Introduction
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Gold Fever in the Coup Belt: The Mines of Mauritania
James Pogue
‘The whole arc of the failed promise of development became legible in the traces of the gold rush.’
James Pogue reports from the gold mines of Mauritania.
The Pneuma Illusion
Mary Gaitskill
‘The intensity of it seemed in retrospect something inexplicable, like a sudden opening in the sky with an outpouring of visions.’
Mary Gaitskill on her experiences with Pneuma therapy.
Lígia
Victor Heringer
‘Today, three years after I befriended him to see him die, the idea of losing Sr Mendes has left me all mixed up.’
A short story by Victor Heringer, translated by James Young.
Lovers’ Quarrel
Tamara Nassar
‘Certainly we are not too old for that day / as dense as age on your bedroom floor.’
Poetry by Tamara Nassar.
Armance
Fleur Jaeggy
‘I don’t think much of the very silly, even gullible, person that I am.’
Fiction by Fleur Jaeggy, translated by Gini Alhadeff.
Dispatch from Kyiv
Yevgenia Belorusets
‘Against the backdrop of the Russian onslaught, all everyday concerns, the facts and things that make everyday life, literally life, seem like luxuries.’
Yevgenia Belorusets on conscription in Ukraine.
Death to Books
Luke Allan
‘In her concern for making a tidy death, my mum overlooked that other kind of mess which is grief, and guilt, and confusion.’
Memoir by Luke Allan.
Honeymoon
Allen Bratton
‘On all sides he is surrounded by old people: jowly liver-spotted men in wrinkled suits, brown-toothed women in Thatcher drag, holding forth with tiresome decorum on coal imports, road safety, the economy of Northern Ireland.’
Fiction by Allen Bratton.
Podcast | Sheila Heti
Sheila Heti
‘It ended up taking fourteen years. But on the other hand, it only ended up taking five minutes.’
Sheila Heti on writing her latest book, Alphabetical Diaries, editing and the instability of a self-portrait.
Cracked Plate
Nicola Dinan
‘Later that day, Emma had thought of Nina while Toby fucked her in bed. Isn’t that fucked? Thinking about the other girl he was fucking. Her friend.’
Fiction by Nicola Dinan.
Bed of Nails
Kathy Stevens
‘I should warn you, she said, ketchup on her chin, on the back of her hand. I like to have sex a lot.’
Fiction by Kathy Stevens.
In Conversation
Robert Gluck & K Patrick
‘Desire charges the landscape with physical upheaval. We become water, weather. And why not? Why describe a character by the hat she is wearing instead of her experience of orgasm?’
Robert Glück and K Patrick on writing desire.
Power Metals
Nicolas Niarchos
‘The city, which is home to more than 300,000 people, is collapsing into the millions of shallow, square holes that have been cut into the ground.’
Nicolas Niarchos on mineral extraction in Manono, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Material
Camille Bordas
‘Rehearsing in front of the mirror was for actors, according to them, not comedians. It was for vain people. A good comedian was the opposite of vain, they said.’
Fiction by Camille Bordas.
Podcast | Andrew O’Hagan
Andrew O’Hagan
‘The world comes down on your head if you don’t tell people what they already believe to be true.’
Andrew O’Hagan on truth, journalism and fiction.
Aishwarya Rai
Sanjana Thakur
‘The shelter houses one hundred and fifty women who used to be or long to be or have no choice but to be Mothers.’
Fiction by Sanjana Thakur.
Dite
Reena Usha Rungoo
‘She collected stamps when she was younger, then switched to books, degrees, and – when she moved abroad – white lovers.’
Fiction by Reena Usha Rungoo.
The Devil’s Son
Portia Subran
‘He was prone to what he did call adventures, like if he had an irrepressible pull to wander every trace and tributary contained in Chaguanas.’
Fiction by Portia Subran.
What Burns
Julie Bouchard
‘Seven thousand forest fires are currently burning – fires which, under normal circumstances, would never even cross your mind.’
Fiction by Julie Bouchard, translated by Arielle Aaronson.
A River Then the Road
Pip Robertson
‘In good weather they went camping, meaning they slept in the station wagon with the seats down flat, in a car park at a forest or beach.’
Fiction by Pip Robertson.
Sinking Town
Amitava Kumar
‘The town’s fate was tied to poor development and ecological disaster.’
Amitava Kumar visits a Himalayan town.
Feminisms
Nikki Shaner-Bradford
‘We figured some facts might quell the speculation. It was our duty as friends to put her mind at ease.’
Fiction by Nikki Shaner-Bradford.
Brat
Gabriel Smith
‘There was a red patch, and what looked like a slightly raised piece of dead skin in the centre of my chest. Just to the right of where I assumed my heart was.’
An extract from Gabriel Smith’s novel Brat.
You Are the Product
Paul Dalla Rosa
‘I have a pathological addiction to the internet, which I indulge with the excuse of making art. It rarely translates to anything good and mostly leaves me overstimulated and afraid.’
Paul Dalla Rosa on excess and the internet.
You Are the Product
Rosanna McLaughlin
‘Like pretty much everyone who uses the internet, I have seen many terrible things that I did not search for and that I cannot unsee.’
Rosanna McLaughlin on what the internet thinks she wants.
You Are the Product
Lillian Fishman
‘What is the read receipt for?’
Lillian Fishman on texting, power and the ethics of leaving a friend on read.
You Are the Product
Daisy Hildyard
‘The anglophone world, we have to infer, has run out of words for its own feelings.’
Daisy Hildyard on the wisdom of scarecrows.
The Spread
Stacy Skolnik
‘It was the first teasing days of spring, the scent in the air a cross between death and cum.’
Fiction by Stacy Skolnik.
Two Poems
Sylvia Legris
‘rumors of bees on speedwell, / no oxidative stress just / effortless pollination’
Two poems by Sylvia Legris.
Podcast | Lauren Oyler
Lauren Oyler
‘You are what you do, and you are what you write, to some extent, I believe that at least.’
Lauren Oyler on personality, intention and the collapse between private and authorial selves.
It Is Decidedly So
Sara Baume
‘There is always a cat sitting on the kitchen windowsill, in the background of every ordinary and extraordinary event, a softly focused silhouette, a pair of piercing eyes.’
Sara Baume responds to twenty-nine photographs from Magnum Photos.
The One It Came All This Way For
Victoria Adukwei Bulley
‘all the furs & bright feathers won’t beat / the sunlight on my face like I’m the one it came / all this way for’
Victoria Adukwei Bulley writes four poems in response to twenty-eight photographs from Magnum Photos.
Sakraman
Derek Owusu
‘Between the boy and the fox there were no names.’
Fiction by Derek Owusu, in response to twenty-nine photographs from Magnum Photos.
