SELFIES

Sylvie Weil, trans. Ros Schwartz (Les Fugitives)

Originally published in French in 2015, Sylvie Weil’s much acclaimed collection of art-inspired personal essays, Selfies, has finally been translated into English, thanks to translator Ros Schwartz and publisher Les Fugitives. Each of the 13 essays uses a piece of art as its starting point, from which Weil then segues into personal territory, covering everything from Weil’s accidental first orgasm to the story of a friend’s dog to the search to find Weil’s true heritage. Selfies is a slim volume, but Weil is a talented enough writer to cover a distance most writers wouldn’t manage in a book of twice this size. In the selfie era, she is reminding us that what truly makes us interesting cannot be captured in a freeze-frame. 

Price: £12. Info: www.lesfugitives.com

words Josh Rees