In the third podcast in the series, BOOKNESS talks to poet and artist Stephen Emmerson about his work Translation of Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge, a paperback novel ‘translated’ into mushrooms.
Listen to the episode here.
In transforming, playing, or recomposing books, I’m trying to reconnect with the magic of it.
I kept it on the window sill … and it completely dried out … the preservation was kind of accidental to begin with …
It could be rehydrated again, in theory, but hopefully it’s no longer spore producing for the sake of all the other books in the library…
Useful links and glossary checks in this episode:
- Photos of ‘Endless sleep’, the book made out of a wasps’ nest, can be seen on Stephen’s website and also featured on episode 1 of BOOKNESS.
- ‘A box of ideas’ was featured in the National Poetry Library’s exhibition Poetry Games.
- You can visit the Sensational Books exhibition at the Bodleian’s Weston Library in Oxford until 4th December 2022, and see Translation for yourself (through two layers of protective glass…)