A Little Unsteadily Into Light

Just a quick blog to share all the information about the new anthology of short stories inspired by dementia which I’ve co-edited with the wonderful Dr Jane Lugea (QUB). It’s called A Little Unsteadily Into Light (a stage note from Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape) and it’s released on September 2nd. It’s been an absolute joy to work on this collection. I’m really hoping you’ll all enjoy the 14 stories included in the book and the two short essays which bookend the fiction. It’s a response to the dementia fiction research project I’ve been part of for the last two years, (follow the link below to find out more about our research and for recommendations of some other great books you might enjoy).

We’re hoping this anthology will begin some really important conversations about how we can write well about dementia and I’m incredibly grateful to all the writers who’ve leant both their words and experience to this book. A full list of contributors is included below. If you can help us continue this conversation through an event, review, interview, article or some other means please don’t hesitate to give the good folks at New Island a shout. Caoimhe’s contact details are listed at the bottom of this blog. She’s handling all PR related to #ALittleUnsteadilyIntoLight You can also help us immensely by pre-ordering the anthology or buying it when it’s released on September 2nd from your local indie bookstore.

All the details are included in the press release below.

Cover design: Luke Bird

Pub date: 2 Sept 2022

ISBN: 9781848408616 £14.99/€16.95 (PB) 272pp

PRESS RELEASE

A LITTLE UNSTEADILY INTO LIGHT

NEW DEMENTIA-INSPIRED FICTION

Edited by Jan Carson and Jane Lugea

Newly commissioned short stories that explore and represent the lives of those living with dementia, unique in its diversity, depth and breadth of the dementia experience.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Featuring new writing from: Sinéad Gleeson, Suad Aldarra, Caleb Azumeh Nelson, Jan Carson, Elaine Feeney, Oona Frawley, Anna Jean Hughes, Caleb Klaces, Naomi Krüger, Henrietta McKervey, Paul McVeigh, Mary Morrissy, Nuala O'Connor and Chris Wright.

To live with dementia is to develop extraordinary and various new ways of being – linguistically, cognitively and practically. The storyteller operates similarly, using words and ideas creatively to reveal a slightly different perspective of the world.

In this anthology of fourteen new short stories, commissioned by Jan Carson and Jane Lugea, some of the best contemporary writers from Ireland and the UK powerfully and poignantly explore the depths and breadth of the real dementia experience, traversing age, ethnicity, class and gender, sex and consent. Each writer’s story is drawn from their own personal experience of dementia and told with outrageous and dark humour, empathy and startling insight. Here are heroes and villains, tricksters and saints, mothers, fathers, lovers, friends, characters whose past has overshadowed their present and characters who are making a huge impact on the world they currently find themselves in. They might have dementia, but dementia is only a small part of who they are. They will challenge, frustrate, inspire and humble you.

Above all, these brilliant pieces of short fiction disrupt the perceived notions of what dementia is and, in their diversity, honesty and authenticity begin to normalise an illness that affects so many and break down the stigma endured by those living with it every day.

Co-Edited by Dr Jane Lugea and Jan Carson

JAN CARSON is a writer and community arts facilitator based in Belfast. She is the author of three novels including The Raptures (2022), which was shortlisted for the 2022 Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year. She published a short-story collection, Children’s Children, in 2016, followed by two micro fiction anthologies, Postcard Stories (2017) and Postcard Stories 2 (2020). Her second novel, The Fire Starters (2019), won the EU Prize for Literature for Ireland and was shortlisted for the Dalkey Novel of the Year Award. @JanCarson7280

Dr JANE LUGEA is Senior Lecturer in English Language in the School of Arts, English and Languages at Queen’s University Belfast. Her research explores the language of literature and other creative texts, from movies to memes. She is author of World-building in Spanish and English Spoken Narratives (2015) and co-author of the forthcoming textbook Stylistics: Text, Cognition and Corpora. @JaneLugea

Find out more about the AHRC-funded research project based at Queen's University Belfast, from which this anthology has emerged: blogs.qub.ac.uk/dementiafiction

PUBLICITY ENQUIRIES AND REVIEW COPY REQUESTS

Caoimhe Fox: caoimhe.fox@newisland.ie / 01 278 4225 ext 104

New Island Books, 10 Richview Office Park, Clonskeagh, Dublin D14V8C4