The Braag | Press & Journal

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A gravestone in a lovely grassy graveyard, and a load of leafy branches on top of the grave. The stone is marked: Matthew Wall died 1595

2 October? But that can mean only one thing! YES, THAT’S RIGHT!

In a village in Hertfordshire, they’re marking Old Man’s Day, because it’s the 454th anniversary of Mathew Wall almost being buried, and then not being buried, because he was in fact not dead

Forward Prize 2026 Highly Commended Congratulations to Corinna Board! For ‘A dunnock’s prayer’, published in Issue 9.0 Carmen et Error A dunnock’s prayer by Corinna Board O wingless wun, god o’ smæl bridds, spære my nest, my fīf blue eggs. Bright sky-keeper, bringer o’ frost, maker o’ hip an haw, can ye hear my tseep tseep tseep in the hecg? I sing for ye in the blackthorn an the dogrose, in the hazel an the rowan. I, this tyne spearwa so smæl in yur hand.

Delighted that the work we've been publishing in our micro-journal, Carmen et Error, is getting the recognition it deserves! @corinnaboard.bsky.social's brilliant poem 'A dunnock's prayer' was highly commended in this year's Forward Prizes!

Book section labeled "Most Stolen Books"

Okay, funny bookstore category

Makoto Kobayashi

Makoto Kobayashi

Very exciting things in store at @thebraag.bsky.social!

EXCITING NEWS!

I could not be more excited to be able to share this little toucan-y book with you all 😊 Coming soon! Eeek!

#WhereIsTheToucanEmoji

Exciting! #ukpoets

Got a pamphlet out next year where I explain the existence of Paul Blart Mall Cop through poetry

Lovely to be part of this line-up with ‘Little Book O’Moss,’ my weird little microchap! 💚💚💚

Little Book O’Moss by Corinna Board Toucan by Jessica Boatright The Annual Convention of Most Gentle and Virtuous Saints by Heather Chapman Possession by Stevie Ronnie Lavender Hill by Lauren Thomas

With micros by @corinnaboard.bsky.social, Jessica Boatright, Heather Chapman, Stevie Ronnie and Lauren Thomas!

Only Fragments Survive by Carmen Marcus is a collection of speculative hybrid fiction and poetry that imagines the life of paranormal historian, Graine O’Malley. Graine is a researcher who divines the history of objects. Her catalogue contains a splinter of driftwood from Captain James Cook’s Endeavour; a hair from a polar bear that washed up in Orkney; a tale of witches from a dressmaker’s bent pin, an Indie mixtape from 1998 and other tales, taken from the history of broken things.

Publishing Autumn 2026! by @carmenmarcus.bsky.social 🌊🪡🧵👗🐻‍❄️🌊

Empirical by Gita Ralleigh explores immigrant life, domesticity and motherhood through a series of lyric poems and narrative fragments, including several ghazals. From Black Star, a voicing of the earliest South Asians in Britain, to abecedarian for maternity ward, postcolonial estrangement, immigrant contingency and tentative instances of love, joy and belonging are illuminated. These poems trace how inherited myths, contested histories and political tides pattern our lives, leaving indelible marks which corral the course of future imaginaries for ourselves and our descendents.

Publishing February 2026! by @gitaralleigh.bsky.social ❤️💫✈️⛴️🥭❤️

Let’s make one thing clear: polblar tmolkop by Andrew Blair is not an endorsement of the 2009 film Paul Blart: Mall Cop. If anything, it is an explanation. One that defies explanation itself. In a series of experimental, ludic poems Blair takes us through a series of conversations between the actor and writer Kevin James, and an ambiguous disembodied entity called Polblar.

Coming February 2026! by @andrewblair.co.uk ⭐👽👮🛍️🌎⭐

Anthony Cartwright, he's fantastic, isn't he? It's in Necrosmologies, a title we've just published available via our website at thebraag.co 🖤

braag 25-6 line up Poetry polblar tmolkop - Andrew Blair Empirical - Gita Ralleigh Micros by Corinna Board Jessica Boatright Heather Chapman Stevie Ronnie Lauren Thomas Hybrid Only Fragments Survive - Carmen Marcus

Announcing the braag 2025-6 line up in our most recent newsletter! .... app.beehiiv.com/posts/46fac6...

cover of necrosmologies by anthony cartwright. a moody blue and black shy hangs over a grey and ruined cityscape.

I published Anthony Cartwright's novella in micro-fiction via @thebraag.bsky.social yesterday! It's incredible, deeply weird, searching, moving through alternate histories, leviatha as industrial process, capitalism as death cult, all deepy moored in the landscape of the black country.

Stunning 1st-century monumental gilded bronze letters and punctuation marks that had fallen from a public building in Singilia Barba, Andalusia (Málaga Museum). *First century*!

Since it seems people are into WOKE CANNIBAL EROTICA, I should probably point to my novelette about being an altar boy to elder gods, Shadow Jack - free to read at @giganotosaurus.bsky.social

giganotosaurus.org/2025/05/01/s...

Vulnerable Families Urgent Evacuation Fund We are a group of Gazans and international activists (Palestinian/SWANA/Allies) who have been supporting Gazans for the past 2 years and beyond. We are now working to coordinate crisis evacuations for...

I rarely share organizations in Gaza because it’s too hard to verify that they are doing the work they say they are but I know multiple people who were able to evacuate through the people working on this fund who are funding trips out of Gaza City (it’s $2100 a trip for 16 people).

Apropos of everything, because it cannot be said loudly or frequently enough, anybody who has a problem with trans people can get fucked.

Artwork by @pigsbliss on twitter its a very unusual art piece of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully from the tv show the X files xfiles it features both agents standing at someone's doorway she is holding her fbi badge and he has his hands in his pockets their eyes are unusually placed its amazing art

If it's not pushed back on now at the very least we will have a two-tier publishing environment, where established authors get the human infrastructure and the newer/less prominent authors get a substandard experience, and then the surprised publishers will wonder why new authors aren't selling

What an excellent metaphor for the CEOs scrabbling for the benefits of the AI "revolution" and data centre "deals".

Thank you!! We're very greatful 💚 Hope you enjoy the book - its an absolute banger!

Books for the end times, sir? Madame, some books for the horrors? No, no when I said 'end times' sir, I was being hyperbolic, I know its not helpful to be pessimistic. Books for morale, my dear fellow?

A sample piece from Necrosmologies, available here: thebraag.co/product/necr...

Our friends at The Braag continue to publish some of the best weird and speculative writing out there, checking this out is well worth your time