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Granta 169: China

Fiction | Issue 169

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Ban Yu

‘It was a special time in Shenyang’s history – everyone was enthusiastic about football, and every company had a football fan club.’

Fiction by Ban Yu, translated by Tony Hao.

Fiction | Issue 169

Hai Shan Swimming Pool

Yang Zhihan

‘As soon as I turned the corner, I saw her. She was swimming across the blue sea, the only person in the entire swimming pool.’

Fiction by Yang Zhihan, translated by Helen Wang.

Poetry | Issue 169

New Year’s By the Sea, Spinning Top and Cup

Huang Fan

‘A cup is an open mouth / You kiss each day’

Three poems by Huang Fan, translated by Margaret Ross.

Poetry | Issue 169

Song of the Bicycle and the Fence and Greenland

Hu Xudong

‘How reliable did the gods have to be / to make his parents meet on an island / the size of a continent?’

Two poems by Hu Xudong, translated by Margaret Ross.

Art & Photography | Issue 169

Shot in the 1960s, Printed Yesterday

Haohui Liu

‘It is rare to see photos of Daqing from the 1960s that are not part of the official feting of the oil boom.’

Photography by Haoihui Liu, introduced by Granta.

From the Archive

Fiction | Issue 68

Call If You Need Me

Raymond Carver

‘She watched me as I wrote out a cheque for the three months’ rent. Later, back at the motel, in bed, she lay with her hand on her forehead and said, “I envy your wife.”’

Fiction by Raymond Carver.

Fiction | Issue 19

Knives

Louise Erdrich

‘It is time, now, for Karl to break down with his confession that I am a slow-burning fuse in his loins. A hair trigger. I am a name he cannot silence. A dream that never burst.’

Fiction by Louise Erdrich.

Fiction | Issue 127

A Clean Marriage

Sayaka Murata

‘Frequency of sex since marriage: zero.’

Sayaka Murata on a sexless marriage and the ‘Clean Breeder’ technique for pleasureless reproduction.

Highlights From Granta Books

Recommended Reading

Fiction | Issue 168 padlock

The Museum Guard

J.M. Coetzee

‘Do they strike people as a strange couple? He does not know, does not care.’

Fiction by J.M. Coetzee.

Essays & Memoir | Issue 167 padlock

Where the Language Changes

Bathsheba Demuth

‘I am on the hunt for the Russian Empire, or what traces might still exist of its colonial enterprise.’

Bathsheba Demuth travels the Yukon river, following the history of the fur trade and the Nulato massacre.

Art & Photography | Issue 165 padlock

Have a Good Trip with Trabant

Martin Roemers & Durs Grünbein

‘Question: ‘What do a Trabant and a condom have in common?’ Answer: ‘Both decrease the pleasure of the ride.’’

Durs Grünbein introduces photography by Martin Roemers.

Essays & Memoir | Issue 166

Lifetimes of the Soviet Union

Yuri Slezkine

‘Bolshevism, like most millenarian movements, proved a one-generation phenomenon.’

Yuri Slezkine on Soviet history and the generational arc of revolution.

News, Prizes and Events

Prize

When I Sing, Mountains Dance and Chilean Poet Shortlisted for Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize

When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Sola (trans. Mara Faye Lethem) and Chilean Poet by Alejandro Zambra (trans. Megan McDowell) are both shortlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize.

Prize

Our Share of Night Shortlisted for The Kitschies

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez (trans. Megan McDowell) is shortlisted for The Kitschies Red Tentacle award, awarded to speculative, sci-fi and fantasy novels.

Prize

I’m A Fan Wins a British Book Award

I'm A Fan by Sheena Patel wins the Book of the Year: Discover Award at the British Book Awards.