Robert Welbourn’s Shelfie
The books that mean most to me on this shelf, as you can imagine, are my own. I love being able to glance over and see my own publications looking back at me; writing and publishing can be stressful, they're a great reminder when I'm down in the dumps and it all feels futile that it isn't, it's worth it.
Detransition, Baby and Stag Dance also hold a dear place in my heart. I'm lucky enough to have corresponded with Torrey Peters and have met her; not only is she a wonderful person she's a fantastically talented writer, and while she writes mainly about trans people her writing is applicable to all of us because ultimately, she writes about what it is to be human. I always say of Torrey's writing, I've never read anyone else who can make the tragic so funny, and the funny so tragic.
The High Fidelity you can see is a first edition - I have two copies of it, an everyday paperback and this first edition hardback, which sits on this special shelf. I adore this book; I spent my teenage years absorbed in music, going to as many gigs as possible, seeing as many bands as possible - from worldwide, household names to the back of a pub with three other people in attendance. Reading this book changed me - it was the first time I saw this combination of music and literature on the page, and I've been obsessed ever since.
In case you're interested - the eye staring at you from the image belongs to Bret Easton Ellis. Not included (fully) in the picture is my signed, framed photograph of Glamorama, one of my all time favourite books. It doesn't make the shelf because he has his own shelf elsewhere in my study - I have enough copies of his books (three of Glamorama, for instance) that he requires his own shelf.
Robert Welbourn is the author of four novels, most recently his first horror, The Ones We Fear, all published by SRL Publishing. He writes to help him understand the world around him, particularly the people who he shares the planet with. When not writing fiction he can be found working for Bradford Literature Festival, reading, watching horror or annoying his dog Nellie and being annoyed by his cat Sylvia Plath-Jones. He has both a BA and MA in English Literature and lives in Leeds, UK.
Shelfies is edited by Lavie Tidhar and Jared Shurin.
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