Ben Pester
@benpester.bsky.social
Novel The Expansion Project (2025). Story collections Sail Away Land (2026) Am I in the Right Place(2021). Other work in Granta, London Magazine, Hotel etc
Listened to the podcast yesterday and it was great. Enjoyed alongside @benpester.bsky.social's latest collection 'Sail Away Land' which was everything I wanted and more
LRB Bookshop@londonreviewbookshop.co.uk · 4w agoIf you enjoyed our most recent podcast, you can still get a copy of the book in question, MAGIC & MECHANICS: 6 phenomenal stories by 6 of our greatest authors followed by 6 interviews delving into their writing process. www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/stock/magic-...
NEW PODCAST 🎧: In an audacious new take on the campus novel Luke Kennard’s protagonist, a penniless out-of-work actor, takes on a job unlike any other. He is hired to sit silently at the back of a lecture hall, concealed within a black bag. Listen here: www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/podcasts-vid...
Luke Kennard and Will Eaves: Black Bag | London Review Bookshop
Luke Kennard talks about his novel, Black Bag, with Will Eaves for the London Review Bookshop Podcast
londonreviewbookshop.co.uk
NEW PODCAST: In MAGIC AND MECHANICS, the latest in @scratchbooks.bsky.social ‘Reverse Engineering’ series, six writers present and disassemble one of their recent short stories. To celebrate its launch, Claire-Louise Bennett was in conversation with Ben Pester. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/c...
Jo Lloyd on the radio. This is a great thing
Jo Lloyd but jolly 🌍🐎@jolloyds.bsky.social · last mo.I have a story in Radio 4's new Once Upon a Time series - a week of reimagined fairytales in the Book at Bedtime slot Lineup includes Katherine Rundell, Ben Okri, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, and David Almond (I KNOW!!!) My story "Kakapos" is on 30 June and then on catchup www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Another wonderful ‘book instead of a birthday card’ delivered to a friend by the superb @bertsbooks.bsky.social 💜💜 #TheExpansionProject by @benpester.bsky.social 👏📚👏 #books #booksky
I love @nickharkaway.com ’s Smiley - incredibly happy to see this one coming soon.
Nick Harkaway@nickharkaway.com · 2mo ago3.
This is a special book - I’m really looking forward to talking to the man himself at Blackwells in Oxford on Monday 15th June www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/m-john-har... (With apologies to booksellers for crossing streams here but honestly The End of Everything rightly transcends all that)
M. John Harrison THE END OF EVERYTHING with Ben Pester
Cult author M. John Harrison will join us for an exclusive event at Blackwell's as he discusses his latest novel, 'The End of Everything'
eventbrite.co.uk
Serpent's Tail@serpents-tail.bsky.social · 2mo agoOnly one week to go until #TheEndOfEverything hits shelves! Here's M. John Harrison to tell you more about his haunting dystopia, set on the English coast (watch until the end for an outtake!) 🪼 Pre-order the Foyles special edition while stock lasts: www.foyles.co.uk/book/the-end...
Love this little review from Marie Claire!
Jason Arthur@jasonarthur.bsky.social · 2mo ago‘A treat…Brilliantly weird, beautifully written tales that, while surreal, are anchored in such vivid, humane prose they feel all too plausibly everyday’ Sail Away Land by @benpester.bsky.social in Marie Claire's summer read picks. www.marieclaire.co.uk/entertainmen...
'What differentiates @benpester.bsky.social from other satirical, postmodernist writers…is his interest in the mechanics of these strange situations. Even as he conjures increasingly outlandish scenes, Pester remains rooted in the patterns of our everyday lives' Financial Times Sail Away Land
The new season of Literature Live continues on #resonancefm this Monday 8 June broadcasting live at 8:00pm for readings and chat with my brilliant author guests this time: Susan Finlay and Ben Pester — don’t miss! pieceofpaperpress.com/literature-l...
Ah love being on the radio - this will be great!
Tony White@tonywhite.bsky.social · 2mo agoThe new season of Literature Live continues on #resonancefm this Monday 8 June broadcasting live at 8:00pm for readings and chat with my brilliant author guests this time: Susan Finlay and Ben Pester — don’t miss! pieceofpaperpress.com/literature-l...
Cannot wait for this event with Keith Ridgway - who has written multiple books that have given me new ways to think about writing and what fiction is basically for. Dooneen is one of the best books I’m a year of incredible books. I think about it a lot.
First reviews for @benpester.bsky.social's Sail Away Land (published this week). ‘Weirdness and wonder jostle his protagonists…These unsettling stories...vibrate with the low hum of an anxiety dream’ Daily Mail ‘Strange, funny and disorientating’ i-news
Cannot wait - come along. As a huge fan of Keith Ridgway I will definitely be there
So happy to have these two in my house. Both out on 4th June New stories - Sail Away Land new paperback - The Expansion Project. Thank you @grantabooks.bsky.social @jasonarthur.bsky.social
‘We’re slashing your courses and sacking lecturers and support staff’
Tonight! Join Juliano Zaffino in conversation with Ben Pester to launch The Steps at Burley Fischer! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/juliano-za...
Juliano Zaffino: The Steps (London Launch)
Join Juliano Zaffino, in conversation with Ben Pester, to launch his debut novel at Burley Fisher Books.
eventbrite.co.uk
Enjoyed @benpester.bsky.social The Expansion Project - it starts out as a father taking his daughter to work, daughter going missing novel and then becomes something much stranger; a workplace Unconsoled & in its fractured narrative, pieced together, it reminded me also of Olga Ravn’s Employees.
This was a great night thanks so much @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk
LRB Bookshop@londonreviewbookshop.co.uk · 4mo agoA full house at the shop this evening to hear Claire-Louise Bennett and Ben Pester discussing MAGIC & MECHANICS, just out from @scratchbooks.bsky.social ,with the book's editor Tom Conaghan www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/stock/magic-...
The strangeness of the ordinary and the ordinariness of the strange is the world of Ben Pester’s forthcoming collection ’Sail Away Land’. Told with a singular, uncanny apprehension and density of feeling these stories are superbly unsettling and compelling. Published June @grantabooks.bsky.social.
I am an author. My moral issue with AI is that it's destroying the planet. My specific moral issue with the extraction of my works by Anthropic is that LLMs trained on my words are being used in so-called autonomous weapons.
Jen Benka@jenbenka.bsky.social · 5mo ago"For authors, this is not just a technology, it’s a moral issue. Authors feel their work has been stolen." —Seth Fishman www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/b...
Last few days to stream this talk for FREE with the brilliant Ben Pester via Fane's website. Book via the link below: www.fane.co.uk/ben-pester
Dr Hannah Hutchings-Georgiou@hannahhg.bsky.social · 6mo agoI'll be talking with the extraordinary author Ben Pester (@benpester.bsky.social) whose superb novel The Expansion Project (pub. @grantabooks.bsky.social) lives up to its name, expanding time, space & selfhood in all directions. Book & stream for free from 23 Feb-9 March: www.fane.co.uk/ben-pester
'THE BOOK I'M CURRENTLY READING: Sail Away Land by @benpester.bsky.social. It’s weird and soulful. I love ending my days with it.' Come June, you too can end your days with these fabulous stories! www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
Saba Sams: ‘I’ve no interest in reading Wuthering Heights again’
The Send Nudes author on rereading Lorrie Moore, finding Dodie Smith at the right time, and the enduring brilliance of Muriel Spark
theguardian.com
Behold! The February reading round-up I was trying to publish for most of Sunday 😁 https://www.draliceviolett.com/what-i-read-in-february-2026 #bookstodon #BookMastodon
The amazing Jo Lloyd here with quality radio broadcasting
Jo Lloyd but jolly 🌍🐎@jolloyds.bsky.social · 7mo agoI have a new story on BBC Radio 4 - Friday 23 Jan - and then on catchup Elevator pitch - a comedy about love, entropy and a ceremonial badger I’d love for you to give it a listen www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
This is (literally) a fabulous story—a wry, sweet, comic tale of an Arthurian quest where the quarry proves elusive, time passes and life happens elsewhere. Also your socks get wet (spoiler, sorry). Tone & word perfect. Find it on BBC Sounds. Recommended.
Jo Lloyd but jolly 🌍🐎@jolloyds.bsky.social · 7mo agoI have a new story on BBC Radio 4 - Friday 23 Jan - and then on catchup Elevator pitch - a comedy about love, entropy and a ceremonial badger I’d love for you to give it a listen www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Had such an amazing time talking to @hannahhg.bsky.social - I really hope you get a chance to listen
Dr Hannah Hutchings-Georgiou@hannahhg.bsky.social · 6mo agoI'll be talking with the extraordinary author Ben Pester (@benpester.bsky.social) whose superb novel The Expansion Project (pub. @grantabooks.bsky.social) lives up to its name, expanding time, space & selfhood in all directions. Book & stream for free from 23 Feb-9 March: www.fane.co.uk/ben-pester
This was so great! Absolutely loved talking to and writing with this thoughtful and welcoming group of writers. it was a privilege
Dr Emma K Pey@ekpey.bsky.social · 6mo agoThank you so much to our guest author @benpester.bsky.social for visiting us at Colchester WriteNight this week! Such a fascinating interview about writing, short fiction and his extraordinary debut novel #TheExpansionProject Thank you everyone who came, joined in the Big Interview & wrote with us.
