Jörg Bernig

New to the UK Chapbook chart and straight into the Number 1 slot is Jörg Bernig with flower angel ship. A chapbook of selected poems (several previously unpublished) by prize-winning novelist and poet Bernig, from Saxony in Germany, with translations into English by Tom Cheesman and participants in a translation workshop at Swansea University. Initial print run supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). All proceeds to Swansea Bay Asylum Seekers Support Group: http://www.swanseabassgroup.org

Jörg Bernig, from Radebeul near Dresden, worked in Edinburgh and Swansea in the early 1990s, just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Before that he was a uranium miner in East Germany and also served in the East German army. He studied English and German literature at Leipzig and Berlin. Since 1998 he has published several volumes of poetry, short stories and three novels. He has been awarded several prestigious prizes for his literary work, including a Hölderlin Prize, a Lessing Prize and an Eichendorff Prize. His work has been translated into Rumanian, Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Italian, Czech and now for the first time also English.

New entries into the UK chapbook top ten are flower angel ship by Jörg Bernig at No.1, Christina’s Moon by Jill Hedges at No.9, and Chapbook 2011 by Gary Maxwell at No.10.

The No.1 Publisher crown is shared between three houses, Pluto Press, Hollyridge Press and Sampson Low, all have 2 entries in the top ten.

Oscar Wilde is the leading author with 2 publications in the top ten.

TOP TEN UK CHAPBOOKS

1 (-) flower angel ship – Jörg Bernig (Hafan Books, 1 Nov. 2013)

2 (2) On The Kitchen Table From Which Everything Has Been Hastily Removed – Olena Kalytiak Davis (Hollyridge Press, 1 July 2009)

3 (4) Poems for Political Disaster – Timothy Donnelly, Bk Fischer, Stefania Heim and Matt Lord (Boston Review, 20 Jan. 2017)      

4 (5) Ballad of Reading Gaol – Oscar Wilde (Pluto Press, 29 Jun 1978)

5 (6) Soul of Man Under Socialism – Oscar Wilde (Pluto Press, 1 Jan 1987)

6 (3) Hard Rain – Tony Hoagland (Hollyridge Press, 20 Oct. 2005)

7 (7) Over The Skin – Carole Bulewski  (Sampson Low Ltd, 17 Nov 2015)

8 (10) The Dead Spaces – April Pitts (Amazon Media EU S.à r.l., No Date)

9 (-) Christina’s Moon – Jill Hedges (Sampson Low Ltd, 21 Feb. 2017)

10 (-) Chapbook 2011 – Gary Maxwell (Kindle, 7 Aug 2015)