A Refugee Dies and the World Should Mourn, Except It Doesn’t
HEIDI KEWIN
NEW PUBLICATION
As 22-year-old Gambian refugee Pateh Sabally drowns in a Venetian canal, bystanders film him, shouting insults from the shore. “African” and “Go on, go back home” can be heard in the now removed footage. Venice Requiem refuses to let this be the end of this tragic true story.
February Book of the Month
What does it mean to have a ‘once in a lifetime’ love and still walk away from it? Lidija Hilje tackles this question in her debut novel Slanting Towards the Sea, a story centered around Ivona and Vlaho, two people bound by their love for one another despite the devastation that follows their lives.
How the German language is changing to become more gender-inclusive
ALEXANDRA TURNBULL
German, like many other languages, uses a gender-based system which employs feminine, masculine or neutral words. Each German noun falls into one of these three, with words having counterparts for both male and female participants. Is this sustainable?
Steve Ely's Fascinating Approach to Expressionist Poetry
POEM OF THE MONTH | JOSEPH BLYTHE
The poet Steve Ely has, for quite some time now, been working on various projects that bring the landscape of the natural world to life. Orasaigh came about through procrastination – he sat down to write about something else, but found himself drawn to this little tidal island.
Edward Kamau Brathwaite’s search for Caribbean poetry
MÓNICA FERNÁNDEZ JIMÉNEZ
In postcolonial lands, there is a strange and delicate balance between literary theory and literary production, a battlefield as fraught as the relationship between nationalism and literature. Before Postmodernism, one might have claimed that literature comes first, and that the literary historian simply recorded what they saw. Today, we are not so naive as to believe intellectual production does not influence the words of authors. Is the nationalist agenda, especially in once-colonised countries, a prescriptivist hindrance to authentic production or a mobilising creative force?
Am I a writer?
CHLOE MILNE
Every time someone asks, “So, what do you do?” I hesitate. I want to say writer, but the word often draws pity, disbelief, or that classic follow-up: “Oh, so what’s your real job?” Why is being a creative professional, especially a female writer, still met with skepticism?
In awe and fright of modernity in Train Dreams and 'Crossing Brooklyn Ferry'
J.A.G. MABBUTT
Cinema is moving forward whether we are ready or not. Netflix’s interventions may unsettle traditional screens, but they also bring new stories, visions, opportunities for us to witness the world afresh. In this instance, we're talking about Train Dreams.
Cheese, Submarines, and the Shadow of Fascism: “Stay On The Move”
INÉS PARIS
I became a Pynchon fan when I first read The Crying of Lot 49 and witnessed a friend at university absolutely despise it, to the point of visible anger. I found this reaction delicious. Pynchon is that kind of writer: a litmus test.
Desire, longing and dreams in Queer and 'Love and Sleep'
J.A.G. MABBUTT
Algernon Charles Swinburne’s poem, 'Love and Sleep', and Luca Guadagnino’s 2024 film, Queer, both explore longing as something that thrives in fantasy rather than reality. In each work, desire retreats into dreams when reciprocity fails, transforming love into projection and comfort into obsession.
'I Kicked A Mushroom', The Green Knight and human transgression
J.A.G. MABBUTT
A comparative piece focusing on the human transgression - which is, more often than not, aggressive - in Simon Armitage's poem I Kicked a Mushroom and the film The Green Knight.
Hamnet wants to break your heart. Does it earn it?
MILLIE HARRIS
The book was instantly acclaimed and praised as O’Farrell’s finest work to date, celebrated for its historical intimacy and named among the most notable books of 2020. It is a story on how one of the greatest works in the English canon, Hamlet, might have been derived from such a truly heartbreaking and life-changing experience.
Scent, possession, and death
JOCELYN HOWARTH
Patrick Süskind's Perfume imagines a world in which everyone is only using a small fraction of their nose’s purpose, while the protagonist, Grenouille, can identify every note in even the most complex of perfumes, can track people through the streets of Paris, and even know how many people are in a room purely through the use of his nose. It is a superpower, but for Grenouille it is also a curse.
Subscribe to the magazine
We print quarterly: April, July, October and January. Our magazine can be accessed and read through our magazine subscription, which runs both annually at £55 or quarterly for £15, depending on your preference. You'll get four delicious print issues of Zimmer Magazine delivered to your doorstep without all the hassle. Thanks for being here.
Keep up to date
Know about everything before everyone else does.
Browse by section
Literature
Discover something fascinating about the reading world around you.
Our culture section provides you with insights you didn't even know you should care about.
Browse through our reviews of new releases and diverse voices.
Columnist J.A.G. Mabbutt offers a fortnightly exploration of how poetry and film intersect.
Columnist Millie Harris holds the ropes on the best selected texts for your endless reading list.
Depression, Chaos, and Clarity in Melancholia and Coney Island of the Mind 8
Do depressed people react better to disaster? Do they inhabit a calmness that is lacking in others? Is judgment day just another day in the calendar of someone who is possessed by melancholy? These questions orbited Lars Von Trier’s head enough for him to make a movie that offers us some answers.
Why bother?
Zimmer Magazine was created to keep the written word alive in an era where screens overrun pages and AI threatens to overtake traditional crafts. Social media has become tiring and exhausting — why not share something that is timeless?
Keeping the written word alive also means rethinking whose words we uplift. We are massively dedicated to decolonising your bookshelves — amplifying underrepresented voices, challenging dominant narratives and celebrating stories that have been overlooked for way too long.
Everything we do starts with why.
Our magazine subscription runs both annual or quarterly depending on your preference. You'll get four delicious print issues of Zimmer Magazine delivered to your doorstep without all the hassle. Thanks for being here.
Heidi Kewin
🇬🇧 Founder & Editor-in-Chief
Vincent Zimmer
🇩🇪 Founder & Managing Director