september and her secrets

september’s almost over, and what a month she’s been - we’ve been doing lots of different things at once and figured it’s about time that we tell you about them. 

mnemotope issue 006 is a work in progress, and we’re so excited about it! 

this edition feels like glimpses into somewhere else - stories that don’t follow the traditional arc, but recount vivid moments or brief experiences from worlds that may or may not exist. some are strange and eerie (very fitting for october!) and others absurd yet familiar. we received so, so many submissions this time that we were slightly overwhelmed but it’s coming together slowly, and we can’t wait to share it with you.

on that note, we’ve also been working on a very special event to launch issue 006 and celebrate bog bodies press’ first birthday. all of the information on that will be coming out so very soon, but we can already tell you that it’ll be on saturday, october 19th - get your calendars out, write it down, save the date! we’re going to have readings, cake, drinks, music and a special limited edition set of the whole bog bodies catalog. we honestly can’t believe it’s been a whole year of the press already, but somehow equally can’t believe it’s only been a year - let’s say that gives us double the reason to celebrate it properly.

in between all of that, we went to the summit of the europe challenge in amsterdam, called ‘if librarians ran europe’. 

we were blown away by the incredible initiatives that libraries and librarians around europe have started within, with and for their local communities. from organising free financial literacy classes to language lessons for refugees, to hosting dinners for people who feel isolated, libraries are truly the most valuable community spaces that we have and we were so inspired by all that they do. 

someday, we hope to have a space that straddles culture and community the way these libraries do - in the meantime, we’ll keep learning from them, and working with them, and telling everyone we meet how vital they are.

between the end of the summit and the drinks party afterward, we had an hour or two to roam free in amsterdam. at this point we had worked up a fairly strong appetite and went to roopram roti on van woutstraat where we had the best meal we’d eaten in a long time. we ordered two samosas, a chicken roti wrap, a chicken roti plate to share between us, and as soon as it hit the table we fell dead silent - for the next fifteen minutes, we barely spoke other than to repeat to one another how brilliant the food was. the portions were huge, but no match for us. we’ll be back as soon as physically possible.

in other (exciting!) news, we’ve been getting work underway for two new books to come out next spring! they’re both in collaboration with fascinating, madly talented writers and illustrators and artists and organisers, and every time we talk about them we get a little bit delirious in the best way possible. the first sneak peeks will be coming soon - keep your eyes peeled!

we’re also exhibiting at dutch design week this year, bringing the work of our mnemotope contributors to an audience of up to 50,000 people at the dae graduation show. we want to do you all justice, and so are fine-tuning the installation to have it showcase the magazines in the best way we can. hopefully we’ll see some of you there in october!

september has been, as you can probably tell, absolute chaos. very good chaos, though. and there’s so much more to come!

watch out october

bisou!

lilou & réi