Rough Trade Books Presents Jen Calleja and Richard Phoenix

These incredibly popular authors are coming to Lewisham! Join us for an evening with them: JEN CALLEJA is the author of Goblinhood: Goblin as a Mode (Rough Trade Books, 2024), Vehicle (Prototype, 2023), Dust Sucker (Makina Books, 2023) and I’m Afraid That’s All We’ve Got Time For (Prototype, 2020). Her short fiction, poetry and essays have appeared in The White Review, The London Magazine, Wasafiri, Ambit, and in the anthology Best British Short Stories (Salt). She was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize for her translation from German of Marion Poschmann’s The Pine Islands. She is also co-founder of Praspar Press, a small press for Maltese literature. Do Your Own Thing is a full-length work of non-fiction from artist and musician RICHARD PHOENIX detailing his experiences of the best underground arts scene you’ve never heard of—Do Your Own Thing, a project run by learning disability arts organisation Heart n Soul. Looking at the transformative potential of working to support creative young people make the music and art they want to, this book contributes essential new voices, reflections and considerations to the established ideas of ‘Do It Yourself’ culture. Phoenix’s book, written with a disarming and idiosyncratic voice, asks what our often reductive understanding of DIY aesthetics might mean in light of questions about access, support and who gives permission to whom to make art, guiding us through the kind of project only spoken about in funding reports and transforming it into a polyphonic, collaborative and joyful work of art.