We Are All Adrift – reviews

It is part memoir, part art book, with a dusting of travel writing. Along with that, it is an observation of the state of our nation through the prism of Newhaven harbour. Banning gets to see it through an outsider’s eyes, as well as noting how the artists Mockford and Ravilious interpreted it in their own  way. I really liked the art of Iain Sharpe and the photos that Banning has taken. 

Full review from Halfman Halfbook here

In a short number of pages Banning takes the reader on a journey around the coast of East Sussex sharing his knowledge of art and history, but it is his commentry on the current political climate that hits home the hardest. 

Full review from Jason Denness here

MEMORY/PLACE/GHOST

Fragments by David Banning

FREE Event at Lake District Holocaust Project, Windermere Library, Cumbria Saturday 11th October 2025, 2pm (No booking required)

Hosted by long term collaborator Julian Hyde, David will be reading extracts from several Chroma Editions publications, including Boundary Songs, Falling Away, West Cumbria Mining & Looking for Derek.

Vigilantia: what happens when artists and writers pay attention to Mogwai

ORDER here

Published 18 September 2023 as a Limited Edition of 250

Product Details: A4 size, 76 pages, paperback, full colour

LAST FEW COPIES AVAILABLE AT SPECIAL PRICE £5.00
33 artists and writers respond to the music of Mogwai with a vivid collection of texts and mixed media combining essays, poems, painting, drawing, photos, assemblage, installation and graphic illustration. The result is a fascinating portrait as playful and mischievous as the band itself.

**Any profits will be donated to the Glasgow charity: Refuweegee**

Special thanks to clare archibald for bringing together the bulk of the contributors and for choosing the title ‘vigilantia’
  • Contributors include: Paul Youdell, Clare Archibald, Matt Healy, Darragh McCausland, John McDougall, Sapphire Goss, Martin MacInnes, Richard Milward, Colm O’Shea, Arun Sood, Isabella Streffen, Pat Barrett, Shelley Hastings, Martin Jones, Iain Sharpe, Lee Ashworth, Rik Rawling, David Banning, Rico Craig, Josef Minta, Rose Ruane, Brian McHenry, Wendy Erskine, Duncan Harman, Maria Sledmere, Susan Tomaselli, Noel Hannan, Dana Tommasino, Alister Black & Jonny Cannon, Joanna Kirk, Andrea Caro, Naomi Frisby.

    Foreword by Darran Anderson

Live Encounters: Stewart Lee in conversation with Neil Jackson

Live Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne: Saturday 15th April 2023 – 3pm

‘The world’s greatest living stand up’ (The Times) comes to the Live Theatre, Newcastle to talk art and ideas with Neil Jackson in support of our publication – Post Nearly Press Conversation Series. With live music by Mariam Rezaei and Angharad Davies courtesy of Tusk Festival. Come and say hello at a special pop-up stand inside the Live Theatre selling Chroma Editions merchandise, including signed copies and a few rarities. Click here for ticket details.

Cover image of Stewart Lee – Where are the thinkers? from the
Post-Nearly Press Conversation Series 1-5 2014-2019

Funds raised from the event will support Live Theatre’s Talent Development and Children and Young People’s programmes.

Read an exclusive extract from Stewart Lee’s conversation with Neil Jackson – ‘Where Are The Thinkers?’ from the book ‘Post-Nearly Press Conversation Editions 1-5 2014-2019’:

pnp-stewart-lee-extractDownload

Click here to order Post-Nearly Press Conversation Series 1-5 2014-2019.

New novella: coming March 30th 2023

F A L L I N G A W A Y
David Banning

Generation X Point Zero – Quit your Job – Tune out the Entire Human Race…

Trapped inside a culture of booze, drugs and cracked aspirations, the narrator’s attempt for anonymity amidst the chaos of society begins to collapse. Scarred by the September 11th attacks, the subsequent War on Terror and fall out of austerity, a stuttering journey towards disappearance is laden with insomnia, rootlessness and bereavement.

A melancholy poetic spanning a fifteen year period reveals the deadening walls of a South-East London estate, the stifling geography of the Lake District and Brighton’s labyrinthine edginess. Each encounter – a bar, corner shop, gallery, library or hospital ward is increasingly filled with surreal menace. Ultimately, the threat is real, in a world populated with unease, confusion and sadness.

Falling Away is an achingly personal and deeply political work that speaks to the haunting present and our desperate need for hope…

falling-away-sampleDownload

Paperback
ISBN: 978-1838091552
138 pages
RRP: £9.99
Dimensions: 127mm x 203mm

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West Cumbria Mining Chapbook details…

Out: 15th September 2022

Paperback: 40 pages (includes cover drawing by Iain Sharpe & x 17 b&w images)

ISBN: 978-1-8380915-4-5 – Dimensions: 140mm x 2.5mm x 216mm – Price: £6.50

The politics of fuel laid bare…

Follow David Banning into the fractured terrain of Whitehaven via the Fylde coast and the chalky cliffs of East Sussex as he absorbs the mining history and industrial grandeur once associated with West Cumbria. Nearly 15 years ago a list scribbled down on the back of an old bingo flyer – given to him by his late father – highlighted the names of five coal miners from former West Cumberland towns. A family history that once pointed to a final adventure before the development of the Cumbrian Metallurgical Coal Project brought the empty hyperbole of modern day taglines and slogans more sharply into focus. Coal for Steel. Indigenous versus imported. A plan for jobs. Growing the economy and the much-trailed ‘levelling up’. The gradual dissolution of life drifts down into the silence between shadows…

Amazon
Waterstones

Seasons Greetings…

It’s been another hard year with many ups and downs for everyone, but I am especially proud of the two books we published, From Tarmac to Towpath: Excursions into Lockdown & Post-Nearly Press Conversation Series Editions 1-5/2014-2019, our commemorative limited edition 7″ vinyl: “L’Etranger/Amour Fou” plus all the other film and music produced throughout as well…

I would like to express my sincerest thanks again to all the contributors who gave their time for free and created some fantastic work for the From Tarmac to Towpath book – raising over £300 for The Trussell Trust and the #TogetherForChange campaign.

Chroma’s output will be very limited next year as I want to concentrate solely on writing projects again, so in the meantime – I hope you have enjoyed everything so far, I’m very thankful, as ever, for your support…

Have a cracking holiday and a happy new year – let’s hope for better things in 2022…

D.B.

Post-Nearly Press Conversation Series book now available…

ORDER FROM:

WATERSTONES

BOOK DEPOSITORY

AMAZON

PUBLISHED 25 NOVEMBER 2021