One of a great many poems which will be in my book from Arc Publications. Brecht wrote about 3,000 poems, but priority always went to his plays.

Translator bio
Timothy Adès, rhyming translator-poet with eleven books from French, Spanish, German and four awards, also rewrote Shakespeare's 154 Sonnets without using letter E. He runs a bookstall of translated poetry, his own works and many others. He is a trustee of Agenda magazine, and is on Facebook and YouTube.


Author bio
Bertolt Brecht 1898-1956, the great playwright, was also a very great poet. Son of a pastor, an exile from Nazism in Scandinavia, he crossed Russia, reached Hollywood and eventually returned to East Berlin, running the Berliner Ensemble.


Forthcoming poetry book from Arc Publications: https://www.arcpublications.co.uk/writers/timothy-ades

A part of the series 'Reading the City', the anthology Book of Bratislava: A City in Short Fiction, co-edited by Radoslav Passia and Julia Sherwood, features ten stories by ten different authors set in the Slovak capital in the period from the end of World War II to the present day, translated by ten different translators. The stories i reflect the Slovak capital’s many changing incarnations: from a hopeful city newly liberated from the Nazis; to an outpost of communist Czechoslovakia crawling with informants; to the capital of a new, democratic independent state. Bratislava may be a city still shaping its identity, but it is one where creativity blooms, despite – or perhaps because of – its complex and intricate history. From the dive bars of the infamous Petržalka estate, to the lush tree-lined banks of the Danube, the past and present are in continual conversation with each other, striving to recapture what’s lost, while adjusting to the fast pace of change.

"We are presented with a tapestry of the city no less intricate or impressive than the ones on display in Bratislava’s Primacial Palace" - Sophie Benbelaid, Asymptote blog

"These 10 stories immerse the reader into Bratislava’s everyday and would really serve any traveller to the city well, before, during or after a trip." - Tripfiction.com

'This anthology’s translators are among the best in the game... Comma Press’s criteria result in a volume that... captures the various facets and critical essence of Slovakia’s capital.' - Asymptote Journal

Four of the anthology's translators read from their translations of works by Ján Rozner, Lucia Piussi, Alta Vášová and Richard Pupala.

John Minahane was born in Ireland and has lived and worked in Slovakia since 1996, working as an English language teacher while pursuing his own literary and translation projects

Janet Livingstone is a translator and life coach who spent 16 years living in Slovakia and is now based in Seattle, where she leads her own leadership and learning consultancy

Magdalena Mullek is a literary translator and scholar. She holds a PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Indiana University and is currently based in Slovakia

Jonathan Gresty is a freelance teacher, translator, and novelist who has been living in Slovakia since 1992


BUY THE ANTHOLOGY: https://commapress.co.uk/books/the-book-of-bratislava

Serge Joncour's panorama of rural life in late 20thC France won the Prix Femina in 2020 and was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award in an English translation by Louise Rogers Lalaurie. It's set at Les Bertranges, a family farm deep in the south-west. Opening with the long hot summer of 1976, and closing with the cataclysmic storm of December 31 1999, the novel takes an affectionate look back at the period - Mitterand's presidential campaign, the eco-protests on the Larzac plateau, Chernobyl - with climate alarm bells ringing in the background. Alexandre is set to inherit the family farm, a yoke he assumes unquestioningly. The route of a new motorway poses an existential threat, but his love for a German student from behind the Wall, and the attentions of her eco-terrorist friends may prove his biggest challenge yet.

BUY THE BOOK: https://guardianbookshop.com/human-nature-9781913547196/

"An outstanding, big, compassionate novel... BY telling the stoery of days gone by, Joncour makes us reflect on those yet to come." Le Figaro.

Translator bio
Louise Rogers Lalaurie is a writer and translator from French, with a focus on art, fiction, and travel.

Author bio
Serge Joncour (b. 1961) is the author of 18 acclaimed novels, including three titles translated into English: Human Nature (2022), Wild Dog (2020) and Lean On Me (2022).