White Rabbit Books Exhibition at The Social, London

Man-Eating Typewriter is included in an exhibition of White Rabbit book covers in the upstairs bar at the publisher’s spiritual home, The Social, Fitzrovia. See them throughout March and April at 5 Little Portland Street, London, W1W 7JD.

From The Social website:

‘The Social opened in the summer of 1999. A two floor bar right at the heart of London evolved out of the legendary Heavenly Sunday Social club nights that ran in various venues between ’94 and ’99. Rather than act as a bricks and mortar extension of those nights, the Social quickly developed a reputation as a free-thinking, boundary pushing destination for open minded drinkers, keen listeners and late night thinkers.

The Social is a stone’s throw from Oxford Circus. For the last two decades, it has been one of central London’s most loved getaways – somewhere between a modern day speakeasy and a home-from-home local.

Originally designed by renowned architects David Adjaye and Will Russell and now being re-imagined two decades on by the original team that built it, the two floors offer their own unique takes on the perfect night out. Upstairs is an intimate, music-led wooden room while downstairs is a newly redesigned event space that’s just as likely to host frenetic live shows as literary events or packed out DJ gigs.

Over the years, The Social has played host to everyone from the Chemical Brothers to Edna O’Brien, Wolf Alice to Adele, Horace Andy, Bon Iver, Young Fathers, Caitlin Moran, Four Tet, Kae Tempest, Cold War Steve, Jack White, Black Country New Road, Black Midi, Irvine Welsh, Jeremy Deller, Flying Lotus, Fat Boy Slim, Fat White Family, Laura Marling, Beck, the Avalanches, Andrew Weatherall, Michael Kiwanuka, Kevin Rowland, Super Furry Animals, the Charlatans, Aphex Twin and Lily Allen (to name a few).’

Photos by White Rabbit and Beth Davis.

Richard interviewed for SAVVY ZAAR Radio, Berlin

Richard was interviewed by Tal Lewinsky for Berlin ‘laboratory of thought-forms’ SAVVY Contemporary’s SAVVY ZAAR radio series, as part of their IT GO HAVE TO ADJUST programme, talking about and reading from Man-Eating Typewriter. The show was broadcast on Reboot FM (88.4 FM Berlin and 90.7 FM Potsdam) on Sunday 21st January. Listen to the episode HERE.

From the SAVVY Contemporary website:

‘In this episode the prize-winning author Richard Milward talks about his latest book, Man-Eating Typewriter, about the slang Polari, sects, anarchism and the counterculture of the British 60s. In conversation with Tal Lewinsky. Also an introduction about the novel Asfaltsblomman (The Asphalt Flower) by the author Antti Jalava.’

SAVVY Contemporary

Richard featured on Beyond the Zero End of Year Special Podcast

Back in December Richard was interviewed as part of Beyond the Zero’s mammoth five-part end of year special podcast, talking about his favourite books of 2023, and books he’s looking forward to in 2024. Listen to the episode on Spotify HERE.

Man-Eating Typewriter was also chosen as Ben Lindner’s/Beyond the Zero’s Book of the Year 2023, in the final part of the end of year special. Listen to the episode HERE.

LISTEN TO RICHARD INTERVIEWED ON ROARING 20s RADIO/SOHO RADIO

Richard was the guest on the 2nd December edition of Roaring 20s Radio on Soho Radio, hosted by Salena Godden, Amah-Rose Abrams and Matt Abbott - reading from Man-Eating Typewriter and talking about Soho, Polari, extreme left-wing terrorists, and his books of 2023. Listen to the episode on the Soho Radio website HERE or on Spotify HERE.

1 OF 100 'LUBRICATE REALITY WITH DREAMS' T-SHIRTS RESTOCKED

In time for the festive season, 1 of 100 are reprinting their special edition T-shirt collaboration with Richard. Featuring Novak’s favourite slogan - LUBRICATE REALITY WITH DREAMS - the T-shirts are available in two colourways, blue denim and white, in sizes from XS to XXXXL.

From the 1 of 100 website:

‘Raymond Novak, the Polari-speaking anarchist protagonist of Man-Eating Typewriter litters his memoirs with all sorts of different rousing slogans, and his favourite by far is: LUBRICATE REALITY WITH DREAMS. Whether you’re familiar with the book or not, it’s a clarion call for disaffected dreamers everywhere, and it’s special to collaborate with 1 of 100 on these T-shirts: stylishly, sustainably, righteously spreading Novak’s gildi lavs hither-thither…’ - Richard Milward

This design is printed onto white or blue denim super soft 100% Organic Cotton as usual, and hand printed in Glasgow.

Pre-order the T-shirts for £35 (plus shipping) HERE. Orders to be shipped around 15th December.

MAN-EATING TYPEWRITER INCLUDED IN TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT'S BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023

Man-Eating Typewriter was chosen by author and critic D.J. Taylor as one of the Times Literary Supplement’s Books of the Year 2023. Read the whole article HERE.

From the website:

‘Self-consciously “experimental” novels have a habit of not delivering on their promises, but I was riotously entertained by Richard Milward’s Man-Eating Typewriter’ - D.J. Taylor.

Man-Eating Typewriter was also chosen by Strong Words magazine as their #3 Book of the Year 2023, and by the mighty online community Memorial Device as their fiction book of the year.

Signed books for sale at the online shop

Signed first editions of Richard’s four novels published by White Rabbit (Apples, Ten Storey Love Song, Kimberly’s Capital Punishment, Man-Eating Typewriter) are now available at the online shop HERE. For a limited time Man-Eating Typewriter includes a £5 discount off the RRP.

Richard Milward on France Gall's 1968 and the death of yé-yé - Low Culture essay for The Quietus

Richard has written a Low Culture essay on France Gall’s 1968 and the death of yé-yé for The Quietus. Read the piece HERE.

From thequietus.com:

In this month's subscriber essay, novelist Richard Milward travels back 55 years to the cobblestone-strewn streets of Paris, the release of France Gall's album 1968, and discovers how a time of political upheaval had a profound impact on the happy-go-lucky genre of yé-yé.

‘Three weeks before the first cobblestones were thrown in the explosive student revolt in Paris, May 1968, Télévision Suisse Romande broadcast the image of French yé-yé chanteuse France Gall's small unconscious body carried down the hatch of the Savoie, a paddle steamboat floating on a frosty, overcast Lake Geneva. A strange funeral procession followed her down: a top-hatted illusionist, two muscular dancers dressed in sparkly forest-green bodysuits and white furry gilets, a dour Napoleon lookalike, comic singer Henri Dès in a purple Nehru jacket and pantaloons, and five ballerinas in bejewelled go-go boots and pastel-coloured wigs. A minute later, Gall would be upright again, dancing in the film's grand psychedelic finale – but, with intense social and political upheaval looming, her mock death would unknowingly mark the symbolic death of yé-yé, the playful bubblegum pop movement that made Gall, Françoise Hardy, Sylvie Vartan, Chantal Goya, Annie Philippe and so many others famous between 1962 and 1968…’

To read the full piece you need a subscription, which gives you plenty of extra perks, some of which The Quietus lay out here:

Each month we ask our favourite writers to expound and enthuse at length about a cultural artefact that they love, feel has been neglected, or has an aspect to it that is under-regarded. By subscribing, you essentially get a book-length anthology of some of the best contemporary writers around on a crackers array of culture. Get all this by signing up to the Low Culture or Sound & Vision tiers HERE.

NEW STATESMAN INTERVIEW - GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2023 SHORTLIST

In the lead-up to the announcement of the Goldsmiths Prize 2023, Richard was interviewed in the New Statesman by Ellen Peirson-Hagger, judge and assistant culture editor. The article is behind a paywall, but you can register for three free articles a month. Read the piece HERE.

From the article:

Ellen Peirson-Hagger: The novel’s language and outlandish goings-on make it an incredibly fun read. What is the role of humour and pleasure in literature, and is there enough of it?

Richard Milward: When people ask me what I write about, I tend to boil it down to just “the joy and horror of life” - and I do think comedy can be as powerful and insightful as tragedy. Sentence by sentence, I want to create a kind of rush in the reader, whether that’s through humour, or something unsettling, or an unusual turn of phrase, or the rhythm of the words. I think the Polari especially helps add to the humour in Man-Eating Typewriter. It’s quite a sing-song, sardonic lingo, and so when Novak’s criticising the world around him - a stifling, conservative world he finds unbearable - that world appears even more absurd than it would if he was slagging it off in standard English.

1 OF 100 COLLABORATION - LUBRICATE REALITY WITH DREAMS T-SHIRT

Richard has collaborated with 1 of 100 on a special edition T-shirt to mark the publication of Man-Eating Typewriter. Featuring Novak’s favourite slogan - LUBRICATE REALITY WITH DREAMS - in a handwritten font by Milward, the organic cotton T-shirts are available in two colourways: blue denim and white.

Longtime collaborators with Richard’s publisher White Rabbit, 1 of 100 have worked with all manner of innovative musicians, illustrators, artists, fashionistas, DJs, misfits and anyone else with a story to tell. Climate neutral, using low impact 100% organic cotton, and hand-printed in small editions, their T-shirts are a joy inside and out.

From the 1 of 100 website:

Richard has just been shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize and we're delighted to be collaborating on this Special Edition t-shirt. One for the dreamers.

'Raymond Novak, the Polari-speaking anarchist protagonist of Man-Eating Typewriter litters his memoirs with all sorts of different rousing slogans, and his favourite by far is: LUBRICATE REALITY WITH DREAMS. Whether you’re familiar with the book or not, it’s a clarion call for disaffected dreamers everywhere, and it’s special to collaborate with 1 of 100 on these T-shirts: stylishly, sustainably, righteously spreading Novak’s gildi lavs hither-thither…' - Richard Milward

This design is printed onto white or blue denim super soft 100% Organic Cotton as usual, and hand printed in Glasgow.

Pre-order the T-shirts for £35 (plus shipping) HERE. Orders to be shipped around 30th October.