In Conversation Literature Love, Lies & Modern Lives Authors Maggie Armstrong and Sophie White 15.00 All Saints Church Two of Ireland’s most exciting contemporary writers – Sophie White and Maggie Armstrong – come together for a rich discussion about shaping narrative, writing modern relationships and capturing the tensions of everyday life. Drawing on Armstrong’s sharply observed linked stories in Old Romantics alongside White’s compelling exploration of relationships in Such a Good Couple, the pair will delve into craft, character and the messy brilliance of human connection. An engaging, thoughtful exchange with time for audience questions.

Poster for Phizzfest 2026 made up of geometric designs, retro modernist and really cool. Text reads Phibsborough Community & Arts Festival. 7-10 Mayo.

This year's Phizzfest includes Love, Lies & Modern Lives – May 09, with authors Maggie Armstrong and Sophie White.
15.00 All Saints Church

Tickets are €15 and booking is essential:

phizzfest.ie/event/love-l...

Nice to see #gorse13 (taboo) in the window of #Chapters bookstore!

An image of the cover of The Steps by Juliano Zaffino. Photograph of people on rocks at a beach. Includes quote by Sara Baume

Pre-order now for delivery on or before 30 April 2026!

The Steps by Juliano Zaffino

'A tantalising study of sibling dynamics, the complicated repercussions of childhood, and the salvation of art'
– Sara Baume

Tramppress.com/product/the-steps/

Ever since I read Doireann Ní Ghríofa's A GHOST IN THE THROAT, I've wanted to see it onscreen and it would be SUCH a good vehicle for Buckley. I don't know if Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill is critical to Irish history, but I think she's critical to Irish poetry!

The replies to this are pure gold

thank you! I love to gossip

Water in the Desert, Fire in the Night

Congratulations to Gethan and her fellow nominees. Check out Water in the Desert, Fire in the Night, and also these great books:
Elaine Garvey's The Wardrobe Department
Sharon Guard's Assembling Ailish
Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin's Ordinary Saints.

tramppress.com/product/wate...

The award is managed by the Kate O'Brien Festival (also known as the Limerick Literary Festival) and it's sponsored by Bill and Denise Whelan who have recently increased it to €5,000, making it one of the bigger awards in Ireland now!

Photo of Bill Whelan, Gethan Dick and Denise Whelan in front of a painting of Kate O'Brien and a banner poster for the Kate O"brien festival. The lighting was brutal but this is the photo the Irish Times ran with.

Extract from the Irish Times book newsletter by Martin Doyle that reads: Gethan Dick has won the 2026 Kate O’Brien Award for her powerful, original and deeply moving debut novel Water in the Desert Fire in the Night, published last year by Tramp Press. She was presented with the €5,000 prize by sponsors Bill and Denise Whelan at the Belltable Theatre as part of the Limerick Literary Festival in honour of Kate O’Brien earlier this week. This year’s award attracted a record 17 submissions. The other shortlisted writers were Elaine Garvey for The Wardrobe Department; Sharon Guard for Assembling Ailish; and Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin for Ordinary Saints. Festival director Vivienne McKechnie said: “It is wonderful to see such accomplished writers and the event at this year’s festival was inspirational as we heard these writers speak eloquently and confidently about their books and the writing process. We, the judges, were taken on many different and interesting journeys. Congratulations to the shortlisted writers and huge congratulations to Gethan Dick, whose novel Water in the Desert Fire in the Night was a very worthy winner.” In an interview with The Irish Times, Dick said her novel was about “an underachieving young woman, a retired midwife and a charismatic Dubliner who set out from London after the end of the world to cycle to a sanctuary in the southern Alps. And it’s about the fact that the thing about the end of the world is that it happens all the time. “It’s about hope, hunger, gold, wolves, Streatham, Cuba, post-apocalyptic feminism, pregnancy and bicycles. It’s about the porousness of the female bodily experience, the challenges of being an empiricist with a sample size of one, what’s worth knowing and what’s worth living and the necessity of irrationality.”

Gethan Dick won the 2026 Kate O'Brien award for her funny, wild optimistic novel about a group of people on a post-apocalyptic road-trip. www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

I was really honoured to be asked to contribute an introduction to this excellent collection of essays! It was an eye-opening opportunity to consider how much has changed since we started Tramp Press in 2014.

TOMORROW!!!!

Gethan Dick wins the Kate O’Brien Award 2026

Gethan Dick has been named the recipient of this year’s Kate O’Brien Award at the Limerick Literary Festival, for her novel Water in the Desert, Fire in the Night!

tramppress.com/gethan-dick-...

Gethan Dick - Water in the Desert Fire in the Night - PB - BRAND NEW sales@thebookshop.ie

Winner of the Kate O'Brien Award at @limericklitfest.bsky.social , published by @tramppress.bsky.social - Waterin the Desert, Fire in the Night from Gethan Dick - only €10 while stocks last!
thebookshop.ie/gethan-dick-...

Huge congratulations to debut writer Gethan Dick! If you haven't picked up #WaterInTheDesertFireInTheNight this is your sign – it is *riveting* (and prize-winning!)

I thought it was excellent. Really nailed the horrible atmosphere!

I found the ending too muddy. I did enjoy his catchphrase 'Still alive, ya shit-eaters!' and have been trying to incorporate it into my everyday conversation

What did you make of The Running Man?

Two issues of WAXEN. Each one has a die-cut cardboard cover of one predominant colour, one black and one grey (there are gradients in the grey and there's a subtle sunflower pattern hidden in the black). There's a circle cut out of each cover, revealing part of a more colourful illustration inside.

Bookmail! A print contributor's copy of WAXEN, plus their first issue. I took a video too because on top of everything else, these are just gorgeous objects in themselves.

Kate O’Brien Award shortlist: Gethan Dick reads from her book Water in the Desert Fire in the Night: youtu.be/2zCQv2qHH58?...
The KOB Award 01/03 at 11.15am at the Belltable. Free event, booking required: www.limerickliteraryfestival.com
@tramppress.bsky.social

Here's wonderful debut author Gethan Dick at Libreria London last night talking all things #WaterInTheDesertFireInTheNight (which has just been shortlisted for the Kate O'Brien Award!)

We’re hiring!

More details about the position here: www.lrb.co.uk/jobs

Our latest episode of The Tolka Podcast features John Patrick McHugh reading from his piece 'Voice, voice, voice.'
We chat about self-confidence, the difference between voice and style, and what your football position says about your literary instincts ⚽️
Listen here open.spotify.com/episode/5ijO...

Every successful invention solves a common problem: washing clothes, illumination, ease of travel.

The problem A I is trying to solve is *us* - WE are the problem to tech oligarchs and corporate elite. It's all for them. They just can't say that part.

They're trying to sell us our own redundancy.

Gethan Dick is shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award for her debut novel Water in the Desert, Fire in the Night. It's funny and hopeful, check it out!

Dropped a bottle of Cadet Cola in Lowry's in Cornamona in the 80s and I still feel sick when I think of it exploding all over the floor