On The Bus Without A Phone by Babak Ganjei.
Book tickets
We’re excited to announce the next event in the New Canons series: an evening celebrating boundary-pushing, stylistically diverse new writing. The evening will feature readings and conversation with a brilliant line-up of authors and their publishers, as we gather to celebrate a new collection of books.
Featuring readings from:
Colin Bramwell
Claire Carroll
Babak Ganjei
Hannah Levene
D Mortimer
Holly Pester
Aea Varfis-van Warmelo
& the winner of the 2026 Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize (announced September)
Including work from:
And Other Stories
Scratch Press
Rough Trade Books
Cipher Press
Sticky Fingers Publishing
Fitzcarraldo Editions
Peninsula Press
Brick Lane Bookshop Press
Hosted by Kate Ellis
& Robert Loyko-Greer
Featuring readings from:
Colin Bramwell
Claire Carroll
Babak Ganjei
Hannah Levene
D Mortimer
Holly Pester
Aea Varfis-van Warmelo
& the winner of the 2026 Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize (announced September)
Including work from:
And Other Stories
Scratch Press
Rough Trade Books
Cipher Press
Sticky Fingers Publishing
Fitzcarraldo Editions
Peninsula Press
Brick Lane Bookshop Press
Hosted by Kate Ellis
& Robert Loyko-Greer
Bio
Colin Bramwell was born in Ayrshire, grew up in Fortrose on the Black Isle and lives in Edinburgh. His poetry and criticism has appeared in Poetry Review, Irish Pages, London Magazine, PN Review, Magma, New Statesman, New Writing Scotland, Interpret, The Observer, Poetry London, Poetry Ireland Review and The Scotsman, as well as in his pamphlet The Highland Citizenship Test. He was the runner-up for the 2020 Edwin Morgan Prize. His translations of Taiwanese poets won the John Dryden Translation Competition and the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize. Fower Pessoas, his rendition of Fernando Pessoa into Scots, was published by Carcanet in 2025 and was shortlisted for both Scots Book of the Year and the Highland Book Prize, as well as winning the 2026 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize.
Claire Carroll writes about the intersection of nature, technology, and desire. Her writing has been published in The Stinging Fly, The London Magazine, The White Review, Prototype and Best of British Short Stories. Her debut collection of short stories, ‘The Unreliable Nature Writer’, was released in 2024 with Scratch Books.
Babak Ganjei is an artist, musician and writer. For twelve years he hosted the show Hot Mess on NTS with his son. He has written and performed in the short films Waiting For Potato and Freelancer (Blink Productions). He once had a meeting with Netflix. In 2006, his band supported Silver Jews, and he didn’t pluck up the courage to speak to David Berman, but did watch him lift an amp into the van when loading out. He sent his first email from the Central Saint Martins library in 2001 and vowed the internet would never take off, and has been playing catch-up ever since. After a four-year struggle, he finally sold a set of twigs on eBay for £82 in 2018. In 2024, he had his first major solo exhibition at The Bluecoat in Liverpool, Thanks For Having Me. Since then nobody has asked him to do any shows, and so he has turned his hand to writing. On the Bus Without a Phone is his debut novel.
Hannah Levene is the author of Greasepaint (Nightboat Books, 2024). She has a PhD in Writing exploring the composition of new butch literature. She is currently working on a collaborative novel with D Mortimer titled Abraham’s Bosom. A Pizza Hut, a Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and a Pizza Hut is her second novel.
D Mortimer is the author of Last Night a Beef Jerk Saved My Life (Pilot Press, 2021). Speed Glum Hero (Sticky Fingers Publishing, 2024) is his second publication. They were a Techne scholar in creative writing at The University of Roehampton, where they completed their PhD in Autumn 2024. Recent publications include Scapegrace (2025), commissioned as part of Deep Time, a project on interdependency, for 41st Eva International. He lives in London and is currently working on his first novel.
Holly Pester is a writer and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre, University of Essex. Her books and works include Ecloques for Idle Workers (BBC Radio and Distance No Object, 2018), Comic Timing (Granta, 2021), which was shortlisted for the Forward Prize, and The Lodgers (Granta, 2024).
AEA VARFIS-VAN WARMELO is a writer and poet, and an editor at Granta magazine. Her debut poetry pamphlet Intellectual Property was published by Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art (2024). Attention-Seeking Behaviour is her first book.
Book tickets
Wed, 23 Sep 2026
Cinema 1
06:30 pm
Ticket information
- All tickets that do not require ID (full price, disabled, income support) can be printed at home or stored in email
- For aged-based concession tickets (under 25, student) please bring relevant ID to collect at the front desk before the event.
Access information
Cinema 1
- Both our Cinemas have step free access from The Mall and are accessible by ramp
- We have 1 wheelchair allocated space with a seat for a companion
- All seats are hard back, have a crushed velvet feel and they do not recline
- These are our seat size dimensions: W 42 x D 45 x H 52
- Arm rest either side of the seat dimensions: L 27 x W 7 x H 20
for the following requirements:
- We have unassigned seating. If you require a specific seat, please reserve this in advance
- Free for visitors where ticket prices are a barrier, please email
Members+ and all Patrons gain free entry to all cinema screenings, exhibitions, talks, and more.
Join today as a Member+ for £25/month.
Fetch by Colin Bramwell.
SPEED GLUM HERO by D Mortimer.
A Pizza Hut, A Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut by Hannah Levene.
