One of the most anticipated debut novels of the year is here, and it just so happens to be written by one of Storysmiths' very favourite author/translators, Polly Barton! A breathless exploration of infatuation and the emotional maelstrom of simply existing while being young, What Am I, A Deer? is already shaping up to be a Storysmith all-timer. Just as well, because we’ll be talking to the author in a very special event to celebrate this amazing book.

Pre-order your copy of What Am I, A Deer? (rrp £14.99) OR the limited Indie Exclusive Edition (RRP £16.99, signed on the cover, special sprayed edges) for a special discounted price with your ticket, then collect on the night!

ABOUT POLLY BARTON
Polly Barton is a writer and Japanese literary translator. Her translations include Butter by Asako Yuzuki, Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda, and There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura. She has published two works of non-fiction, Fifty Sounds, for which she won the 2019 Fitzcarraldo Editions Essay Prize, and Porn: An Oral History. What Am I, A Deer? is her debut novel.
Photo credit: Garry Loughlin

ABOUT WHAT AM I, A DEER?
What does it mean to lose yourself – and is that something you should be aiming for? A young woman with little interest in games takes up a job in Frankfurt at a famous gaming company, naively set on reinvention. On her morning commute, in the familiar clutches of tedium and self-loathing, she encounters a nice-eyed stranger who returns her forgotten umbrella and finds herself catapulted into a dizzying, year-long whirlwind of obsession – not just with this endlessly attractive spectre, but also with the feverish karaoke trips from which she draws the ultimate solace.

With astonishing existential acuity, Polly Barton’s formidable debut novel renders the paradoxes of modern life in all its complexity, in deliriously self-conscious prose that is at once propulsive, titillating and bitingly funny. Echoing with the sounds of Whitney Houston and The Cure, reaching for the sublime in dark, sweaty boxes, What Am I, A Deer? is an exhilarating exploration of authenticity, fantasy, romance and intoxication.

Praise for Porn: An Oral History
‘I found my time with Porn: An Oral History unexpectedly moving. Barton’s candid, generous style as an interlocutor allows her subjects to move fluidly between their sometimes contradictory instincts and intellectual approaches in a way which feels revelatory and totally honest and human. A pleasure to read, and a vital new work for anyone interested in sex and its representation.’
– Megan Nolan, author of Ordinary Human Failings

‘I wasn’t expecting nineteen conversations about porn to make me feel as I felt after reading this book: grateful and hopeful and wide- open. Porn is a generous, intimate commentary on how we relate to one another (or fail to) through the most unlikely of lenses.’
– Saba Sams, author of Send Nudes

‘Porn is a fascinating, timely and humane testament to the value of uninhibited conversation between grown-ups. Its candour and humanity is addictive and involving – I couldn’t help but join in with the pillow talk! Reader, be prepared for your own store of buried secrets, stymied curiosities, submerged fantasies and shadowy memories to shamelessly awaken.’
– Claire-Louise Bennett, author of Pond and Big Kiss, Bye-Bye