Fox Season and Other Short Stories
By Agnieszka Dale
Published by Jantar Publishing
Publishing date: 25 October 2017
ISBN 978-0-9933773-1-0
BOOK LAUNCH
A.M. Bakalar and Agnieszka Dale in conversation with Liz Hoggard
Wednesday 25 October, Waterstones Gower Street, London
Agnieszka Dale's characters all want to find greatness, but they realise greatness isn't their thing. But what is? And what is great anyway? In Peek-a-boo, a mother breastfeeds her child via Skype, at work. In Hello Poland, a man reunites with his daughter in a world where democracy has been replaced by user testing. In other short stories, people bow and are bowed to. They feed foxes or go fishing. They kiss the fingers of those they love while counting to ten. Dale writes about being Polish; being outside Poland; being a woman; being visible and invisible; from the East; from the West; from somewhere central. Dale’s world is an intimate kingdom. It’s a happy nation with no distinct nationality, a place where people still try, believe, or just are.
Agnieszka Dale’s impressive debut depicts on a large canvas our current world of chaos. Her sharp, humorous, sensitive and metaphorical style confirms that a new exciting voice has arrived on the scene.
– Xiaolu Guo, nominated for the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction
Dale is between cultures, rooted in one, integrated into another, perfectly placed as observer and participant. She writes with an entrancing blend of distance and intimacy. In this country, she is an immigrant, but one who knows us and our language too well for comfort. Reading her, it feels that someone who has learned to be one of us, now does it better than we do. She knows what makes us laugh, and what makes us laughable.
– Jeremy Hardy, comedian
Agnieszka Dale (née Surażyńska) is a Polish-born London-based author conceived in Chile. Her short stories have been selected for BBC Radio 4, Liars' League London, Tales of the Decongested and The Fine Line Short Story Collection. Her feature articles have been published by Stylist, and her song lyrics performed on BBC Radio 3's In Tune Live from Tate Modern. In 2013, Dale was awarded the Arts Council England TLC Free Reads Award. Her story 'The Afterlife of Trees' was shortlisted for the Carve Magazine Esoteric Short Story Contest and longlisted for the Fish Short Story Prize.