mapping a life
August 2026
And there we go again . . . another issue of Gutter is out in the world. What a wonderful feeling that is!
We’ve already had our first launch event, in Portobello Bookshop last week, and there’s another one tomorrow (12th August), in Glasgow. It’s at Alchemy Experiment, and will feature writing by Cheryl Follon, Sam Tongue, Chisom Okoronkwo and Sophia Archontis. Please do come along: you can find all the details here.
Those of you who are subscribers will have already received your copies of the magazine (and if you’re not, you can buy a copy here or at your local bookshop). If you’re a Friend or Patron, you should also have received your stunning print, created by Ryan Vance, using a line from one of the stories in this issue, written by Anthony Shapland. Like so . .
(And if you’d like a copy of this print, do sign up as a Friend, either here on Substack or on our website.)
Over on the site, there’s a lot to see. You can read the editorial for Issue #34, which gives you a great introduction to the magazine’s content. You can also read our interview with Gabriella Bennett, author of the newly published How to Build a City. Gabriella spoke to our Prose Reviews Editor Rebecca Smith, about architecture, childhood, digital cities, and other fascinating subjects. Their conversation is well worth reading.
Our Book of the Month is Shorelines, by Alycia Pirmohamed, which is out now from Canongate. Reviewer Frances Cannon describes it as ‘a poet’s memoir, an experimental approach to mapping a life on the page.’
‘The book’s three sections,’ writes Frances, ‘move from narrative solidity into increasingly fluid, experimental forms. Even the first section begins with the unique positioning of two parallel narratives, representing Pirmohamed’s memories from two distinct regions: the Indian Ocean, which she visited with her father as an adult, and a lake in Midwestern Canada, a memory which she can only partially retrieve from the passing of time.’
You can read the full review here.
We also have another review on the website, this one from Issue #34. Scottish publisher Polygon is this year republishing seven books by author Agnes Owens, bringing them to a new generation of readers. Responding to these books, reviewer Roxani Krystalli highlights ‘a key tension in engaging with Owens’s work in the present day’: the tension between ‘the work itself’ and ‘the story of Owens’s own life, from which those words have sprung.’ Roxani writes:
As with many other artists across generations, the concerns of making a living and domesticity were not separate from Owens’s writing, nor were they mere obstacles to it. Those same concerns were also the kindling for creativity, the drivers of plot, anchors of character, and markers of what animates a life.
The full review, ‘A Wee Touch of Goodness’, is here.
And that’s it for this month. Remember though to book your ticket for our special Welsh Writers Showcase in Portobello Bookshop in October. It’ll feature Anthony Shapland, Rhian Elizabeth and Brigid Lowe, and you can attend in person or watch it online. It’s a collaboration between Gutter and the wonderful people at Folding Rock, our Welsh cousin publication. We’d love to see you there.