What do you think?
Rate this book
TOLKA, Issue 1
A journal of formally promiscuous non-fiction. Tolka is a new, biannual literary journal of non-fiction; publishing essays, reportage, travel writing, auto-fiction, individual stories and the writing that flows in between. Issue One of Tolka features writing from a wide range of both emerging and established voices. Full line-up includes:
Liadan Ní Chuinn
Brian Dillon
Doireann Ní Ghríofa with Molly Hennigan
Dimitra Xidous
Eva O’Connor
Rob Doyle
Dearbhaile Houston
Dasom Yang
Liam Bishop
Jessica Traynor
Kevin Brazil
Ana Kinsella
Liadan Ní Chuinn
Brian Dillon
Doireann Ní Ghríofa with Molly Hennigan
Dimitra Xidous
Eva O’Connor
Rob Doyle
Dearbhaile Houston
Dasom Yang
Liam Bishop
Jessica Traynor
Kevin Brazil
Ana Kinsella
128 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 2021
3 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 24, 2022
January 24, 2022 Update
I recently reviewed TOLKA Journal Issue 2, and have discovered that several selections from Issue 1 are now available free to read online, including:
2. A bright stellate object, a small angled sphere by Brian Dillon.
3. An interview with Doireann Ní Ghríofa by Molly Hennigan.
5. Two Sisters by Eva O'Connor.
Non-Fiction Short Stories
Review of the premiere issue of Tolka Journal (May, 2021)
I came across the new non-fiction literary journal Tolka almost by chance while following translator Fionn Petch (English translator of my recent favourite author Luis Sagasti) on Twitter. The new biannual journal made the intriguing promise of containing "formally promiscuous non-fiction ... publishing essays, reportage, travel writing, auto-fiction, individual stories and the writing that flows in between."
I was especially impressed with the variety of styles and topics contained in Issue No. 1 and with the number of writers previously unknown to me, each contributing essays/memoirs in often humorous and / or dramatic fashion that strongly rivalled the imagination of fiction. Hopefully the following brief summaries capture some of that variety. I have already subscribed for Issue No. 2. Issue No. 1 is now sold out, so all current subscriptions begin with Issue 2.
1. twenty twenty by Liadan Ní Chuinn. Short staccato sentence/paragraphs on caring for a dying parent in the home in the year 2020 with ominous climate change impacts in the background.
2. A bright stellate object, a small angled sphere by Brian Dillon. The author's personal experiences with migraine attacks and with the manifestations of migraine aura.
3. An interview with Doireann Ní Ghríofa by Molly Hennigan. An interview discussing the poet's first prose work A Ghost in the Throat (2020) and most recent poetry collection To Star the Dark (2021).
4. My Mother Calls Me to Tell Me by Dimitra Xidous. An hypnotic, chant-like report of a mother's concerns about the sea which winds through various permutations and repetitions that make it more of a prose poem.
5. Two Sisters by Eva O'Connor. A memoir by playwright author E. about her supportive relationship with sister R. and their coffee mornings together.
6. Childish Things by Rob Doyle. A memoir of the writer's life history with computers and video games up to an obsession during COVID lockdown.
7. Essays on Modern Love by Dasom Yang. A memoir of long-distance relationships and their pros and cons. The author's further writing can be found at her website here, although not the extended Essays on Modern Love that was promised in Tolka's excerpt.
8. Completing Invoices by Liam Bishop. Observations on a trip to Belgium along with comments on film director Chantal Akerman's No Home Movie (2015)
9. Credo: a story by Dearbhaile Houston. A portrait of Anthony, who works at a men's shelter run by Franciscans and who had a "religious awakening while walking the Camino at age twelve."
10. Resurrection Song by Jessica Traynor. A memoir of the author's cousin, their musical talents and their substance abuse addiction.
11. Three Beaches by Kevin Brazil. Travel observations from the beaches of Carnivan (Ireland), Stegna (Turkey) and Botany Bay (Australia).
12. Wayfinding by Ana Kinsella. Observations on first moving to London. This is likely an excerpt from the forthcoming book Look Here: The Radical Pleasures of Observing the City (2022) to be published by Daunt Books.
Trivia and Link
Tolka Journal are currently accepting submissions for the 2nd Issue which is expected to be published in November, 2021. The deadline for submission is August 13, 2021 and submissions can be made at their website here.
I recently reviewed TOLKA Journal Issue 2, and have discovered that several selections from Issue 1 are now available free to read online, including:
2. A bright stellate object, a small angled sphere by Brian Dillon.
3. An interview with Doireann Ní Ghríofa by Molly Hennigan.
5. Two Sisters by Eva O'Connor.
Non-Fiction Short Stories
Review of the premiere issue of Tolka Journal (May, 2021)
I came across the new non-fiction literary journal Tolka almost by chance while following translator Fionn Petch (English translator of my recent favourite author Luis Sagasti) on Twitter. The new biannual journal made the intriguing promise of containing "formally promiscuous non-fiction ... publishing essays, reportage, travel writing, auto-fiction, individual stories and the writing that flows in between."
I was especially impressed with the variety of styles and topics contained in Issue No. 1 and with the number of writers previously unknown to me, each contributing essays/memoirs in often humorous and / or dramatic fashion that strongly rivalled the imagination of fiction. Hopefully the following brief summaries capture some of that variety. I have already subscribed for Issue No. 2. Issue No. 1 is now sold out, so all current subscriptions begin with Issue 2.
1. twenty twenty by Liadan Ní Chuinn. Short staccato sentence/paragraphs on caring for a dying parent in the home in the year 2020 with ominous climate change impacts in the background.
2. A bright stellate object, a small angled sphere by Brian Dillon. The author's personal experiences with migraine attacks and with the manifestations of migraine aura.
3. An interview with Doireann Ní Ghríofa by Molly Hennigan. An interview discussing the poet's first prose work A Ghost in the Throat (2020) and most recent poetry collection To Star the Dark (2021).
4. My Mother Calls Me to Tell Me by Dimitra Xidous. An hypnotic, chant-like report of a mother's concerns about the sea which winds through various permutations and repetitions that make it more of a prose poem.
5. Two Sisters by Eva O'Connor. A memoir by playwright author E. about her supportive relationship with sister R. and their coffee mornings together.
6. Childish Things by Rob Doyle. A memoir of the writer's life history with computers and video games up to an obsession during COVID lockdown.
7. Essays on Modern Love by Dasom Yang. A memoir of long-distance relationships and their pros and cons. The author's further writing can be found at her website here, although not the extended Essays on Modern Love that was promised in Tolka's excerpt.
8. Completing Invoices by Liam Bishop. Observations on a trip to Belgium along with comments on film director Chantal Akerman's No Home Movie (2015)
9. Credo: a story by Dearbhaile Houston. A portrait of Anthony, who works at a men's shelter run by Franciscans and who had a "religious awakening while walking the Camino at age twelve."
10. Resurrection Song by Jessica Traynor. A memoir of the author's cousin, their musical talents and their substance abuse addiction.
11. Three Beaches by Kevin Brazil. Travel observations from the beaches of Carnivan (Ireland), Stegna (Turkey) and Botany Bay (Australia).
12. Wayfinding by Ana Kinsella. Observations on first moving to London. This is likely an excerpt from the forthcoming book Look Here: The Radical Pleasures of Observing the City (2022) to be published by Daunt Books.
Trivia and Link
Tolka Journal are currently accepting submissions for the 2nd Issue which is expected to be published in November, 2021. The deadline for submission is August 13, 2021 and submissions can be made at their website here.
November 4, 2021
I didn't really enjoy this. It's packaged as a non-fiction anthology and yet the authors seem to try and write their pieces as stories or fiction inspired insights. There's a lot of biographically inspired writing and little else. I was looking for an Irish version of Granta or the Paris Review but those are high benchmarks!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews