Granta | The Home of New Writing

Rachel B. Glaser | Five Things Right Now

a cold white wing

Kate Zambreno

‘I wonder what I sounded like, whether my voice was recognizable as the animal I had been.’

Fiction by Kate Zambreno.

Beirut Fragments, 2021

Charif Majdalani

‘We live with the permanent sense of imminent disaster.’

Charif Majdalani on the situation in Beirut. Translated from the French by Ruth Diver.

Tender

Ariana Harwicz

‘Why can’t the heart keep still and why isn’t the brain smooth to the touch.’

An excerpt from Ariana Harwicz’s novel Tender.

Cold Enough for Snow

Jessica Au

‘I wondered how I could feel so at home in a place that was not mine.’

An excerpt from Jessica Au's novel Cold Enough for Snow.

Here Again Now

Okechukwu Nzelu

‘There was a division in his mind: home was Manchester; work was London, LA, Lagos.’ Fiction from Okechukwu Nzelu.

When We Were Birds

Ayanna Lloyd Banwo

‘Some days Darwin can’t work out how long he in the city.’

An excerpt from Ayanna Lloyd Banwo’s debut novel.

She Used to Sing Opera

Imogen Crimp

‘I used to be ashamed of it, though I’m not sure what exactly felt shameful.’

On training to be an opera singer.

Here Comes the Miracle 

Anna Beecher

‘They so wanted to be the grown-ups still.’

An excerpt from Anna Beecher’s debut novel, shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer Award 2021.

Two Poems

Yanyi

‘A hotel being where we buy the right to stay still when no place will stay for us.’

Two poems by Yanyi.

Violets

Alex Hyde

‘There was the enamel pail of blood. She couldn’t think what she had done with it.’

An excerpt from Alex Hyde’s debut novel.

The Colony

Audrey Magee

‘Imagine that, said Mairéad. A Frenchman and an Englishman squabbling over our turf.’

A linguist and a painter clash in this excerpt from The Colony by Audrey Magee.

Three Poems

Jana Prikryl

‘I struggled to put this into words as strong as my conviction, so what advice could I give you I said’

Three poems by Jana Prikryl.

In a Jar

Morgan Talty

‘It was a glass jar filled with hair and corn and teeth. The teeth were white with a tint of yellow at the root.’

A story by Morgan Talty.

Nights at the Hotel Splendido

Sam Munson

‘Everybody’s face looks different at night, especially outside. You see their real faces.’

A new story by Sam Munson.

From Another World

Evelina Santangelo

An excerpt from the novel From Another World, translated from the Italian by Ruth Clarke.

Two Poems

Alycia Pirmohamed

‘I encounter the first woman / by encountering my own face in the river. / Two bodies alike, one drenched / in inheritance.’ Two poems by Alycia Pirmohamed

Earthlings

Sayaka Murata

An excerpt from Earthlings, translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori.

Notes on Craft

Sara Freeman

Sara Freeman, author of Tides, on writing while seeing the wood for the trees.

The Infinite Room

Claudia Durastanti

‘My life as a writer depends on irony and metaphor, and my parents are horrified and alienated by both.’

Translated from the Italian by Elizabeth Harris.

First Rites

Anna Della Subin

An excerpt from Anna Della Subin’s Accidental Gods.

In Conversation

Will Alexander & James Goodwin

‘I may have mentioned this at a prior time but there are around 250,000 words in the English language, yet within the utilitarian scale they seem consumed according to advertising and profit.’

Birnam Wood

Eleanor Catton

Publishing March 2023 FROM THE WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE Birnam Wood is on the...

Notes on Craft

Alex Hyde

‘The scrubbing of floors or rugs. People down on their knees, “tamping” the stain.’ Alex Hyde on the everyday gestures that make a life.

Best Book of 1930: The Man Without Qualities

Elaine L. Wang

Elaine L. Wang on the best book of 1930: The Man Without Qualities.

Best Book of 2012: The Round House

Larissa Pham

‘Nine years after publication, Erdrich’s text still feels timely, even urgent.’

Larissa Pham’s best book of 2012.

Best Book of 2019: A Month in Siena

Emmanuel Iduma

‘In art he finds the language with which to exchange mourning for some measure of equanimity.’

Emmanuel Iduma’s best book of 2019.

Best Book of 1982: A Boy’s Own Story

O Thiam Chin

‘It didn’t occur to me that reading and being a reader was two very distinct things, one an act and a skill, and the other a role and a persona’

O Thiam Chin’s best book of 1982.

Best Book of 1988: Camera

Juliet Jacques

Juliet Jacques on her best book of 1988.

Double Date

Sasha Fletcher

‘Off in the distance, the landlords laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed!’

An excerpt from the new novel by Sasha Fletcher.

Signal

Zakia Uddin

‘I had begun to google the therapist reflexively whenever I was bored.’

A short story by Zakia Uddin.

In Conversation

Terrance Hayes & Nick Makoha

‘You wake up every day saying has the poem agreed to cooperate today or not?’ Terrance Hayes and Nick Makoha in conversation.

Pose

Ana Kinsella

‘The first time I was painted by Hannah Meehan, she spent some time arranging me into a pose that would work for her.’

A short story by Ana Kinsella.