The Desperate Literature Notebook


€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


€30.00
COURSE:
Sylvia Plath & David Lynch – los relatos estadounidenses
25 Oct
No Category Sylvia Plath y David Lynch: los relatos estadounidenses Gudrun Palomino 25 de Octubre 13h-15h30
La visión de lo grotesco y lo visceral frente a la deconstrucción de la idealización del sueño americano vertebran tanto la obra de Sylvia Plath como la de David Lynch. De hecho, hay bastantes puntos en común entre los dos creadores, como la crítica a la sociedad estadounidense, la personificación de la violencia, el mundo onírico y el tratamiento de los dobles y la dualidad personal. En este taller, trabajaremos con algunos poemas, ensayos, la novela La campana de cristal y las obras pictóricas y collages de Sylvia Plath contrastándolos con escenas y guiones tanto de Twin Peaks como de películas como Eraserhead, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive y Blue Velvet, así como lienzos de David Lynch. Además, analizaremos las biografías de ambos artistas (Cometa rojo y Espacio para soñar) para ver en qué coincidían sus vidas y su forma de crear, y veremos influencias comunes como Francis Bacon y Kafka. Los materiales estarán disponibles tanto en inglés como en español (con mis traducciones de Sylvia Plath) y el grupo estará reducido a 15 alumnos/alumnas/alumnes. €30
€30.00
Sold out


€20.00
LISA HANNIGAN
in Concert
June 15th
(opening act – Davy Lyons)
No Category June 15th 20h in Desperate Literature
SOLD OUT
TICKETS:
€20 - Concert + 10% discount on books + drink courtesy of Jameson Whiskey
We invite the magnificent Lisa Hannigan to play an intimate concert in Desperate Literature, with opening act Davy Lyons.
Lisa Hannigan is an Irish singer and songwriter who has internationally released three studio albums on her own label one of which was nominated for UK Mercury Music prize. Over the course of her extensive career to date Lisa has appeared at festivals all over the world, and live TV appearances such as the Tonight show with Jay Leno, The Late Late show with James Corden, and The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert, and Later with Jools Holland. Lisa has featuring tracks in TV series’ ‘Fargo’ and ‘Legion’, Lisa also sings on the Oscar winning soundtrack to ‘Gravity’. In the past few years she found her acting voice, playing Blue Diamond in Cartoon Network’s ‘Steven Universe’ and Bronagh in Cartoon Saloon’s Oscar-nominated film ‘Song of the Sea’. Outside of her own album and soundtrack releases, Lisa has contributed vocals to The National albums ‘I Am Easy to Find’ and ‘Sleep Well Beast’ and also sang on Big Red Machine’s eponymous first album.
Davy Lyons is an Irish songwriter, musician, poet, and actor. Family gatherings in his childhood, where music was always vital, are the root of his creative endeavours.
In 2016, he moved to Barcelona where he began playing on the street. His live shows developed a reputation as intense, binding, and unique experiences for the audience, an intimate journey where words and melodies come together, where silences are allowed to reverberate. Sound poems written with the fountain pen of Lyons’ soul with brushstrokes of folk, jazz, and gypsy added by his band. He has released two albums, Evidence (Delirics, 2019), and The Human Factor (King Forward Records, 2023). His third one, a live album recorded in front of an audience in Underpool Studios, will be released on September 6. He played the lead role in Catalan feature length film, Solo Arrojaron, which is currently having festival screenings.
https://www.instagram.com/davylyons/
Purchase receipt functions as your ticket!
SPONSORED BY:

€20.00


€20.00
Alejandro Zambra (SIGNED)
GIFTS, Hotcakes, LiteratureTo help raise funds for our imminent move, this month we're selling our signed Alejandro Zambra translations. There's the added bonus of the copies also being signed by Zambra's translator, Megan McDowell!
There's a limited amount, so get them while you can!
...and of course we'll throw in some merch for good measure... ALL EDITIONS IN ENGLISH
€20.00

