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Ben Pester

@benpester.bsky.social
603 followers 273 following 203 posts

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

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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Escape into the thing you are escaping from and then escape into the thing you are escaping from
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
New purgatory from The mighty @ccrrll.bsky.social brought to life here - love it.
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
A special one this. 💙💙💙
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Short but so sweet - absolutely love this little review of Sail Away Land.
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Jo Lloyd but jolly 🌍🐎 @jolloyds.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
What an unbelievably lovely thing - I had no idea this was happening - the wonderful Adrian Duncan talking about The Earth Thy Great Exchequer Ready Lies on the Library of Lazy Thinking - blown away lazythinking.substack.com/p/adrian-dun...
lazythinking.substack.com
Adrian Duncan on The Earth, Thy Great Exchequer, Ready Lies by Jo Lloyd
Writer and artist Adrian Duncan shares his thoughts on The Earth, Thy Great Exchequer, Ready Lies by Jo Lloyd
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Hey guys - what’s up? just think you should know that this novel will blow your mind. Anticipate it like you’ve never anticipated something before.
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JL Bogenschneider @bourgnetstogner.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
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
Book: 'Sail Away Land' by Ben Pester. Shows a blue sky with a white cloud and lamppost with a number of birds perched stop.
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LRB Bookshop @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk · 08/07/2026
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...
londonreviewbookshop.co.uk
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
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LRB Bookshop @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk · 04/07/2026
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...
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Jo Lloyd on the radio. This is a great thing
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Orla Owen @orlaowenwriting.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
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
Paperback copy of The Expansion Project by Ben Pester.
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
I love @nickharkaway.com ’s Smiley - incredibly happy to see this one coming soon.
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
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)
eventbrite.co.uk
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'
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Love this little review from Marie Claire!
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Jason Arthur @jasonarthur.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
'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
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Tony White @tonywhite.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
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...
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Ah love being on the radio - this will be great!
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
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.
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Me books are out!
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Jason Arthur @jasonarthur.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
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
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Cannot wait - come along. As a huge fan of Keith Ridgway I will definitely be there
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
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
Two paperback books: Sail Away Land and The Expansion Project - both by Ben Pester, photographed on nice dark wooden floorboards.
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Dr Jo Edge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @hagenilda.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
‘We’re slashing your courses and sacking lecturers and support staff’
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Tramp Press @tramppress.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Tonight! Join Juliano Zaffino in conversation with Ben Pester to launch The Steps at Burley Fischer! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/juliano-za...
eventbrite.co.uk
Juliano Zaffino: The Steps (London Launch)
Join Juliano Zaffino, in conversation with Ben Pester, to launch his debut novel at Burley Fisher Books.
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Drew Gummerson @drewgum.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
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.
Cover of book. A perfectly circular yellow sun rises behind a pair of connected office buildings.
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
This was a great night thanks so much @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk
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David Hayden @seventydys.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
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.
Sail Away Land by Ben Pester.
I sat there, in the office, the easiest job I had ever had. I looked at the plant in the corner of the room. I looked at the sad little kettle on the work surface.
I looked at the jar of biscuits that was smeared with crumbs and fat on the inside. I could not speak. My mouth was filled, at that moment, with the flavour of the ink on the postcards that I sent you. And then there was an actual postcard in my mouth, it had somehow been lodged in my stomach somewhere.
June 2026
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So Mayer @suchmayer.northsky.social · 20/03/2026
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.
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Dr Hannah Hutchings-Georgiou @hannahhg.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
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
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Jason Arthur @jasonarthur.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
'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...
theguardian.com
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
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Dr Alice Violett @alicemcalicepants.ohai.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/03/2026
Behold! The February reading round-up I was trying to publish for most of Sunday 😁 www.draliceviolett.com/what-i-read-… #bookstodon #BookMastodon
Book covers of: The Expansion Project by Ben Pester; The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune; Tombstoning by Doug Johnstone; The Silver Wind by Nina Allan; A Line You Have Traced by Roisin Dunnett
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
The amazing Jo Lloyd here with quality radio broadcasting
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Malcolm Dixon @malcolmdixon59.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
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.
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Had such an amazing time talking to @hannahhg.bsky.social - I really hope you get a chance to listen
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
This was so great! Absolutely loved talking to and writing with this thoughtful and welcoming group of writers. it was a privilege
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Some news 😌
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
my Book has a considerably better wardrobe than I do. So happy with the paperback cover!
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Dr Emma K Pey @ekpey.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
@benpester.bsky.social is visiting Colchester WriteNight for The Big Interview about writing, short fiction and his surreal novel, The Expansion Project, shortlisted for The Goldsmith’s Prize and the Nero Prize for Debut Fiction. We’ll all be interviewing/writing together, you’re welcome to join us
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Violence is too often sloppy; it spills over. Misogynists kill a lot of men, racists kill white people, ICE in its attacks on immigrants and anyone who looks like them just killed a white US citizen. When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail; when you're a gun everyone is a target.
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
❤️❤️❤️
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
I'm on my way to a Chanukah event. It should be a celebration but instead our community is once again mourning. I will be thinking of everyone in Australia and those around the world in the Jewish Community who know this fear and loss. We stand with you.
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Sagging Meniscus @saggingmeniscus.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Thanks to @benpester.bsky.social , author of THE EXPANSION PROJECT (Granta 2025), for this reading from @guillermostitch.bsky.social's THE COAST OF EVERYTHING.
youtube.com
Ben Pester Reads From Guillermo Stitch's THE COAST OF EVERYTHING
Thanks to Ben Pester, author of THE EXPANSION PROJECT and AM I IN THE RIGHT PLACE, for reading this excerpt from Guillermo Stitch's THE COAST OF EVERYTHING. ...
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The Author, Séamas O'Reilly @seamas.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
We're watching the wholesale burning of every scrap of dignity afforded to trans people in the UK, their rights, their medical services, their employment, their place within society, their bodily functions. It is a disgrace, and a disgusting stain on the government and media of this country.
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Jason Arthur @jasonarthur.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
So pleased to see @benpester.bsky.social's The Expansion Project has been shortlisted for the Nero Debut Novel Award. Richly deserved.
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The London Magazine @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
After selecting a shortlist of six stories from thousands of entries, we are thrilled to announce Renesha Dhanraj as the winner of The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2025, for her story, ‘Black Cake’. Read more here: thelondonmagazine.org/renesha-dhan...
thelondonmagazine.org
Renesha Dhanraj wins The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2025 - The London Magazine
The judges of The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2025 award first place to Renesha Dhanraj for her story, 'Black Cake'.
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Rónán Hession @ronanhession.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
In honour of the eighteenth of November, here's my recent @irishtimes.com interview with Solvej Balle about seven books on the subject of being stuck in today's date. www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
irishtimes.com
Solvej Balle: ‘I thought that if I started to write this, I would spoil it’
Solvej Balle’s near-40-year project, On the Calculation of Volume, seems both outside time and yet immediately relevant
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Ben Pester @benpester.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Ah wow - really loved reading this review of The Expansion Project. I know these things are not for the author really but you have to say thanks when someone is writing at this level about your work. Incredible. So grateful.
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The London Magazine @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
We are delighted to share the shortlist of six stories for The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2025! Congratulations to all shortlisted writers, and a huge thank you to our judges Gurnaik Johal, Ben Pester and CAA’s Erika Price. Winners will be announced next week.
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Jason Arthur @jasonarthur.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
So pleased to see Nicola Barker's TonyInterruptor ('Strange & clever'), @benpester.bsky.social's The Expansion Project ('That rare thing, unique') & @catherinelacey.bsky.social's The Möbius Book ('Thrilling') included in this 'Greatest Books of 2025' list. www.telegraph.co.uk/books/author...
telegraph.co.uk
The greatest books of 2025
Our critics review hundreds of books a year. Here are their favourites, from fiction and crime to memoir and history
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