Explore essays and memoir
Kathryn Scanlan | Notes on Craft
Kathryn Scanlan
‘I try to write a sentence as unbudging and fully itself as some object sitting on a shelf in my office.’
The Trouble With Rape
April Ayers Lawson
April Ayers Lawson on rape, trauma, and the difficulty of speaking out about sexual abuse.
Letter from Zaria
Pwaangulongii Dauod
Memoir by Pwaangulongii Dauod, who writes from Zaria, Nigeria.
Sobre Cardi B
Rita Indiana
‘Es un himno crudo y catchy escrito por una mujer que ha confesado que escribe sobre lo que le gusta y que lo que le gusta es “fighting bitches”.’
On Cardi B
Rita Indiana
‘A crude, catchy hymn written by a woman who’s confessed to writing about what she likes, and that what she likes is “fighting bitches”.’
A New Front Line
Lindsey Hilsum
Lindsey Hilsum shows how investigative reporting has become just as dangerous as frontline correspondence. ‘Investigative reporters are in more peril than ever and the front line has come to Europe.’
Mr Wu
Pallavi Aiyar
‘A middle-aged woman in teddy bear-spangled pajamas came hurtling down on a flatbed tricycle.’ Pallavi Aiyar returns to her old Beijing hutong.
The Editor’s Chair: On Daša Drndić
Katharina Bielenberg
‘Language is always logic, no matter which language it is.’
The Hazara
Monika Bulaj & Janine di Giovanni
‘The people I met once I reached Bamiyan were not victims.’ Janine di Giovanni introduces Monika Bulaj’s photographs.
All Hail the Holy Bone
Maggie O’Farrell
‘It is part angel, part lepidopteran, part Rorschach inkblot.’
The Canvas Bag
Inigo Thomas
‘It was given to her by her Japanese captors after the Fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942 to pack the few possessions she was allowed to take with her to prison.’
I Will Never See the World Again
Ahmet Altan
‘I was in a cage because a man had eaten an apple.’ Translated from the Turkish by Yasemin Çongar.
Dividing Lines
Jack Losh
Jack Losh reports from rebel-held Bria in the Central African Republic, where fighting has forced thousands into a displacement camp.
Mariana Enríquez | Notes on Craft
Mariana Enriquez
‘I found a way to speak: the women talked for me’ Translated by Josie Mitchell.
Bohemian Rhapsody in Five Acts
Tiffany Murray
Tiffany Murray on living with Freddie Mercury as a child.
Ali Fitzgerald | Notes on Craft
Ali Fitzgerald
Notes on crafting a graphic memoir from Ali Fitzgerald.
On Rihanna
Alexia Arthurs
‘Rihanna had cut her hair short, and she was no longer being marketed as the Caribbean Beyoncé.’
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.
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’ nude portraits inspired his latest novel, Silence Is My Mother Tongue.
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.’
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’
Breasts: A History
Krys Malcolm Belc
‘My breasts are shrinking. As my fat redistributes it settles in my belly and leaves my chest.’
Masculinity Is Leaving The Male Body
Seabright D. Mortimer
‘If we’re gonna imagine this beautiful queer paradise what form does a man take?’ – Seabright D. Mortimer on constructing masculine identity in genderqueer spaces.
Of Donuts I Have Loved
Miranda Dennis
‘Krispy Kremes melt at the touch, are tender and loving, are used by my family to perform a wholeness we do not always feel’
Paul Dalla Rosa | Notes on Craft
Paul Dalla Rosa
‘I feel like I’m haunting an empty building, inert, waiting for each room to burst into flames.’
After
April Ayers Lawson
‘I again told him I wasn’t ready to have sex, and his only response was to lean in and kiss me. The hallway in which we walked seemed to be shrinking, closing in on us.’ – April Ayers Lawson on intimacy after sexual abuse.
