How Lustig is It
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Wound
Oksana Vasyakina
‘Into the carrot-coloured bag, alongside my clothes, I put the box with Mama’s urn.’
An excerpt from Oksana Vasyakina’s Wound, translated from the Russian by Elina Alter.
Two Poems
Mary Jean Chan
‘Can I be myself now? I ask / my parents in a dream.’
Two poems from Mary Jean Chan’s collection Bright Fear.
Meat Love
Amber Husain
‘They say it takes a village to raise a child and the same can be true of killing.’
Amber Husain on meat.
A Simple Blueprint
Marta Orriols
‘We master cartography, yet despite everything, we go back and forth often in our lives, directionless.’
Fiction by Marta Orriols, translated by Samantha Mateo.
There Was a Farmer Had a Dog
Irene Solà
‘A twenty-five-kilo dog is too small to survive in the countryside.’
An extract from Irene Solà’s forthcoming novel, translated by Mara Faye Lethem.
The Tupperware Party
Montserrat Roig
‘We’re going to go crazy today, Merche exclaimed and then let out an electric shriek.’
Fiction by Montserrat Roig, translated by Julia Sanches.
In Conversation
Julia Sanches & Mara Faye Lethem
‘There are times when I think I came to literary translation just so I could keep my many homes close to hand.’
Julia Sanches and Mara Faye Lethem on translating Catalan into English.
The Pink Plastic Glove
Dolors Miquel
‘A pink plastic glove arrives, I say hello, pink plastic glove, you’ve arrived.’
Poetry by Dolors Miquel, translated by Peter Bush.
Prophecy
Raül Garrigasait
‘They both had their heads almost inside the carcass, which gave off a whiff of life and of death.’
Fiction by Raül Garrigasait, translated by Mara Faye Lethem.
My Work
Olga Ravn
‘When they placed the child on Anna’s breast after the birth, she felt nothing.’
Fiction by Olga Ravn, translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell.
The Nonce
Alison Rumfitt
‘He’ll be a goner soon; the cops will find him hanging in his loo.’
Fiction by Alison Rumfitt.
Three Poems
Elvis Bego
‘you notice / that some of these men / are full of passionate music / while others pain your ears’
Poetry by Elvis Bego.
Two Poems
Mark Waldron
‘Something good leaks out of the world / Something bad leaks in’
Poetry by Mark Waldron.
Notes on Craft
Natasha Calder
‘What strikes me most, though, is how writers and climbers share an appetite for failure.’
Natasha Calder on bouldering.
Ocoee
Kwame McPherson
Overall Winner 2023
‘I was alone and isolated. But I was not scared.’
Fiction by Kwame McPherson.
Fancy Little Spoon
hurmat kazmi
‘All sex is about letting go, I tell myself, and it is about time I do.’
Fiction by hurmat kazmi.
Two Poems
Maya C. Popa
‘the widening gap / between two kinds of life: the one lived and the one / remembered.’
Two poems by Maya C. Popa.
Podcast | Jamaica Kincaid
Jamaica Kincaid
‘The place we come from, the place we call home, is the home of our suffering.’
Jamaica Kincaid talks about finding her way to writing.
Mister, Mister
Guy Gunaratne
‘It was through the telly, Mister, that I learned how my Mothers saw themselves.’
An excerpt from Mister, Mister by Guy Gunaratne.
86
Natalie Shapero
‘it’s wrong / to let delicacies, even when suspect, go untried’
A poem by Natalie Shapero.
Oceans Away From My Homeland
Agnes Chew
‘At the entrance to the gynaecology clinic, I ring the bell.’
Fiction by Agnes Chew.
The Undertaker’s Apprentice
Hana Gammon
‘It was small and delicate and its song was simple but sweet – the perfect gift. The perfect offering.’
Fiction by Hana Gammon.
Notes on Craft
Colin Grant
‘Always I tell myself: yes, you transmit but do they, the readers, receive?’
Colin Grant on distilling truth in memoir.
Lech, Prince and the Nice Things
Rue Baldry
‘I spend the afternoon scarifying ceilings. My neck and shoulders are killing me by the time I leave.’
Fiction by Rue Baldry.
Kilinochchi
Himali McInnes
‘Parents should not have to bury their children. I will come to you, she whispers.’
Fiction by Himali McInnes.
Jealous Laughter
Joanna Biggs
‘She could not make me see my best qualities, but she could sit with me.’
Joanna Biggs on literary friendships between women.
Stupid Girls
Rhian Sasseen
‘It was 1 a.m., and it was Los Angeles; they were used to indiscretion.’
A story by Rhian Sasseen.
Stockholm
Yan Ge
‘I’m curious to know what you did with your milk there, Jacob said. Did you dump it, or, did you drink it?’
A story by Yan Ge.
Podcast | Claire-Louise Bennett
Claire-Louise Bennett
‘I want the reader to be conscious of reading and not being just drawn into the book and forgetting themselves and forgetting their life.’
Claire-Louise Bennett on her novel Checkout 19.
Giver
Molly Lynch
‘A single drop of milk clings to my right nipple like a promise. Or a taunt.’
A short story by Molly Lynch.
Podcast | Lynne Tillman
Lynne Tillman
‘In a sense we are always haunted by our past and what psychoanalysis is, for me, is not about cure but about understanding those ghosts.’
Lynne Tillman on her books Weird Fucks and Haunted Houses.
Introduction
Sigrid Rausing
‘What does the list tell us about the next generation or the state of the nation?’
The editor introduces the issue.
The Cloud Factory
Graeme Armstrong
‘There’s this paradoxical nostalgia where even though yi suffered, yi miss it.’
Memoir by Graeme Armstrong.
