Parthian Books RSS

Dr Philippa Holloway is writer and senior lecturer at Staffordshire University. The Half-Life of Snails #THLOS, is her debut novel and follows the narratives of two sisters Helen and Jennifer. A bond that has been intertwined and tested by the looming Wylfa Power Station that marked their childhood in Ynys y Mon.  During research for her PhD which examined nuclear psychogeography,  Philippa visited the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. This extensive research shaped the writing in #THLOS and grounded her work in exploring the relationship between the land around us and our sense of belonging.  What are you reading right now? The Scrapbook,...

Holly Porter caught up with Gary Raymond to ask a few questions about his forthcoming novel, Angels of Cairo, and writing in general.

"Initially I was interested in quite abstract questions about what comprised a river. I was approaching ‘my obsession’ (for this is what it quickly became) from the philosopher’s perspective. Before long a shift occurred: the question of semantically defining a river became less important; after all, there was no denying the Teifi’s existence, as it rolled seamlessly seaward, in front of me. This freed me from focusing solely on the ‘flowing water of the Teifi’, and from this point on the project broadened its scope. I began to write about the lives of the river: its banks, its secret places...

Team Parthian are thrilled to see Richard Owain Roberts on the prestigious 'Not the Booker 2020' shortlist today, with his debut novel Hello Friend We Missed You! Thanks to all the voters who helped get him there, it's wonderful to see a book from an independent publishing house make a shortlist like this. You can read more about the prize and what happens next here. And of course you can order Richard's novel from our website, and see what all the well-deserved fuss is about!