Granta | The Home of New Writing

Feeling Bullish: On My Great-Uncle, Gay Matador and Friend of Hemingway

Visitors Welcome

Thomas Pierce

‘Our reasons for purchasing a reJesus no doubt require little explanation.’

Vows

David Means

‘True love is, when seen from afar, a big fat cliché.’

Schenectady

Adam O’Fallon Price

‘To be fair, it is near a waterfall; although, to be fair again, everything around here is near a waterfall.’

A Woman Screaming

Saskia Vogel

‘I realized that neither revenge nor compulsive storytelling would release me from this pain.’

Going Home

Raja Shehadeh

Read an excerpt from Raja Shehadeh’s Going Home, a reflection on ageing, failure, the occupation, and the changing face of Ramallah.

Two Poems

Rae Armantrout

‘A glowing purse / that unlatches / with a snap’

Insurrecto

Gina Apostol

‘She does not go home for her mother's funeral because the prospect of return gives her insomnia. She splurges on a coat from Miu Miu instead.’

Two Poems

Mei-mei Berssenbrugge

‘You divide space you think time occupies, not motion itself.’

Go, Local Sports Team, Go!

Nicola Barker

‘This is his Toxic Super-Ego at work. Surely?’

Interview

Constantia Soteriou

We talk to the winner of the 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

Karen Olsson | Notes on Craft

Karen Olsson

Karen Olsson shares her notes on the craft of writing: ‘Every book is an unsolvable problem, and yet every time I convince myself I’m just on the verge of cracking it.’

The Wind That Lays Waste

Selva Almada

‘Leni’s last image of her mother is from the rear window of the car.’

In Conversation

Elvia Wilk & Leah Dieterich

‘Dystopia is always already here, and so is utopia. What does it mean to accept that we're already living in both?’

Night on Fire

Darcey Steinke

‘I know what’s going to happen and I know that it’s going to be bizarre.’

My Writing Playlist

Ed Vulliamy

Ed Vulliamy on the nine best songs to listen to while you write.

Granma’s Porch

Alexia Tolas

Alexia Tolas’ Granma’s Porch is the Caribbean regional winner of the 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

The Biggest House on Earth

Choi In-Ho

‘What is happiness? Nothing other than pausing at the bottom of the stairs to admire the portrait of a beautiful queen from some distant, foreign land.’

Fixation

Patrick Cottrell

‘It began with the ant farm in second grade.’

Interview

Sandra Newman

‘While you’re still arguing you still have hope.’

Interview

Jonathan Levi

‘It’s a miracle that Granta survived our mutual adolescence.’

Stuck in Trees (with Apologies to Ian Frazier)

Jessica Francis Kane

‘On 8 January 2018, I noticed a large bunch of purple balloons in a tree near my apartment building.’

Dolores

Lauren Aimee Curtis

‘There she is: Dolores. Newly named. Sitting at the kitchen table inside the convent, conscious of how bad she must smell.’

Beetle

Joanna Kavenna

An excerpt from ZED, the forthcoming novel by Joanna Kavenna, a Granta Best of Young British Novelist.

Madam’s Sister

Mbozi Haimbe

‘The sister has a headful of fine hair down to the small of her back. The golden colour of maize silk, her weave is not stiff and waxy like Chipo’s, but moves in the breeze.’

The Resurgence of the Monstrous Feminine

Hannah Williams

‘Despite the sheer and uncommunicable amount of violence enacted upon the female body throughout history, it’s woman as terroriser, as beast, that we keep coming back to.’

The Girls and the Dogs

Kevin Barry

‘Maurice turns left, turns right, to loosen out the kinks in his neck. Images slice through him.’

In Conversation

Pallavi Aiyar & Poppy Sebag-Montefiore

‘There’s a lot I’ve written to you that I’ve never said to anyone else before simply because of how much you and I share.’

David Harrison | A London View

David Harrison

Whatever we make ugly, nature will correct.

Surrender

Joanna Pocock

‘How could having sex with the Earth ever be consensual?’

Boxing

Fatima Farheen Mirza

Fatima Farheen Mirza on navigating gender roles in a Muslim family, wearing hijab and learning how to box.

Death Customs

Constantia Soteriou

Constantia Soteriou’s ‘Death Customs’, translated from the Greek by Lina Protopapa, is the winner of the 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

All Silky and Wonderful

Ben Pester

A trip on a commuter train takes a surreal turn in new fiction by Ben Pester.

Two Poems

James Tate

‘I wanted to go for a walk, but I was afraid / of missing a phone call.’

The Way to the Sea

Caroline Crampton

‘Alone in the silent dark, she traversed the mouth of the estuary in mile-long sweeps.’

My Mother Pattu

Saraswathy M. Manickam

Saraswathy M. Manickam’s ‘My Mother Pattu’ is the Asian regional winner of the 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

Hulk

Robert Coover

Robert Coover envisions a Trumpian Hulk for a modern America.