Explore
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Peter Stamm & Michael Hofmann
Peter Stamm on the oldest barber in Switzerland, and Michael Hofmann on translating Peter Stamm.
How to Take a Literary Selfie
Sylvie Weil
Sylvie Weil on what it means to take a literary selfie. Translated from the French by Ros Schwartz.
Jianan Qian | First Sentence
Jianan Qian
‘For every witness, history unfolded at some other time, and in some other place.’ Jianan Qian on the first sentence of her story, ‘To the Dogs’.
Real Men
Mohamed Mbougar Sarr
Anna Leader’s translation of ‘Real Men’ by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr is the winner of the 2019 Harvill Secker Young Translators’ Prize.
Lois and Varga
Lisa Taddeo
‘Shells, like the kind on the sand of the beach, that’s all they are. That’s all any of us are. All these colored shells, each one trying to be picked up before the rest.’ New fiction by Lisa Taddeo.
Little nothings: Nabokov’s road notes
Elsa Court
Elsa Court on why Vladimir Nabokov immersed himself in the all-American world of roadside service stations.
Tale of Human Adventure
Diane Williams
‘The whole experience of writing this was enjoyable, as is the entire seriousness with which I take myself.’ New fiction by Diane Williams
Grief in Moderation
Diane Williams
‘The tiny daisies were scored by the shadows of the slats of the venetian blinds and the stripes were shivering.’ Diane Williams.
Julia Armfield | First Sentence
Julia Armfield
‘A first line is a threat, I think.’ Julia Armfield on the first sentence of her story ‘Longshore Drift’.
Love After Abuse
Lucia Osborne-Crowley
Lucia Osborne-Crowley on the complexity of navigating sexuality while recovering from sexual abuse.
we are seen by the world / what must be seen
Nisha Ramayya
‘oh dirty feet blood-clotter / oh grease monkey clod-hopper / oh cloud-devourer spit’
Facsimiles
Linda Mannheim
‘There is nothing where the Towers should be but smoke. There are no buildings.’
Three Poems
Chus Pato
‘you alone sit down at that table / facing the houses you tried to inhabit’
Translated from the Galician by Erín Moure.
Careless
Hiroko Oyamada
‘As I lay on the mattress, the white toe pads of the gecko floated up before me, against the vastness of the blue-black night. Rather than a presence, it seemed to me more like a trace, a barely discernible odour that flooded in on the air.’
Simon
Daniel J. O’Malley
‘When we pulled up at the house, Simon was there waiting, on the porch.’ New fiction by Daniel J. O’Malley
To the Dogs
Jianan Qian
A short story by Jianan Qian on stray dogs, desperation and re-education in rural China during the Cultural Revolution.
The Fallen
Carlos Manuel Álvarez
Read an excerpt from The Fallen by Carlos Manuel Álvarez, translated from the Spanish by Frank Wynne and available now from Fitzcarraldo Books.
The Emperor of Ice Cream
Rebecca Tamás
‘Death is terrifying and impossibly big, but life is even bigger – vulgar, relentless, ruthless.’
The Water Tower and the Turtle
Kikuko Tsumura
‘It was safe to say I didn’t really know anybody in this town at all.’ New fiction translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton.
Mail-Order Marriage
for Shy Brides
Molly Gutman
‘The husband, when we are introduced, will already be the husband.’
Lemons in Winter
Mika Taylor
‘I wonder why I am always the last to let go. I wonder if there is any amount that will ever be enough.’
Nina Leger | Notes on Craft
Nina Leger
‘To say nothing about her was the only way to allow her to be everything.’
Hammer
Adrian Van Young
‘I shift my weight right, where the hammer hangs down. Then left, then right, then left again.’
The Marriage Finger
Kathryn Scanlan
‘On the marriage finger was a gold ring topped with a big prong-set stone.’ New fiction by Kathryn Scanlan.
The Last Rite of the Body
Sophie Mackintosh
‘My ex-boyfriend dies, and we all gather to put our hands into his body.’ New fiction from Sophie Mackintosh.
