Glass as Broken Glass (SIGNED)
€10.00
“Sprackland refreshes the domestic and mundane in poems which are outwardly calm, but lit from within to reveal unusual visionary angles.” – Eric Gregory Award judges 2014
Get a signed copy of Martha Sprackland’s first pamphlet…
There really aren’t that many left in the world.
Out of stock
Category: Literature


€2.50 – €11.00
‘Eleven Stories 2025’
.pdf + print edition
Eleven Stories, GIFTS, Literary Prize, Literature 'Generous, soulful distillations. A tasting flight of prosaic kerosene. Each story ignited a flare in a forsaken corner of my mind. I can’t wait to experience more from these voices.' —Henry Hoke
‘Wonderful: some very subtle, intimate and beautiful, others wildly imaginative and deeply thoughtful.’ —Ottessa Moshfegh
Eleven Stories 2025 collects the shortlist from our eighth short fiction prize and is available in either: DON'T FORGET: YOU GET €2.50 OFF ENTRY TO THE 2026 PRIZE...- PDF - €2.5
- PRINT + PDF - €11 / a limited edition copy and the PDF to boot. **shipping is by Spanish postal service and doesn't carry tracking, which can be added for €15 on demand via email!
One of our most exciting selections yet, our 2025 shortlist covers a spectrum of experimental and boundary pushing fiction. From a Faulknerian river story to the lushest, queerest body horror — from cross-country feminist malaise to cross-border love — prophets, mothers, labourers — a tedious apocalypse, post-capitalist hope — these eleven stories are brimming with magic, longing, and humour. Including work by:
Shastri Akella (WINNER), Swithun Cooper (RUNNER-UP), Alisha Dietzman (RUNNER-UP), Chloe Agar, Sohini Basak, Shelley Hastings (EU SALON PRIZE), Miguel Arroyo, Matthew Kinlin, Iseult de Mallet Burgess, Fox McGlasson, and Juan Fernando Villagómez (DL RESIDENCY PRIZE) ABOUT THIS YEAR'S WINNING STORY: ‘Tender... and haunting’ —Ottessa Moshfegh PLEASE NOTE: for orders over 5 copies, please contact us at hello@desperateliterature.com
€2.50 – €11.00
Sold out


€2,750.00
The Naked Lunch
William Burrough
SIGNED
Literature, Rare items
The Olympia Press, 1959
First edition, SIGNED.
This carries a stamped 18NF over the original 1500F price. France adopted the nouveau franc in 1963, so we can assume that this edition didn't sell until after this point!
CONTACT US at hello@desperateliterature.com for more info or to book a visit!
€2,750.00
CONTACT US at hello@desperateliterature.com for more info or to book a visit!
€2,750.00
Sold out


€0.00
Madrid will be their Tomb:
the English language launch
Literature FREE ENTRY 1st December 20h00 Limited Tickets - 30
We're thrilled to host the Madrid launch of 'Madrid will be their Tomb', the English language translation of Elizabeth Duval's first novel!
‘Modest and powerfully beautiful, this is writing which illuminates human mystery and lifts the reader into the air, leaving them on an edge where their convictions tremble and shake.’
—JUAN MANUEL DE PRADA. ABC.
About the book:
Two occupied buildings: one the former headquarters of the NO-DO (a Francoist propaganda outlet) that has been taken over by a small group of fascists, the other the ruins of some abandoned film studios that have been converted into the barracks of a Marxist-Leninist cell. Drifting between these two spaces are Santiago and Ramiro; two characters who, although finding solace in two polarised political groups, cross paths and change each other’s lives. Discursive and devastating, Duval’s first novel is imbued with the same traits as the era she portrays. A sad, passionate, and all too real portrait of an ever more divided world, Duval’s story, in her powerful, shocking, yet considered prose, reminds us of the uncomfortable, but somewhat comforting similarities we may find with the “enemy”.
About the author:
Elizabeth Duval is an author and the spokesperson for Feminism, Equality and LGTBI+ rights for Sumar. In 2020 she published Reina, the first memoir in Spain by a woman from GenZ, as well as Exception, a verse poem. In 2021 she published the essay Después de lo trans and the novel Madrid será la tumba. In 2023 she published Melancolía, a sociopolitical essay on how to recover hope when facing a grim future. She is also a regular contributor for national media outlets like eldiario.es, Público, El País, and La Sexta.
About the translator:
Alice Banks is a translator from Spanish and French based in Madrid. In December 2022, Alice’s translation, Deranged As I Am, by Ali Zamir, was published by Fum d’Estampa Press. When she is not translating, Alice also works as a publisher at Fum d’Estampa Press and an Editorial Assistant for The European Literature Network, where she writes the monthly column, ‘La Española’.
‘A marvellous novel.’ —NADAL SUAU, EL ESPAÑOL.
€0.00


€5.00
Litriviature Quiz
Mon 20th April
Literature Litriviature Quiz March 20th 'Death (of the Author)' Edition 19h30-21h15
We're bringing back a literary quiz that got the DL team through the Pandemic. New, improved, and Covid-free! €5 / ticket Bring your own booze!! Pure silliness guaranteed!
€5.00
