The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

Just realised we still don't have a thread for Tramp Press, one of Ireland's leading independent publishers.

My reason for mentioning them now is that my copy of Sara Baume's Seven Steeples has just arrived, so I now have three books that would be near the top of my to read list were it not for prize lists, all of them from independent presses.

Where did you order your copy - direct from them?

Keen to get hold of this but didn't think it was out yet

On the press itself:

Tramp Press was launched by Lisa Coen and Sarah Davis-Goff in 2014 to find, nurture and publish exceptional literary talent. Tramp is based in Ireland and publishes internationally. Our authors include Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Mona Eltahawy, Sara Baume, Mike McCormack, Sophie White, and Jade Sharma.

Tramp Press authors have won Irish Book Awards, the International DUBLIN Literary Award (formerly the IMPAC), the Goldsmiths Prize, the Rooney Prize, a Lannan Fellowship, the Davy Byrnes Award, the Hennessy New Irish Writing Award, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, and the Kate O’Brien Award. They have been nominated and shortlisted for many more, including the Booker Prize, the Costa, the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Guardian First Book Award.

The prize they don't mention is the Republic of Consciousness Prize - but they have been longlist 4/6 years and shortlisted twice.

Paul wrote: "Where did you order your copy - direct from them?

Keen to get hold of this but didn't think it was out yet"

I ordered it through Blackwells, because it was cheaper.

Tramp I think discourage ordering direct to an extent

You can but a message comes up "We cannot guarantee timely delivery right now, so we recommend shopping with your local bookseller, or one of these great booksellers" (followed by some Irish bookshops)

And I don't think it is even available on their website

Now, I cannot pass up a new Sara Baume book. It was a review by Hugh that got me to order a book by her and I loved it. I ordered the US version, as I liked the cover better. It has a recommendation from Sigrid Nunez who book The Friend (winner of the 2018 National Book award) I loved.

Here’s the link to Tramp Press https://tramppress.com/

On David Collard's weekly book Zoom call The Glue Factory tonight, Sara Baume appeared reading from and discussing her new book.

Sounds great - and I have a copy waiting for me at Waterstones on Monday.

There is a signed limited edition available from this Irish bookshop which they will ship internationally:

https://www.kennys.ie/shop/Seven-Stee...

Also available on Edelweiss

Interview with the author here:

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/bo...

I will be fascinated to discuss the ending when others have read it.

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "I will be fascinated to discuss the ending when others have read it."

I have finished it, but want to think about it more before writing a review.

Have you read Barney Norris’s review in the Guardian - worth reading.

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "Have you read Barney Norris’s review in the Guardian - worth reading."

I will read that after I have written mine - I don't want to be influenced at this stage.

Sara Baume was loathe to discuss the ending on the Zoom chat as she and the host did seem to think it was best read without knowing what it would be.

I still don’t know what it was.

my thoughts

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm very impressed with Tramp Press. They don't produce much by way of new novels but what they do is high quality. Seven Steeples many of us enjoyed - and I've just read their latest novel Where I End by Sophie White, and I don't think I have read a more viscerally powerful and disturbing novel for some time.

Would be a late contender for a book of the year nomination but perhaps one for next year if it is prize featured.

And Line by Niall Bourke was also close to my top read list this year.

Reviews of both:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

They also have an excellent looking 'Recovered Voices' line which I have yet to sample but should (and if I'm honest with myself, is it the non-prize eligibility of re-issued books that stops me):

Tramp Press is committed to rescuing and recovering forgotten literature, and to re-engaging with those writers whose work is still valuable, relevant and brilliant. The Recovered Voices series is our way of bringing overlooked voices back into the contemporary conversation, with the hope of enriching and deepening our modern lives.

From the quotes in your review it sounds awful

You would hate it I suspect. And the quotes are somewhat tame vs the book.

Paul wrote: "I'm very impressed with Tramp Press. They don't produce much by way of new novels but what they do is high quality. Seven Steeples many of us enjoyed - and I've just read their latest novel Where I End by Sophie White, and I don't think I have read a more viscerally powerful and disturbing novel for some time."

Delighted to see that the judges of the Shirley Jackson Award (for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic) agreed with me and awarded it jointly best novel for 2022.