Katy Derbyshire

@katyderbyshire

Literary translator from German to English, occasional publisher, Berlin lover, appreciator of wallets on chains. She/her. Photo © Nane Diehl

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Bluesky

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Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· 1d

Ok now I’m ready to send out my story by post. Message me your address if you want one. I bought fun stamps (not pictured). It’s a sweet love story set in the 90s.

My little short story zine, with scissors and glue. The cover shows a groovy laughing hetero couple from the 60s.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· 15d

Welcome to Germany

A display of signs giving instructions and warnings

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· 23d

Make mine an alcohol-free Martini Vibrante and Oleada Fizzy-Blanc spritz…

Two glasses on a table, one containing red wine, the other containing home made non-alcoholic Aperol spritz, baby, with ice and a widget of orange!

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Jun 21

Also, it’s beautiful there and I read Flann O’Brien’s The Dalkey Archive and walked the Vico Road for myself. Presumably much changed since 1964.

A lot of sky with dramatic bluish clouds over a streak of yellow sunset, then reflecting sea, then dark treetops.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· May 29

Here’s me looking scared while reading part of a story.

It’s me, a white woman wearing a navy blue T-shirt and skirt and shoes, holding a page in my sweaty palms and reading in a rather lovely bookshop. People are listening and no one is throwing anything at me.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· May 3

Three rows of piled coins and a few small notes on a brown tabletop. One right hand is holding a beer bottle, another person’s right hand is putting down more coins.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· May 3

A much-graffitied courtyard hung with bunting on a summer evening. Three white men in black suits, photographed from behind, are playing guitar, double bass and (not visible) clarinet, in the midst of a crowd of mostly young white men sitting and standing. If you look closely, you can see the double bassist’s wallet chain.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Mar 9

Someone didn’t want their vulva cake yesterday, I guess.

An abandoned cupcake with labia frosting, on a sad windowsill

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Feb 23

What might have caused this sudden withdrawal of funding?

Screenshot from the website showing two events marked CANCELLED: a night about Palestinian literature and a reading group on Iranian activist Sanaa Azimipour.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Feb 23

Not any more, though. Upcoming events are simply cancelled, as per the website.

On behalf of those Goethe-Instituts worldwide that are no longer able to operate in their host countries, or only to a limited extent, the Goethe-Institut in Exile project, which was launched in October 2022, aims to provide a platform and a space for encounters and dialogue. The aim is to strengthen existing networks and forge new civil society links at an international level. In this way, important regional and global discourses are continued and made visible and audible.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Feb 23

Ironic, huh?

From the website: “In recent years, cultural institutions such as the Goethe-Institut have repeatedly been forced to close or relocate their work. In countries such as Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, Belarus and Sudan, important spaces for international exchange, art, culture, dissent and critical discourse have been lost. Artists and partners with whom the Goethe-Institut has worked for many years have been forced to leave their home countries.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Sep 7

Our NFLB summer literature festival was excellent, if I do say so myself. We had readings from members and guests, a book swap, a hidden exhibition, performance and food. (Our work is advocating for literature and its makers in Berlin: nflb.de)

A group of people photographed from behind. It’s dark and they‘re sitting in short rows, all wearing headphones that glow blue. They’re listening to a poetry reading: you can just see the poet at the front.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Jul 18

Last night of our translation workshop, thx gang.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Jul 7

#SlowPublishing is the bomb! I edited this and am bringing it out with @vqbooks.bsky.social on 10 October and I feel really good about it.

A book with a modern-day shipwreck on the cover. It’s Ivana Sajko’s EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE, tr. Mima Simić, held up against a photo of a stormy sea with a lifeboat. A caption says: Our 2025 title comes out 10 October, and a circle in one corner says: More Sajko and Simić.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Jun 7

And then I stopped racking my brains and it came to me: Annika! I probably never knew her surname so it now says: Annika Name

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Jun 7

I saved her number under Forgotten Name, as in this screen shot showing yesterday’s missed call

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· May 23

Finished this fantastic amazing path-clearing book about #DWEnteignen and I want everyone in Berlin to read it now. It has a Creative Commons licence, so you can! Imagination meets activism meets scholarly monograph.

A yellow and purple book: Joanna Kusiak, Radically Legal. Berlin Consitutes the Future.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· May 13

It’s our 10th @deadladiesshow.bsky.social anniversary today! Doors open 7:30 at @lettretage.de 🍇🍇🍇 Free drinks and we’ll even let you in for free if you dress up as a Dead Lady* of your choice. *No fascists

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· May 3

Trying to get this finished today for our @deadladiesshow.bsky.social on the 13th at @lettretage.de BY THE WAY it’s our 10th anniversary so you can get in free if you dress up as a dead lady!

A very thick book nestled on a duvet. It’s Flora Fraser’s biography of Queen Caroline, “The Unruly Queen”, with an oil painting of Caroline on the cover: much lace-enclosed white bosom, small round pink face framed by short dark-blonde curls.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Apr 7

Ready for my holiday, baby.

It’s me, a white woman with grey hair, in a strenuous pose to make my skin look taut. I’m wearing red with white stripes and there’s a book case behind me, obviously. Oh, and new sunglasses.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Mar 27

Out next month. I adored working on this book, hope everyone in the English-speaking world adores reading it too. #translatedfiction #orisit #booksonwriting

Three copies of a book splayed on semi-transparent sheeting protecting a dark floor. The cover has a black-and-white photo of a woman dancing in everyday clothing, shaking a big mop of dark hair, with a bright light shining above her right shoulder. It says: Granta Magazine Editions / We Would Have Told Each Other Everything / Judith Hermann / Translated by Katy Derbyshire.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Feb 4

In these lawless days, rich men are tearing up nature and culture in Berlin too, here at @kolonie10.bsky.social

A vine “rescued” from demolition by being suspended over a temporary fencing unit, with a pile of bricks in the background, at Berlin’s Koloniestrasse 10.

The text reads:
ACHTUNG: Eigentümer Romeo Uhlmann reißt derzeit Nebengebäude in der Koloniestr.10 ab.
Diese sind artenschutzrelevante Strukturen. Die Spatzen fliegen mit Nistmaterial ein und aus.
Die Brutzeit beginnt jetzt und das ist eine Störung gemäß Paragraf 44 (1) Nr. 2 BNatSchG.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Jan 24

If you see this post, write with a bridge from your gallery (see alt text for info)

A wooden foot bridge in Cove Park, Scotland. Two weathered boards to walk along, lichen-covered rails for protection. Bare trees and brown bracken on the other side, and a tiny human figure up ahead.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Jan 21

Thursday: help us to stop the demolition at @kolonie10.bsky.social in Berlin.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Jan 13

Let’s see if we’re ready to help translators find terms for things here. If you’re from an English-speaking country, do you recognize this and if so, what would you call it? (I know what it is, just need to know if others do.) #amtranslating

A wooden rod with a domed six-pointed protrusion at one end

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Jan 10

…and doing my hair!

It’s me, a white woman with greying hair in my favourite walnut-whip style, doing a selfie in a mirror framed with fake roses.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Jan 9

Here’s that exact spot this morning.

Seen through a metal fence, garage doors ripped out and vines apparently gone.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Jan 9

Join us tomorrow to protest the illegal demolition at @kolonie10.bsky.social In 2023 and 2024 our lit network held our summer events in this beautiful haven for nature and culture in the heart of Berlin.

An invitation to protest at Koloniestrasse 10 in Berlin-Wedding, tomorrow at 4 pm. Headline: Investor demolishing Kulturhof Kolonie 10, without permission, for expensive micro apartments. Kolonie 10 needs your support! The picture shows a demolition machine wreaking destruction on site.

An audience listening to a reading beneath grape vines at Koloniestrasse 10. Wallet-on-a-chain man is doing the sound amid greenery.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Jan 5

I got invited to a DJ nite featuring “70s library” and now I’m embarrassed to ask but really keen to find out.

A flyer advertising “MUSIC TO GET SMART—LOUNGECORE, 70s LIBRARY, 60s CLUBSOUND” in Berlin on 1 Feb. With a groovy pic of a white woman in big cool shades.

Katy Derbyshire@katyderbyshire· Jan 5

We went to see Orson Welles’ The Trial, which was beautifully oppressive, and then we had to exit the cinema through a huge crowd eager to watch the free midnight movie afterwards. Surreal.