Jordison, Sam. Galley Beggar Press Newsletter, 23 May 2019

Sam Jordison at The Haggerston (pub) before the launch of We’ll Never Have Paris at Burley Fisher Books on 22 May 2019

Meanwhile, a quick dispatch from the literary elsewhere. Last night I helped launch We’ll Never Have Paris at the wonderful Burley Fisher, in That London.

I’m very proud that there are quite a few Galley Beggar writers in it, alongside a very healthy percentage of the writers who are Doing Good Stuff. There are 79 contributors to this collection — and more to the point, it’s fantastic. I had a blast being the MC at the launch. The readings were just great. I was proud to be there. Here’s the view from the stage. Standing room only:

Taken by Sam Jordison

Andrew Gallix, the editor, is one of the pillars of our world. Only Andrew would have had so many fantastic writers so eager to contribute to a project like this one. It’s a fine idea for a book. To write about Paris, but the Paris that doesn’t exist, the Anglophone vision of Paris, the dream of Paris… Anyway, you’ll see how well it works when you dive into its hundreds of pages and see how varied the contributions are. And it’s not just this book, it’s all the fantastic things Andrew — and 3:AM — have done over the years. Among our generation of writers and publishers, there are very few who haven’t been encouraged, helped and published by him. Chances are that he’ll have helped you if you’re a writer or publisher who isn’t quite at home in the big world, who has crazy romantic dreams about Art and Posterity and who instantly understands the 3:AM tagline: whatever it is, we’re against it. Quietly — rarely putting himself in the foreground — but unstoppably, he has moved things forward. In other words, please buy his book — and enjoy it too. Because the other thing Andrew and 3:AM have always been good at is making it fun.