The Strange Story of the World
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The Woman Dies
Aoko Matsuda
‘The woman dies. She dies to provide a plot twist. She dies to develop the narrative. She dies for cathartic effect. She dies because no one could think of what else to do with her.’ Aoko Matsuda, translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton.
Akwaeke Emezi | In Conversation
Akwaeke Emezi & Halimat Shode
We talked with Akwaeke Emezi about their debut novel, Freshwater, a story of spirit selves known...
On Rihanna
Alexia Arthurs
‘Rihanna had cut her hair short, and she was no longer being marketed as the Caribbean Beyoncé.’
The Unspoken
David Hayden
Horror from David Hayden. ‘A shuddering, wordless voice rose in the distance, and another, and another; a chorus, a lament, which ended in a low grunt. There was a coda of sobbing. There was silence.’
I’m Black So You Don’t Have to Be
Colin Grant
'Can the black author really write out of her or his colour? In writing about black characters can they ever escape race?' Colin Grant looks at the evolution of racial politics.
Common Whipping
Naben Ruthnum
A young film composer turns to prostitution in a short story by Naben Ruthnum, set in a Rome of the early 1970s.
‘I Am Going to Speak to You about Anxiety’
Hernán Díaz
‘Her mother was still sitting on the sofa, stroking the left armrest while she talked.’
Nine Pints
Rose George
‘My blood is on its way to becoming something that even when given for free can be brokered and sold like ingots or wheat.’
Writing Like Degas Paints
Sulaiman Addonia
Sulaiman Addonia on how Edgar Degas’s nude portraits inspired his latest novel, Silence Is My Mother Tongue.
Regan
Brian Booker
A coming-of-age story about an awkward roommate on Roosevelt Island, ordering bisexual porn tapes from catalogues and writing summaries of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet for a living.
Slip of a Fish
Amy Arnold
‘Charlie’s swimming. Six strokes then she turns to breathe, six more and all the way to the end of the length. She’s a swimmer, Charlie. She’s a bit of a fish, a slip of a fish.’
Tether Tennis
John Kinsella
‘Tryptamine skies and the forehand backhand falter / in earth’s revolutions’
Candidate
Jessie Greengrass
‘All through winter and another summer we wait, but time passes more quickly now that we have a purpose. I feel it flowing.’
I Wrote a Poem About a Fucking River
Samantha Walton
‘though I’ve sat where torrents recall no slush / I’m drawn by your ceramic explosions’
Sharing the same bed, dreaming different dreams
Ma Jian
Ma Jian shows the excess and corruption of the Chinese Communist party in this excerpt from his new novel, China Dream, translated from the Chinese by Flora Drew.
The Male Hearth
Ayşegül Savaş & Bekir Ormancı
‘In these miniature worlds lined with goods, filled with the tools and residues of labor, we experience the enclosure of hearths; of a unique domesticity within exclusively male spheres.’
Reflections on shame in sacred spaces
Kate Duckney
‘At sunset the light is both nasty and nice / in my robe.’
Lucia Berlin Writes Home
Nina Ellis
Nina Ellis on the life and writing of Lucia Berlin. ‘If Berlin's collections were houses, their hallways would change direction without warning, and their rooms would be bright and dark at the same time.’
Hoarfrost
John Patrick McHugh
Can infidelity make up for infidelity? New fiction from John Patrick McHugh.
I’ll Go On
Hwang Jungeun
‘Swish-swish, swish-swish. The sound fills the large space around them, and Nana finds this deeply satisfying.’
Amy Sackville | The Proust Questionnaire
Amy Sackville
‘What is your guiltiest pleasure? Is it really a pleasure if you feel bad about it?’
Day of Awe
Diane Williams
New short fiction from Diane Williams' Collected Stories. ‘I fear I lack deep feelings, have flighty ideas, and am often irritable over trifles.’
After Half-Time
Shamik Ghosh
Subha Prasad Sanyal’s translation of ‘After Half-Time’ by Shamik Ghosh is the winner of Harvill Secker’s Young Translators’ Prize 2018.
The Minutes
Nell Stevens
‘The Minutes’ by Nell Stevens is shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award 2018.
The Seafood Buffet
Pirjo Hassinen
‘Things that felt like cold stones began to be piled around her ankles. Lemon halves.’
Full Moon on a Dark Night
Soumya Sankar Bose
A new photo-essay by Soumya Sankar Bose that recreates the dreams of his LGBT friends in India.
The Fucking Lake
Diane Williams
New short fiction from Diane Williams. ‘The major events of my life are done with, except, of course, for my final downfall.’
Common Cyborg
Jillian Weise
‘I’m nervous at night when I take off my leg. I wait until the last moment before sleep to un-tech because I am a woman who lives alone’
Danez Smith and Kaveh Akbar In Conversation
Danez Smith & Kaveh Akbar
Danez Smith and Kaveh Akbar share sublime food experiences, discuss their latest collections and ask one another how best to bring community into poetry.
