Explore Essays and memoir
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Pondlife: A Swimmer’s Journal
Al Alvarez
‘The water was chilly and sweet – cold enough to stay with me and make me shiver while I did some shopping later.’
Rachel Seiffert on Naomi Alderman
Rachel Seiffert
‘So, to summarise: witty, bold, and delicate too. Oh yes, and supremely able to turn a story.’
Remembering Iain M Banks
Stuart Kelly
Stuart Kelly remembers Iain Banks, and assesses the influence he's had on this generation of writers.
Rooms That Have Had Their Part
Joanna Kavenna
‘Rooms jaundiced by bad lighting, so you wondered, what is ague, and could we have it? Rooms that hummed, a hum you couldn’t quite identify, or that seemed in the end to come from your own head.’
Ross Raisin | On Tour
Ross Raisin
‘I was up at 5.30 this morning, to screaming, and it’s afternoon now and I’m covered in hummus and struggling to muster the energy to remove it from myself.’
Salman Rushdie on Sunjeev Sahota
Salman Rushdie
‘You open a book by a writer you’ve never heard of and a new voice leaps off the page and makes you listen.’
Searching for Pavese
Alejandro Zambra
‘Something’s gone awry with this article. My intention was to remember, in his birthplace, a writer I admire, and it’s clear that my admiration has waned.’
Selvy After the War
Frances Harrison
‘She exudes happiness. Somewhere along the line she understood that this was the best way to defeat the men who tortured her.’
Seven Days in Syria
Janine di Giovanni
‘I had come to Syria because I wanted to see a country before it tumbled down the rabbit hole of war’
Tahmima Anam | My Writing Playlist
Tahmima Anam
Tahmima Anam shares a playlist of songs to write to.
Taiye Selasi | My Writing Playlist
Taiye Selasi
Taiye Selasi, one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists, shares a playlist of songs to write to.
