New Writing on Granta.com
Essays & Memoir|Issue 165
Lentille
Urs Mannhart
Translated by Christine Müller
‘I can’t help Lentille. Even though she roars. As long as she roars, I won’t be able to work.’
An essay from Urs Mannhart, translated by Christine Müller
Fiction|Issue 165
He Cleans
Valeria Gordeev
Translated by Imogen Taylor
‘He cleans. Cleans the sink, cleans the plughole, takes out the sink strainer and cleans the underside.’
Fiction by Valeria Gordeev, translated by Imogen Taylor.
Essays & Memoir|The Online Edition
Haruspex
Rebecca May Johnson
‘How can I accept a trauma or a loss that I cannot define?’
Rebecca May Johnson on pregnancy and divining the future.
Fiction|Issue 165
In the Unlikely Event of a Loss of Cabin Pressure
Juan S. Guse
Translated by Gwen Clayton
‘News of the second contact sent the whole camp into turmoil. After long weeks spent searching in vain, a new vitality returned.’
Fiction from Juan S. Guse, translated by Gwen Clayton.
Essays & Memoir|Issue 165
Evaporation in the Boundary Zone
Ilija Matusko
Translated by Jen Calleja
‘From a dish washer to an author who writes about washing dishes.’
Memoir by Ilija Matusko, translated by Jen Calleja.
Granta 165: Deutschland
Auto Mind
Adrian Daub
‘Today, Germany knows it’s supposed to talk about cars.’
Adrian Daub on car-washing the past.
Allegro Pastell
Leif Randt
‘It was fantastic to own a phone, it was fantastic to have people you loved in your life.’
Fiction by Leif Randt, translated by Ruth Martin.
Last Week at Marienbad
Lauren Oyler
‘The only thing on the schedule was spa.’
Lauren Oyler on her trip to Marienbad.
The Killing of a Berlin Power Broker
Peter Richter
‘Why does the centre of Berlin look like an abandoned shopping mall on the edge of Omaha?’
An essay from Peter Richter, translated by Shaun Whiteside.
In the Movie Bunker
Lutz Seiler
‘On 6 April 1981, I walked into the District Conscription Office, thereby obeying the very first command of my time as a soldier.’
Memoir from Lutz Seiler, translated by Martyn Crucefix.
Constructing a Nervous System
Margo Jefferson
Winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize Book of the Year
In this intimate and innovative memoir, Pulitzer prize-winning author Margo Jefferson gives us her own personal and intellectual formation.
From Josephine Baker’s radiant transformations, to Willa Cather’s aesthetics of whiteness, Jefferson shows us how we can find space in cultures that will not make room for us, and how, even in times of stricture, we might learn to construct ourselves.
Highlights From Granta Books
Recommended Reading
The Gospel According to the New World
Maryse Condé
‘Our Father had perhaps two sons and sent her the younger one.’
An excerpt from The Gospel According to the New World, by Maryse Condé, translated from the French by Richard Philcox.
THE STARS OF THE FAST & FURIOUS FRANCHISE HAVE A CLAUSE IN THEIR CONTRACTS THAT SAYS THEY CAN NEVER LOSE A FIGHT
Sasha Debevec-McKenney
‘Another spring, another sequel.’
A poem by Sasha Debevec-McKenney.
The Forgotten War
Leila Guerriero
Leila Guerriero investigates the collusion that left so many graves unmarked decades after the Falklands War.
Self-Replicating Textual Worms
Lucy Mercer
‘Sometimes, it is better to not know what is behind the veil, decode the sign.’
Lucy Mercer on motherhood, emblems and obscurity.
News, Prizes and Events
When I Sing, Mountains Dance and Chilean Poet Shortlisted for Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize
When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Sola (trans. Mara Faye Lethem) and Chilean Poet by Alejandro Zambra (trans. Megan McDowell) are both shortlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize.
Our Share of Night Shortlisted for The Kitschies
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez (trans. Megan McDowell) is shortlisted for The Kitschies Red Tentacle award, awarded to speculative, sci-fi and fantasy novels.
I’m A Fan Wins a British Book Award
I'm A Fan by Sheena Patel wins the Book of the Year: Discover Award at the British Book Awards.
