MAN-EATING TYPEWRITER INCLUDED IN TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT'S BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023

Man-Eating Typewriter was chosen by author and critic D.J. Taylor as one of the Times Literary Supplement’s Books of the Year 2023. Read the whole article HERE.

From the website:

‘Self-consciously “experimental” novels have a habit of not delivering on their promises, but I was riotously entertained by Richard Milward’s Man-Eating Typewriter’ - D.J. Taylor.

Man-Eating Typewriter was also chosen by Strong Words magazine as their #3 Book of the Year 2023, and by the mighty online community Memorial Device as their fiction book of the year.

Signed books for sale at the online shop

Signed first editions of Richard’s four novels published by White Rabbit (Apples, Ten Storey Love Song, Kimberly’s Capital Punishment, Man-Eating Typewriter) are now available at the online shop HERE. For a limited time Man-Eating Typewriter includes a £5 discount off the RRP.

Richard Milward on France Gall's 1968 and the death of yé-yé - Low Culture essay for The Quietus

Richard has written a Low Culture essay on France Gall’s 1968 and the death of yé-yé for The Quietus. Read the piece HERE.

From thequietus.com:

In this month's subscriber essay, novelist Richard Milward travels back 55 years to the cobblestone-strewn streets of Paris, the release of France Gall's album 1968, and discovers how a time of political upheaval had a profound impact on the happy-go-lucky genre of yé-yé.

‘Three weeks before the first cobblestones were thrown in the explosive student revolt in Paris, May 1968, Télévision Suisse Romande broadcast the image of French yé-yé chanteuse France Gall's small unconscious body carried down the hatch of the Savoie, a paddle steamboat floating on a frosty, overcast Lake Geneva. A strange funeral procession followed her down: a top-hatted illusionist, two muscular dancers dressed in sparkly forest-green bodysuits and white furry gilets, a dour Napoleon lookalike, comic singer Henri Dès in a purple Nehru jacket and pantaloons, and five ballerinas in bejewelled go-go boots and pastel-coloured wigs. A minute later, Gall would be upright again, dancing in the film's grand psychedelic finale – but, with intense social and political upheaval looming, her mock death would unknowingly mark the symbolic death of yé-yé, the playful bubblegum pop movement that made Gall, Françoise Hardy, Sylvie Vartan, Chantal Goya, Annie Philippe and so many others famous between 1962 and 1968…’

To read the full piece you need a subscription, which gives you plenty of extra perks, some of which The Quietus lay out here:

Each month we ask our favourite writers to expound and enthuse at length about a cultural artefact that they love, feel has been neglected, or has an aspect to it that is under-regarded. By subscribing, you essentially get a book-length anthology of some of the best contemporary writers around on a crackers array of culture. Get all this by signing up to the Low Culture or Sound & Vision tiers HERE.

NEW STATESMAN INTERVIEW - GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2023 SHORTLIST

In the lead-up to the announcement of the Goldsmiths Prize 2023, Richard was interviewed in the New Statesman by Ellen Peirson-Hagger, judge and assistant culture editor. The article is behind a paywall, but you can register for three free articles a month. Read the piece HERE.

From the article:

Ellen Peirson-Hagger: The novel’s language and outlandish goings-on make it an incredibly fun read. What is the role of humour and pleasure in literature, and is there enough of it?

Richard Milward: When people ask me what I write about, I tend to boil it down to just “the joy and horror of life” - and I do think comedy can be as powerful and insightful as tragedy. Sentence by sentence, I want to create a kind of rush in the reader, whether that’s through humour, or something unsettling, or an unusual turn of phrase, or the rhythm of the words. I think the Polari especially helps add to the humour in Man-Eating Typewriter. It’s quite a sing-song, sardonic lingo, and so when Novak’s criticising the world around him - a stifling, conservative world he finds unbearable - that world appears even more absurd than it would if he was slagging it off in standard English.

1 OF 100 COLLABORATION - LUBRICATE REALITY WITH DREAMS T-SHIRT

Richard has collaborated with 1 of 100 on a special edition T-shirt to mark the publication of Man-Eating Typewriter. Featuring Novak’s favourite slogan - LUBRICATE REALITY WITH DREAMS - in a handwritten font by Milward, the organic cotton T-shirts are available in two colourways: blue denim and white.

Longtime collaborators with Richard’s publisher White Rabbit, 1 of 100 have worked with all manner of innovative musicians, illustrators, artists, fashionistas, DJs, misfits and anyone else with a story to tell. Climate neutral, using low impact 100% organic cotton, and hand-printed in small editions, their T-shirts are a joy inside and out.

From the 1 of 100 website:

Richard has just been shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize and we're delighted to be collaborating on this Special Edition t-shirt. One for the dreamers.

'Raymond Novak, the Polari-speaking anarchist protagonist of Man-Eating Typewriter litters his memoirs with all sorts of different rousing slogans, and his favourite by far is: LUBRICATE REALITY WITH DREAMS. Whether you’re familiar with the book or not, it’s a clarion call for disaffected dreamers everywhere, and it’s special to collaborate with 1 of 100 on these T-shirts: stylishly, sustainably, righteously spreading Novak’s gildi lavs hither-thither…' - Richard Milward

This design is printed onto white or blue denim super soft 100% Organic Cotton as usual, and hand printed in Glasgow.

Pre-order the T-shirts for £35 (plus shipping) HERE. Orders to be shipped around 30th October.

MAN-EATING TYPEWRITER SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2023

Man-Eating Typewriter has been shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2023, alongside Amy Arnold’s Lori & Joe, Kate Briggs’ The Long Form, H. Gareth Gavin’s Never Was, Benjamin Myers’ Cuddy and Adam Thirlwell’s The Future Future. The judges for this year’s prize are Tom Lee, Maddie Mortimer, Helen Oyeyemi and Ellen Peirson-Hagger.

From the Goldsmiths Prize website:

The Goldsmiths Prize was established in 2013 to celebrate the qualities of creative daring associated with the University and to reward fiction that breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form. The annual prize of £10,000 is awarded to a book that is deemed genuinely novel and which embodies the spirit of invention that characterises the genre at its best.

Judge Maddie Mortimer on Man-Eating Typewriter:

"In this extraordinary technical feat, Richard Milward plunges us into the dizzying landscape of 1960’s London with the story of Raymond Novak, an anarchist promising to commit the crime of the century, and the publishers hoping to capitalize on his violence.

"With remarkable command over the Polari slang that dances, spins, spits and slashes its way across the page, Milward has created a very rare beast of a book; one that is propulsive, relevant, outrageous, and often alarmingly beautiful. Here is a novel that lays bare the depravity of human impulse, whilst testing the limits of language and form with masterful ease and reckless glee.

"Man-Eating Typewriter emerges as a refreshing example of the most fun a person could have on a page and has all the transgressive energy of a cult classic in the making."

The winner will be announced on 8th November.

Read more about this year’s shortlist on The Guardian HERE.

FOUR BOOK BUNDLE FOR £40

For a limited time White Rabbit are offering Richard’s four novels (Apples, Ten Storey Love Song, Kimberly’s Capital Punishment and Man-Eating Typewriter) in one bundle for £40 (saving £17 from buying individually), through their website HERE.

VIGILANTIA: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ARTISTS AND WRITERS PAY ATTENTION TO MOGWAI OUT NOW

Richard has a new short story, ‘Kappa’, featured in Chroma Editions’ Vigilantia: what happens when artists and writers pay attention to Mogwai. Buy the anthology for £16.50 HERE.

From the Chroma bandcamp page:

33 artists and writers respond to the music of Mogwai with a vivid collection of texts and mixed media combining essays, poems, painting, drawing, photos, assemblage, installation and graphic illustration. The result is a fascinating portrait as playful and mischievous as the band itself.
**Any profits will be donated to the Glasgow charity: Refuweegee**

Contributors include: Paul Youdell, Clare Archibald, Matt Healy, Darragh McCausland, John McDougall, Sapphire Goss, Martin MacInnes, Richard Milward, Colm O’Shea, Arun Sood, Isabella Streffen, Pat Barrett, Shelley Hastings, Martin Jones, Iain Sharpe, Lee Ashworth, Rik Rawling, David Banning, Rico Craig, Josef Minta, Rose Ruane, Brian McHenry, Wendy Erskine, Duncan Harman, Maria Sledmere, Susan Tomaselli, Noel Hannan, Dana Tommasino, Alister Black & Jonny Cannon, Joanna Kirk, Andrea Caro, Naomi Frisby.

Foreword by Darran Anderson

Product Details: A4 size, 76 pages, paperback, full colour
Published by Chroma Editions, edition of 250

LISTEN TO RICHARD INTERVIEWED BY LEE BRACKSTONE AT VERDANT TAPROOM, CORNWALL

Listen to Richard reading from Man-Eating Typewriter and being interviewed by White Rabbit publisher Lee Brackstone at the recent White Rabbit summer party at Verdant Taproom, Cornwall, on the Brewing Folk podcast HERE. You can also find Matthew Shaw’s interview with Jennifer Lucy Allan, and Lee Brackstone’s interview with Steve Davis and Kavus Torabi from the night on the Brewing Folk website.

WRITING FOR NORMAN RECORDS

Richard has begun writing for the mighty Norman Records, Leeds-based online vinyl emporium. Keep your eye on their website (HERE) for reviews and longer pieces appearing intermittently and, for now, read Richard’s review of A.R. Kane’s A.R. Kive boxset HERE, and Sufjan Stevens’ Five Key Records HERE.