John Holten

In April I was invited to be a guest editor at A*DESK, International and Independent Institute of Criticism and Contemporary Art. Recently I’ve found myself mourning the fact that I don’t speak Gaelic, despite years of study and it being one of the national languages of Ireland. Only 2% of the population speak the language on a daily basis (outside an educational context), despite it being omnipresent. Things are changing, but it’s hard to turn off English in today’s world. Of course it’s in my hyphenated Hiberno-English, from the syntax, loanwords, inflections and overall sensibility. The Englishes of the world are legion, and growing. And I’m fascinated by the push and pull of heritage and tradition, the local and the global. The language is now a force unto itself, allowing humans to do what they do: be social. But it’s impossible not to forget how we got here - and what we lose in the process of who gets to speak, and who understands, in any human interaction. We have two great insightful articles by Kári Páll Óskarsson @kari.oskarsson and Ana Schnabl @schnabl_ana ranging from six seven slang to skaldic poetry. There’s also an interview with Vincenzo Latronico @v.latronico on translation and contemporary literature that gives insight into one of Europe’s most exciting and talked about novelists at work today. Check out the series, via the link in bio. Thanks so much to Maria Munoz @maria_munoz_m for her excellent editorial guidance and the invitation. Also grazie mille to Juliet Barbieri @jay.anyways whose excellent photos, all shot on Kodak Gold’, were used to accompany the series. Photos: Photo 1: ‘Who Checks the Cheque?’, Palermo, 2024. Photo 2: ‘Old Hens Make Good Stock’, Venezia, 2024 Photo 3: ‘What If Not?’, Venezia 2024 Photo 4: ‘No Swimming, No diving, No Jumping into Water, Clogherhead, 2025 Photo 5: ‘Take Care’, Clogherhead, 2025 Photo 6: ‘Funfair’, Freiburg im Breisgau, 2023 Photo 7: Juliet Barbieri in Accra, March 2025 📷 John Holten. #palermo #venice #freiburg #accra #clogherhead

Last text of this month’s topic: Minority English: The Politics & Culture of a Global Language. Resident editor: John Holten @broken_dimanche "English White Noise" by John Holten @broken_dimanche What does it mean when a language is everywhere… even when it excludes? In a small Italian coastal town, a conversation unfolds in English—until one person can no longer participate. No translation, no pause. Just silence. “English rushes in, like a river current, ignoring the mute rock, and gurgling past, ever onwards. ” English today doesn’t just connect. It overrides. It becomes default. Background. Atmosphere. From empire to internet, English has shifted again and again—now no longer owned, but endlessly adapted. Standard English is over. Translated English is standard now. — Who speaks—and who is left out? — What happens to literature in a language that is always already “foreign”? — Can a global language ever truly be shared equally? With texts by @v.latronico @kari.oskarsson @schnabl_ana 🔗 Read the full article on our website → A*Desk Critical Thinking → Magazine section → Link in bio. Available in English, Spanish, and Catalan. Featured image: Juliet Barbieri @jay.anyways #ADESK #CriticalThinking #Translation #WorldLiterature #LanguagePolitics

Third text of April, under this month’s topic: Minority English: The Politics & Culture of a Global Language. Resident editor: John Holten @broken_dimanche “Englic, or the Pervasiveness of English in Iceland” by Kári Páll Óskarsson @kari.oskarsson From Viking incursions that once infused English with Old Norse words like sky and law, to present-day Iceland—where English permeates everyday life—this essay traces a striking reversal: from linguistic influence to linguistic dominance. In Iceland today: — English is not just spoken, it’s performed — It signals opportunity, mobility, entertainment — While Icelandic becomes associated with school, rules, and the past But this is not just about language. It’s about power. “Most Icelanders seem to take it for granted, without reflecting on the worldview or ideology that might be speaking through them when they use it.” English doesn’t arrive empty. It carries with it economic models, cultural hierarchies, and historical baggage—from liberal philosophy to global capitalism. What happens when one language becomes dominant across all domains? Can a “small” language remain fully alive under global pressure? Is English a bridge… or a flattening force? At the same time, there are tensions and counter-movements: — Migrant writers choosing Icelandic as a literary language — Concerns over linguistic “sufficiency” — The call for a “right to opacity” (Édouard Glissant) Not everything needs to be transparent, translatable, or optimized for global consumption. A sharp reflection on language as a site of identity, ideology, and resistance. 🔗 Read the full article on our website → A*Desk Critical Thinking → Magazine section → Link in bio. Available in English, Spanish, and Catalan. Featured image: Juliet Barbieri @jay.anyways #ADESK #CriticalThinking #Translation #WorldLiterature #LanguagePolitics

First text of April, under this month topic: Minority English: The Politics & Culture of a Global Language. Resident Editor: John Holten @broken_dimanche Today: English As Arbiter: The Weight of the Center Vincenzo Latronico @v.latronico in conversation with John Holten In this conversation, they discuss what does it mean to write from the “periphery” today—when circulation depends less on geography than on language? Starting from Perfection, Latronico reflects on a paradox: while anglophone literature may have lost some of its cultural centrality, English-language publishing continues to function as a decisive filter—an arbiter through which texts travel, gain legitimacy, and become legible across contexts.Translation, then, is not auxiliary but structural. Not simply a bridge, but a condition of possibility. A Slovenian writer reaches Italy via London; proximities are rerouted through the center. Peripheries, as Latronico suggests, may in fact be closer to each other than the infrastructures that connect them. Against a national framing of literature, this conversation sketches a more unstable cartography: one in which literary citizenship adheres to language, even as language remains entangled with asymmetries of power, circulation, and historical weight. At a moment when English consolidates its role not as origin but as mediator, the question is no longer who occupies the center, but how it is continuously reproduced. 🔗 Read the full article on our website → A*Desk Critical Thinking → Magazine section → Link in bio. Available in English, Spanish, and Catalan The conversation continues  next week in Part 2: The Translator’s Authority Image @jay.anyways #AdeskMagazine #CriticalThinking #EnglishasGlobalLanguage #Translation #Literature

A*DESK in April 2026 This month focuses on Minority English: The Politics & Culture of a Global Language, with John Holten @broken_dimanche as resident editor. Holten is an Irish novelist based in Berlin, working across literature, language, and cultural translation. From a multilingual European context, he reflects on English not only as a dominant global language, but as a mediator shaping how texts circulate, connect, and gain visibility. Building on this perspective, Holten brings together a series of voices to explore how English functions today: as a tool, a filter, and a space of negotiation for writers and artists working across linguistic borders. Rather than a neutral medium, it emerges as a contested terrain that structures proximity and distance between cultures. Through weekly contributions, the programme unfolds as a set of conversations examining the cultural and political weight of English in contemporary literature. From translation to circulation, the month traces the infrastructures that shape what we read and how we relate across languages. With: Vincenzo Latronico @v.latronico Ana Schnabl @schnabl_ana Kari Páll Óskarsson //// A*DESK en abril de 2026 Este mes se centra en El inglés minoritario: política y cultura de una lengua global, con John Holten @broken_dimanche como editor residente. Holten es un novelista irlandés afincado en Berlín, cuyo trabajo se sitúa entre literatura, lenguaje y traducción cultural. Desde un contexto europeo multilingüe, analiza el inglés no solo como lengua dominante, sino como un mediador que condiciona la circulación, la conexión y la visibilidad de los textos. A partir de estas cuestiones, reúne distintas voces para explorar cómo opera hoy el inglés: como herramienta, filtro y espacio de negociación para quienes trabajan entre lenguas. Lejos de ser neutral, aparece como un terreno en disputa que configura relaciones entre centro y periferia. A través de contribuciones semanales, el programa propone una reflexión sobre el peso cultural y político del inglés en la literatura contemporánea. Con: Vincenzo Latronico @v.latronico Ana Schnabl @schnabl_ana Kari Páll Óskarsson

Finally finished these three books. Deaths End by Cixin Liu translated by @kenliu.author . Published by @torbooks

This Thursday! Launching The Trains of Europe, the new novel by John Holten, published by @broken_dimanche . Readings by Caitlin Ingham, @kandacesiobhan , Louis Mason and Mitch Speed. Tickets only £5, link in bio!

The Trains of Europe by John Holten A novel Illustrative stamps by @adam.fearon Design by @formundkonzept Editorial by Liza Costello #thetrainsofeurope

‘The Trains of Europe’ a novel by John Holten with nine illustrative stamps by @adam.fearon Design by @formundkonzept

“Though at 245 pages The Trains of Europe is not particularly long, it offers many things: it is a disturbing vision of Europe in ruins; an exploration of the tenuousness of human relationships; a transnational love story; a glimpse at the avant-garde marginalia of the Berlin art world; a self-reflexive mediation on the form and function of fiction; a physics lesson on thermodynamics, entropy and the arrow of time; and a history of the trains of continental Europe. It is also an audacious experiment in literary form, combining modes as diverse as myth, realism and speculative fiction, as well as in narrative construction, for this is a novel that is structured in reverse.“ - Eoghan Smith in 3AM Magazine Artwork: @adam.fearon #johnholten #thetrainsofeurope #brokendimanchepress #3ammagazine

From ‘The Trains of Europe’ Artwork @adam.fearon