Christiana Spens
@ChristianaSpens
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Author of The Fear (2023), The Portrayal & Punishment of Terrorists @palmacpolitics , Shooting Hipsters (2016). Writing in @prospect_uk @NewStatesman @lithub etc
London
Joined July 2012
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@yasssacre
@kycarrerolopez
I think they should merge Emily in Paris with You so she can meet Joe when he’s on the run there and that’s how they end both shows. 🥖🔪💔
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“Would I live my life over again? Make the same unforgiveable mistakes? Yes, given half a chance. Yes.” — Raymond Carver
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Out next month! My book on existential crises, motherhood, art and love — many years in the making 💌
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I'm very happy to announce that
@RepeaterBooks
will publish my next book, THE FEAR, exploring subjects ranging from gaslighting to terrorism, and scapegoating to psychoanalysis. It will feature new artwork that I can't wait to get started on! Thank you Tariq & team 🙌
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This book on philosophy, heartbreak, art & motherhood has taken so many years to write, so it's a huge relief to announce it will be out in March 2023. Thank you to everyone who has supported me, especially the team
@RepeaterBooks
🖤
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In my debut for
@NewStatesman
I wrote about my hard feelings for Simple Passion — and how Ernaux’s work led to a reckoning with shame, desire, secrecy and repression. Thank you
@Will___lloyd
for commissioning and your patience!
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My book is out today! Thank you so much everyone who has supported me along the way, especially the
@Soc_of_Authors
,
@RepeaterBooks
, and those who read early copies and were so encouraging —
@Jenni_Fagan
@RobDoyle1
@Lilydunnwriter
@sammillsauthor
🖤
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Liza was a classmate of mine when I was an exchange student at high school in Memphis. She was the kindest, sweetest girl and this whole thing is just heartbreaking. Thinking of her family & friends who loved her so much. She was just going for a run. It’s senseless & too cruel.
Liza Fletcher has been found deceased. Her two young boys will never see their mother again. Tragic and senseless.
Rest In Peace beautiful. You will be missed by many.
#ElizaFletcher
🤍🕊
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cc
@oniropolis
Neglected Utopia: Photographer explores the forgotten modernist estates of Paris via
@CreativeBoomMag
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"For Hannah Arendt, totalitarianism is rooted in loneliness" – via
@aeonmag
by
@Samantharhill
Reminds me of Erich Fromm's 'Fear of Freedom' as well
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Neglected Utopia: Photographer explores the forgotten modernist estates of Paris cc:
@oniropolis
via
@Creative_Boom
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Yesterday I found out that my ancestor, Harry Spens, wrote the first English trans. of Plato's Republic (in 1763)! So amazed 💫💫💫
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Look what just arrived!!! 😍 It was such an honour to illustrate the cover for the first English translation of The Strudlhof Steps by Heimito Von Doderer, trans. Vincent Kling for
@nyrbclassics
– I can’t wait to read the final edit! ❤️
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Proofs of the
@RepeaterBooks
Book of the Occult, which I illustrated & wrote an essay for, arrived today! ☺️ can’t wait to read all the stories & essays. Out in the new year 🖤
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"Thank you Art for always loving me. I will never leave you."—Tracey Emin, yesterday, writing about painting after severe illness.
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For 9 and a half years Tariq has been my editor, publisher and then boss
@RepeaterBooks
; it’s been a time of such adventure, creativity and resistance. Thank you Tariq for everything ❤️
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The beautiful new edition of
@TheLondonMag
arrived! Featuring my essay, Reading the Pain of Others.
Thank you Jamie Cameron for your great editing 💙
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Very happy to be included in the next issue of
@TheLondonMag
with a long essay, "Reading The Pain of Others", featuring the work of Susan Sontag, Marianne Brooker, Tom de Freston, Lauren Slater, Sloane Crossley, Blake Butler &
@keirangoddard1
.
Pre-order our June/July 2024 issue NOW ☀
Cover image by Sarah Needham
Order here:
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Excited to launch The Repeater Book of the Occult tomorrow, with an essay and illustrations by me 🖤 and lots of fascinating stories & ideas by
@RepeaterBooks
authors ⛓🌝🐾
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@DrPragyaAgarwal
Also I get sick of people comparing birth stories, not always needing pain relief etc - some labours are harder than others for one thing, some babies are bigger, or in the wrong position. Women have different needs & need choices.
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I'm so very excited and honoured to be involved in this artistic intervention at The Freud Museum in London on November 24. I will be drawing on the landing where Sigmund Freud & Anna Freud would smoke and chat! It'll be a very special night (more soon).
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I finished this painting a year ago - never knew I could be so nostalgic for a date in the pub (or real Guinness) 🖤☘️😢
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The latest issue of
@TheLondonMag
is out now, featuring my artwork on the cover, as well as my profile of the revolutionary feminist artist Caroline Coon (who was a joy to meet!) To order an issue, follow this link...
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I’m so happy to announce that my exhibition LIVED IN BARS will open at the Stash Gallery at Vout-O-Reenee’s on June 17th, celebrating what we love and briefly lost! You can read more about it and RSVP for the private view here:
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My son (6) has decided he’s supporting Finland in the Euros “because of the Moomins” 😭😭😭
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My copy of
@TheLondonMag
arrived! Featuring “Love Is Copy” — my review of Love Me Tender by Constance Debré, Couplets by Maggie Millner & Your Love Is Not Good by Johanna Hedva
@andothertweets
@FaberBooks
@serpentstail
💗🌱💅🏻
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Honoured to having written a personal essay, Inheritance, on suicide, inter generational trauma and printmaking, for this amazing anthology feat David Lynch,
@marinab52
& others. And so happy my illustration made the cover! Thank you
@sammillsauthor
&
@TheWorkshyFop
xx
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Excited to say that the first English translation of The Strudlhof Steps by Heimito von Doderer (trans.Vincent Kling), published by
@nyrbclassics
& with cover art by me—is now available for pre-order in the UK!
The perfect holiday read & gift!
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Thank you to
@RepeaterBooks
& The Stash Gallery / Vout-O-Reenee’s — I feel so lucky to have had my book launched and exhibition on in the same few weeks & I’m so grateful for all the support ❤️ thank you especially Sophie ❤️ & Katie for our discussion about art & writing ❤️
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“We avoid dwelling on the thing that caused the feeling of shame, but writing, in confronting shame, is a means of freeing ourselves from it.”
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@clhubes
@kpitessential
Happened to me to… to this day I don’t wear my hair up because I got so conditioned against it during the infant / toddler years!
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I wrote about novels, memoirs and other books to read when you're not drinking, for
@lithub
—
"If only we could remember each other, before we are gone, though—look out for each other, before we are gone. That is one kind of love, and it’s at least one to start the year on."
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Thanks so much
@TheLondonMag
for featuring my painting on the cover! Can’t wait to read x
🟢 COVER REVEAL 🟢
April - May 2023 is now AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER ➡️ 🎉
Cover Image:
@ChristianaSpens
, Harvest Moon, 2023, oil on linen, 40 x 50cm
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I’m so moved by this incredible review by
@andrewgallix
— thank you so much
The Fear: Christiana Spens writes herself back to life - and it is a joy to behold via
@IrishTimesBooks
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Excited to see my screen print on the cover of The London Magazine! ❤️
🍷 COVER REVEAL: August/September 2021
Preorder at the link below:
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"He took off a sweater that was hung over his shoulders and dove in. He had a simple contempt for men who did not hurl themselves into pools. He swam a choppy crawl, breathing either with every other stroke or every fourth stroke..." John Cleever, 1964.
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I’m now re-reading this incredible new novel, Luckenbooth, by
@Jenni_Fagan
- it’s so beautifully subversive, dark and unique, capturing Edinburgh’s twisted soul perfectly. My (little) review will be up on
@IrishTimesBooks
soon as well 🥂🙌🥂
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I wrote about my father's death, the photography of Robert Mapplethorpe, and drawing funeral flowers, for
@TheFLReview
, which is published today. Thank you so much
@Jake_Wolff
for editing. You can read the essay here:
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"Our Father Issues: A Reading List of Spiritual Disillusionment"
— My essay for
@lithub
featuring Patti Smith,
@Lilydunnwriter
@ali_l_millar
@mattrowlandhill
, bell hooks & Audre Lorde
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It still really gets to me that some of the most ruthless, heartless, misogynistic women I’ve ever had the misfortune of encountering go &make a career out of pretending to advocate for women. Maybe it’s deflection, maybe it’s self-deflection, but it seems purely Machiavellian.
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Still amazed by how little coverage there has been on the particular challenges the pandemic has thrown at single parents this past year - I’ve pitched loads of articles about it and had no commissions. Just depressing that such a large group is rendered invisible.
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My illustration of Dostoevsky // my 6 yr old son’s version 😭🖤 (I think he captured him way more accurately tbh)
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Out so soon! Proud to be sharing such excellent company with an essay, ‘Inheritance’ on inter-generational trauma, photography & print-making, & to have produced the cover art 💅🏻
Printed copies of Trauma have just been delivered! Out from Dodo Ink on 21/1...
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A couple of beautiful March hares leapt out in front of me today ✨🌿✨
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“Sickeningly lucid…” but “it isn’t a depressing book”!
I aim to please 🙏 thank you Brixton Review of Books 🖤
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Repeater author
@graceblakeley
speaking about the links between Russian wealth and London on LBC today (cc.
@RepeaterBooks
)
Economist
@graceblakeley
: 'There are about 500 oligarchs surrounding Vladimir Putin who collectively have about the same wealth as the rest of the Russian population combined. Much of that wealth is stashed in London.'
@IainDale
|
#CrossQuestion
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Just proofread my entire PhD thesis today, time for 🍸🍸🍸
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The Fear is off to print! And I feel so relieved!🙏 The image is a little painting I did called Awakening, and the cover was beautifully designed by Karen Smith at Watkins. There are also illustrations within... Out in March! Thank you to all those who gave their support 💕
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Copies of Dawn of the Algorithm by
@AnOminous
@Inkshares
arrived - beautiful! So happy to be involved!
#illustration
http://t.co/Rh14fWdzqU
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First day out of London in almost a year and I never want to go back! 🙃 Missed the sea so so much 💙
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Thrilled to announce that
@Palgrave_
will be publishing my book 'The Portrayal and Punishment of Terrorists in Western Media' (or, 'Playing the Villain') in 2019! 🔫💣💥
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Submitted my PhD thesis today! And I was lucky enough to meet Cynthia Enloe as I did so! Many thanks to all who have helped me get this far.
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I finished a full draft of my book THE FEAR today, after one of the most harrowing, disillusioning but also heartening months of my life.. Sometimes the life/art relationship works in such a strange way! I hope to write something altogether more relaxed and positive next time :)
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My email just tried to autocorrect my chapter title "In Love and War" to "In Love and Warmest Regards".
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Living in London is almost worth it for the feeling of pure joy and freedom you get whenever you leave it
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I just received my copy of this beautiful anthology on art & mental health, Trauma (
@DodoInk
). My essay, Inheritance, explores how I came to terms with the tragic death and legacy of my grandmother through printmaking, whilst working at the
@DCAdundee
print studio in 2018.
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Glad to see the latest
@TheLondonMag
(feat. my cover) has reached Ireland now too 💚
Finally, after making its way, very slowly, through the sorting offices of the UK and Ireland, I have a copy of
@TheLondonMag
For various reasons, it is a particular thrill and a sort of "that can't be right" feeling to see my name on the back.
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It was great to talk with Tom McMullan and the
@CityLitWriting
dept about The Fear, writing practice and future ideas last night at Late Lines — thanks for having me!
@citylit
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It was such an honour to create the artwork for this brilliant Viennese novel, The Strudlhof Steps by Heimito von Doderer, which will be translated from the German for the first time by Vincent Kling, & published later this year by
@nyrbclassics
.
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My son says he wants a Capricorn themed party for his 7th birthday, where everyone has to dress up as a goat, in January and really I only have myself to blame.
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Some new drawings - Dancer Lena in Berlin (via zoom life drawing) & one of me and my shadow
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My essay on trauma, aesthetic distance & Anna Karenina for
@aeonmag
Not too distant and not to close: how rituals help us process trauma, and why watching Anna Karenina helped heal my father by
@ChristianaSpens
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"Art Monsters tenderly reveals all manner of rebellions and deconstructions..." — My review of
@LaurenElkin
's wonderful ART MONSTERS for
@studiolatest
(
@ChattoBooks
)
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Some paintings from my exhibition, Someone Borrowed, Someone Blue — which opens at Vout-O-Reenee's in Aldgate on February 23rd. Lmk if you want to come!
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"For such a cerebral book, it is also tender and humane; Spens counterbalances her intellectual considerations with moments of stark honesty, and it is touching to see her find inner calm toward the end of the book."
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Didn't mention this at the time because I'd signed an NDA, but the day my book came out I went to Lana Del Rey's record company and listened to her new album in a windowless room with some other music journalists, and it really was very special.
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I'm so grateful to be included in The Irish Times "Best books to look forward to in 2023" for The Fear, which is out in March! An honour to be listed amongst such great company.
@IrishTimes
@IrishTimesCultr
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I am so happy to announce that
@Soc_of_Authors
have awarded me a grant to finish my next book, The Fear, which I am extremely grateful for! Thank you so, so much
#SoAGrants
🙏😅❤️
Happy Wednesday everyone - we've just shared £184,750 with 55 authors to support their works in progress - including writer and poet
@LouisaAdjoa
, poet
@leoboix
, and biographer Rachel Trethewey.
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“The artist... is driven by a kind of instinct, and his work furthers man’s search for what is eternal, transcendent, divine—often in spite of the sinfulness of the artist himself.”—Tarkovsky
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Looking forward to this in July!
Our headliner
@ChristianaSpens
is the author of The Fear (2023), The Portrayal and Punishment of Terrorists in Western Media: Playing the Villain (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) and Shooting Hipsters (Repeater, 2016).
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I can’t recommend this beautiful, original and transgressive novel by
@Jenni_Fagan
enough - truly it is a masterpiece 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Huge congratulations,
@Jenni_Fagan
, on the publication of the wonderful LUCKENBOOTH. A very special novel that is spreading its wings today.
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Does anyone else feel weirdly happy and clear minded when they’re (moderately) hungover?
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Just found The Socialite Manifesto, a graphic novel I did when I was 20 - reminiscing!
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I have an essay in the summer issue of Juno about drawing my son as a new mother — you can buy it here — which includes the full essay & more illustrations ✍️
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My books just arrived! Thank you
@RepeaterBooks
for doing such a great job, can't wait till the April launch 🎉🍹😘
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