Shifting Baselines
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Vertigo & Ghost
Fiona Benson
Two poems by Fiona Benson, whose Vertigo & Ghost is shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2020.
Red Sands
Caroline Crampton
‘They appear against the horizon as the boat slowly sweeps closer into the estuary.’
Caleb Klaces | Notes on Craft
Caleb Klaces
Caleb Klaces on being inspired by Van Gogh’s third image, found during the X-ray scanning of one of Van Gogh’s early, repainted canvases.
The Orphans
Don Mee Choi
‘One starless night, I was stranded. Needless to say, foreigners are often stranded.’
A Source
Frances Leviston
‘The next editor of the university newspaper was chosen each year by a panel.’
A new short story by Frances Leviston, from her forthcoming collection The Voice in My Ear.
The Great Homecoming
Anna Kim
Read an excerpt from The Great Homecoming by Anna Kim, a novel of love and loss in the wake of the Korean war.
In Conversation
Fernanda Melchor & Sophie Hughes
‘It’s easy to forget the power of words in an era ruled by profuse, beautiful and entrancing images.’
I, Minotaur
Natalie Diaz
‘There is no such thing as time or June, / only what you’re born into’
A new poem by Natalie Diaz.
Two Poems
Jenny Xie
‘Colors unstudied where human activity hasn’t yet / congealed’
Two new poems by Jenny Xie.
Sing Stone, Speak Fire
Dan Bradley
‘The emergency cords have been removed from the carriages for some time.’
A new story by Dan Bradley.
Jem Calder | Notes on Craft
Jem Calder
‘I wrote in the address bar of my web browser, in spreadsheet cells, in emails I addressed to myself.’ Jem Calder on writing fiction at his day job.
Enoki
Aoko Matsuda
‘Without any forewarning or explanation, people suddenly began visiting. They came in droves to find her.’
A story by Aoko Matsuda, translated by Polly Barton.
Introduction
Sigrid Rausing
‘We take our theme from Pwaangulongii Dauod’s remarkable eulogy to the late Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina.’
Editor Sigrid Rausing introduces Granta’s 150th issue.
The Lost Performance of the High Priestess of the Temple of Horror
Carmen Maria Machado
‘The light pouring from the open door throbbed like a bruised thumb.’
New fiction from Carmen Maria Machado.
Carolyn
Andrew O'Hagan
‘Where was Denver in all of this, or the wide open road to Mexico, or the woman, hip to the souls of sensitive men, who was played on-screen by Sissy Spacek and later by Kirsten Dunst?’
Andrew O’Hagan remembers Carolyn Cassady, beat writer and widow of Neal Cassady.
Scheherazade Conjoining (31)
Jay Gao
‘Thank any God, our emergency is celestially authorised’
New poetry by Jay Gao.
How to Count Like a Pro
Amy Leach
‘Clocks are the consummate counters, even better than bankers because they never sleep and especially they never dream.’
A lecture to animals by Amy Leach.
A Portrait of My Mother
Michael Collins (Photographer)
Photographer Michael Collins on his mother’s life following a series of strokes.
The Story of Anya
Mazen Maarouf
‘The dreams were packed together like coloured soap bubbles.’
Short fiction by Mazen Maarouf, translated from the Arabic by Jonathan Wright.
An Instrument of Pure Motion
Tommi Parrish
‘They say they are too busy but actually they are too busy for you.’
The Young Entrepreneurs of Miss Bristol’s Front Porch
Sidik Fofana
‘Every black girl on my block was waitin to get a look at Kandese when she first come for the summer. Her grandmuhva told us she hit a teacher with a ruler and got kicked out of her school in Harlem.’
Fiction by Sidik Fofana.
Why We Walk
Ian Willms & Adam Foulds
‘There are glimmers of the reality beyond, the promise of redemption even in the darkest places.’
Adam Foulds introduces the photography of Ian Willms.
Yena
Che Yeun
‘Close, the way any two girls around here grow close, because there isn’t much else to do, and anyone who makes you forget how little there is to do, anyone who makes your heart race, is someone you suddenly cannot live without.’
Short fiction by Che Yeun.
Binyavanga
Pwaangulongii Dauod
‘There are many writers, including myself, who owe their careers to Binyavanga. He was the most generous writer of his generation.’
Pwaangulongii Dauod remembers the late Binyavanga Wainaina.
Japanese Wives
Noriko Hayashi
‘Every time I remember that moment, I can’t help but cry. I was only twenty-one years old.’
A photoessay by Noriko Hayashi.
The Second Career of Michael Riegels
Oliver Bullough
‘The new law was technical and complicated, but created something genuinely new: the international business company, a hyper-deregulated shell corporation.’
Oliver Bullough investigates the history of shell companies in the British Virgin Islands.
The novel
Jack Underwood
‘Only they don’t know / that this silence is what they yearn for.’
A new poem by Jack Underwood.
This time
Jack Underwood
‘I’m going to give them a linear sense of time, just one direction, all the way!’
A new poem by Jack Underwood.
In Conversation
Eimear McBride
‘Spending time in a place in which you have no personal stake breeds a peculiar kind of contemplativeness.’
History is a Music Box
Channa Riedel
‘My hands are cupped around the names written on the tablets of stone.’
Oath to the Queen
Xiaolu Guo
Xiaolu Guo on The Archers, the Life in the UK Test and swearing allegiance to the Queen.
