The lighthouse is petrified in affectionate memory. Its image has been used so often–by charities,...
The lighthouse is petrified in affectionate memory. Its image has been used so often–by charities, building societies, churches, fish-and-chip shops–that it has long since become a shorthand emblem of reassurance. It stands in our imagination as a pale remote tower, stuck in the middle of a feat…
Sign in to Granta.com.
‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
‘At night her friends let loose and relax.’
Photography by Vera Yijun Zhou of house parties and clubs in Hangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing.
Our ten most popular pieces of memoir, criticism and reportage, including writing by Mary Gaitskill, Gary Indiana, Christian Lorentzen, Tao Lin and Sheila Heti.
Our ten most popular pieces of fiction this year, including work by J.M. Coetzee, Brandon Taylor and Miranda July.
Our most-read poetry in 2024, featuring work by Momtaza Mehri, Sylvia Legris and Najwan Darwish.
‘Mrs Thatcher's success is not only in her ability to plunder the chapel culture in which she was born - that fertile source of imagery and suasion - for she is also a story-teller to the nation, offering us easy and instant illustrations like those of the brightly coloured pop-up picture books of our childhood.’
