| Synopsis: |
The Saturday Book was a hugely popular literary miscellany published annually between 1941 and 1975. It emerged as a response to the drabness of war and the ponderousness of the journalism of the day. It vowed to do without a mission; its motto was 'Vive la bagatelle'. We will relaunch The Saturday Book, presenting the intelligent reader with a hugely enjoyable collection in the run-up to Christmas. There won't be a theme or a message, just lots of great writing from around the world, including memoirs and travelogues, short stories and interviews, all beautifully illustrated. We will also run a feature called The Little Review Centenary Questionnaire. A hundred years ago, an avant-garde, Paris-based arts magazine sent ten identical questions to fifty writers, artists and musicians, including TS Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Djuna Barnes, Gertrude Stein and Jean Cocteau. Their replies formed the basis of The Little Review's last ever issue. To commemorate its centenary and celebrate The Saturday Book's first ever issue, we will repeat the exercise. A piece about The Little Review by Naomi Wood will introduce the feature; the Q&As will then run throughout the book.Confirmed contributors: Ali Smith, Deborah Levy, Tamas Dobozy, Viv Groskop, Olivia Laing, John Self, Duncan Fallowell, Naomi Wood, Sinclair McKay, Phil Baker, Ian Sansom, Jonathan Lee, Travis Elborough. |