Acquired for Development By... A Hackney Anthology

'I saw on a board that epitaph to all our yesterdays, ‘Acquired for Development by . . . '
– Alexander Baron

Twenty-five writers, twenty-five different perspectives on the rapidly changing London Borough of Hackney.

From gentrification to supermarket sandwiches, Turkish Alevism to inner-city river living, middle-class civil war to pylon romance, Acquired for Development By captures an alternative, insightful and sometimes bizarre take on modern London life.

Acquired for Development By is edited by Gary Budden and Kit Caless.

Authors/Contributors

Lee Rourke, Molly Naylor, Tim Burrows, Siddartha Bose, Laura Oldfield Ford, Gavin James Bower, Nell Frizzell, Sam Berkson, Isaura Barbe-Brown, Paul Case, Ashlee Christoffersen, David Dawkins, Anita De Mahy, Kieran Duddy, Angela Watts, Eithne Nightingale, Natalie Hardwick, Daniel Kramb, Rosie Higham Stainton, Georgia Myers, Colin Priest, Brendan Pickett, Gareth Rees, Ania Ostrowska.

Praise for Acquired For Development By. . .

'Reaches the parts of Hackney Iain Sinclair doesn't reach.'
– Stewart Home

'A beautiful, lucid insight into life in one of the most diverse communities in Britain. Revealing, witty and moving.'
– Owen Jones

'A literary dolly mixture and a superb collection of original writing about London’s most fascinating borough. This is Hackney without the hackneyed, and a must-read for anyone who cares about the area.'
– The Londonist

'With this collection, editors Gary Budden and Kit Caless aim not only to depart from the official version of events propagated by the pro-regeneration camp, but also to steer away from the already well established counter-narrative.'
– Litro

'From its first electric crackle, Acquired For Development By . . . galvanises the landmarks of Hackney on the page.'
– Hackney Citizen

'George Orwell himself – who used to live in the nearby Islington before it succumbed to gentrification – would have endorsed the idea with zeal.'
– 3:AM

'Acquired For . . . is a chorus of rich and diverse east London voices. The collection neatly pinpoints some of the most critical tensions in modern urban life – tradition versus innovation, the real versus the perceived, the modern versus the post-modern – and sees how these play out in a borough perceived as both lawless and cool.'
– Sabotage Reviews

' . . . a collection of literary snapshots of an area in transition: from slums to desirable residential area, alternative lifestyles to urban asylum, gateway to the Olympics to disquieting future worlds.'
– Neon Magazine

'Acquired for Development By . . . sounds out the many voices of the borough, celebrating its urbanity, cultural tensions and traditions and the future that now lies wide open.'
– The London Word

'The first book from Influx Press is as cacophonous as the city it analyses. Acquired For Development By . . . is a collection of new writing with Hackney as its theme and muse, a place that has become emblematic of gentrification.'
– Planet Notion

Acquired for Development By... A Hackney Anthology

Praise for Acquired For Development By. . .

Further Reading