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Explore Essays and memoir

Six Kilometres

Adam Weymouth

‘Migration will not stop: if there is a single lesson to be taken home from Lesbos it is that.’

Jacqueline Rose | On Europe

Jacqueline Rose

‘We will get nowhere in understanding the present crisis unless we, as Europeans, are willing to look into the dark heart of ourselves.’

Romesh Gunesekera | On Europe

Romesh Gunesekera

‘Identity, it seemed, was not so self-determined after all.’

My Chequered Europe

Melitta Breznik

‘A Europe of different languages, landscapes and cultures, all of which have retained their characters.’ Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins.

Srećko Horvat | On Europe

Srećko Horvat

‘We are the ones who are responsible for not repeating the mistakes of the past.’

Laurent Gaudé | On Europe

Laurent Gaudé

‘Fervent social awareness and civic passion have deserted today’s Europe.’ Translated from the French by Alison Anderson.

Exile

Elif Shafak

‘The first time I heard the word exile – sürgün – in Turkish, I was a child. It struck me how closely it rhymed with another word: hüzün – melancholy.’

On the Island of the Black River

William Atkins

William Atkins visits the remote island of Sakhalin, following in the footsteps of Anton Chekhov.

Squish Me Tender

D. Mortimer

‘I wasn’t sure if I was having an orgasm or evolving.’

Making

Esther Rutter

‘Are you a writer who knits, or a knitter who writes?’

[The Delicate Architecture of the Withdrawal Agreement]

Kevin Breathnach

‘I, the pulse. I, the task. I, the ions of the documents extant. I, I, I as in, irrealidad, ingles, intruido.’

Connecting Worlds, Inventing Worlds

José Eduardo Agualusa & Daniel Hahn

José Eduardo Agualusa and Daniel Hahn on translating and being translated. ‘As a humble, invisible translator, I let him get the last word.’

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones

Edoardo Albert

Edoardo Albert, author of Warrior, writes about five archaeological findings that brought the past to life.

On Tastelessness

Adam O’Fallon Price

‘Write through your first ending is advice I give, again and again.’