Interview with author of ‘Keeping Bedlam at Bay in the Prague Café’

At Hungarian Literature Online there is an interview with Matt Henderson Ellis, whose novel Keeping Bedlam at Bay in the Prague Café was recently published by New Europe Books.

The interview is titled “Prague kind of lends itself to neurosis,” which has instantly become my automated answer to the perpetual “Why did you move to Prague?” questions I still get. In truth, it makes a certain amount of sense, probably more than any other answer I’ve given in the past.

The novel is about a former barista who comes to the now long-gone Prague of the early 90s. Ellis is interviewed by Hungarian writer and journalist Sándor Jászberényi, and talks about his recent US book tour, magic-realism, Pilvax magazine (of which he’s the founder and editor) and ends with a mention of his translations of his interviewer’s short stories, one of which was recently published in B O D Y.

For those of you in Budapest the novel will be launched at Massolit Books & Café on April 19 at 7pm with a reading and a complimentary glass of wine.

A review of the novel is forthcoming on literalab.