Ben Okri | Interview
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Welcome to the New World
Jessi Jezewska Stevens
New fiction from Jessi Jezewska Stevens. ‘Debt is the molten bedrock upon which all else shifts.’
The Nightwatch
Mary Rokonadravu
Winner of the 2022 Commonwealth Writers Short Story Prize for the Pacific region.
Two Poems
Collin Callahan
‘He twists biblical spliffs. / Curtains warble in the television light.’ Two poems by Collin Callahan.
We Had to Remove This Post
Hanna Bervoets
‘A video of someone flinging their cat out the window is only allowed if cruelty is not a motive’. An excerpt from the new novel by Hanna Bervoets.
In Conversation
Mary Jean Chan & Andrew McMillan
The authors of Flèche and physical discuss the state of queer poetry in Britain, how to make poetry alive and what an anthology can mean.
Kafka’s Drawings
Franz Kafka & Andreas Kilcher
Previously unpublished drawings by Franz Kafka, author of The Trial and The Castle.
Two Poems
Beth Bachmann
‘Under the skin, our skeletons / are braided with tendons – roses on an openwork arch’ Two poems by Beth Bachmann
Three Poems
Christopher Soto
‘Instantaneous / Pleasure takes too // Long’
Poetry from Christopher Soto’s collection Diaries of a Terrorist.
Acts of Service
Lillian Fishman
‘I had hundreds of nudes stored in my phone, but I’d never sent them to anyone.’
An excerpt from Lillian Fishman’s new novel.
On Sizewell C
William Atkins
‘Where do we go, as a country, for power?’
William Atkins on the proposed nuclear power station in Suffolk.
Beyond Conversion Therapy
Kevin Childs
‘When I was growing up in his house, religion was his crutch, a justification for his behaviour.’
Kevin Childs on growing up queer in a Catholic household.
Joy and Insecurity in Port-au-Prince
Jason Allen-Paisant
‘The body is the first measurement of time: to reclaim time is to reclaim the body.’
Jason Allen-Paisant in Haiti.
My Mother Photographs Me in a Bath of Dead Squid
Lars Horn
‘She is not a conventionally “good” mother. But then, put like that, it sounds like a slow death sentence anyhow.’
Lars Horn on modeling for their artist mother.
Blue-Eyed Muggers
Alejandro Zambra
‘At every protest, when it was time to yell at the cops, I remembered my father and felt a turbulent emotion.’
Memoir by Alejandro Zambra on his father and his son.
Diary of a Journey to Senegal
Ishion Hutchinson
‘Sea night music: what is the music?’
Ishion Hutchinson in Senegal.
The Right to Intimacy
Raphaela Rosella & Nicole R. Fleetwood
‘Rosella and her co-creators curate an archive of pain, of endurance, of love and belonging, of alienation and disconnection.’
Nicole R. Fleetwood introduces the photography of Raphaela Rosella.
National Dress
Rebecca Sollom
‘That smile the President has – it was just the same then as it is now.’
Fiction by Rebecca Sollom.
Hölzung
Muhammad Salah & Esther Kinsky
‘But what is an unencumbered gaze? And where does it begin to see?’
Esther Kinsky introduces a photoessay by Muhammad Salah.
An English Opening
Maxim Osipov
‘In a bad position, any move is worthless.’
New fiction by Maxim Osipov, translated from the Russian by Alex Fleming.
The Kingdom of Sand
Andrew Holleran
‘In a small town, one thinks that Time is not even passing.’
An excerpt from Holleran’s novel The Kingdom of Sand.
Being-in-the-World
Geoff Dyer
‘Even experienced users get scared because it’s so far out.’
Geoff Dyer on ageing and understanding the self.
Notes on Craft
Amy Bloom
‘Revision for me is relief. It is reassurance.’
Amy Bloom on the pleasures of revising.
The Lapwing Act
Patrick Galbraith
‘We claimed the places that were theirs and they were forced to take refuge on what we left behind.’
An excerpt from In Search of One Last Song.
In Conversation
Jo Hamya & Okechukwu Nzelu
The authors discuss music, the internet’s gamified reading culture and reading your reviews.
The Rub
William Hawkins
‘We were about halfway through our steaks and baked potatoes when she asked me if I was on PrEP.’
Fiction by William Hawkins, winner of the 2022 Disquiet Fiction Prize.
A World Run by Mothers
Saba Sams
‘In all the years I spent dreaming of motherhood, not once did I dream of men. If anything, I expected that romance would be my downfall.’
Saba Sams on the women who raised her, and becoming a mother at 22.
Notes on Craft
Celia Paul
‘A painting is like a letter: they both live in the constant present.’
Celia Paul on writing Letters to Gwen John.
The Forgotten War
Leila Guerriero
Leila Guerriero investigates the collusion that left so many graves unmarked decades after the Falklands War.
Staying In
Lieke Marsman
‘I’m a cucumber, a cucumber, a cucumber, I would whisper aloud to my eight-year-old self.’
An excerpt from Lieke Marsman’s new novel.
Two Poems
Akwaeke Emezi
‘joseph uncle is ghost-quiet / the kind of man you can’t scream at’
Two poems by the author of Dear Senthuran.
Notes on Craft
Preti Taneja
‘Traditional hand-craft becomes literary practice; becomes critical theory.’
Preti Taneja on intertextuality.
