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The Panther

Sergio Pitol

‘Haste did not grip the animal. He paced before me languidly, tracing small circles; then, in a single pounce he reached the fireplace.’

Letter of Apology

Maria Reva

‘One can only argue with an intellectual like Konstantyn Illych if one speaks to him on his level.’

Radical Sufficiency

Jess Row

‘We have to reverse-engineer our genius so that we can appreciate the simple things.’

Common Whipping

Naben Ruthnum

A young film composer turns to prostitution in a short story by Naben Ruthnum, set in a Rome of the early 1970s.

The Minutes

Nell Stevens

‘The Minutes’ by Nell Stevens is shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award 2018.

The Closet

Kim Sagwa

‘It’s the hour of afterglow, the day’s demise, the sky bleeding to death.’

The Poker

Kathryn Scanlan

‘I looked back and there was something wrong about his hand – how it cupped her bottom, how it probed.’

Slum Wolf

Tadao Tsuge

‘It was a red-light district and a plywood market and a town of hoodlums in one. I’ll add one more thing: The whole place stunk of sewage.’

Hot Rain

Terese Svoboda

A new story from Terese Svoboda about love, money and power in the hands of an aging parent.

Women Talking

Miriam Toews

‘When we have liberated ourselves, we will have to ask ourselves who we are.’

Normal People

Sally Rooney

‘After the first time they had sex, Marianne stayed the night in his house.’ New fiction from Sally Rooney.

Comme

Paul Dalla Rosa

‘Because I spent a large amount of time convincing people to buy clothing they would never actually wear, it was easy to convince myself the same.’

Florianópolis

Paulo Scott

‘Even in a year in which Brazilians are not that excited about the competition, once the ref whistles and the match kicks off, an entire nation is frozen, hypnotised before their television screens. It’s the great truce, the great anaesthetic.’

True Happiness

Efua Traoré

‘Papa suddenly appears inside the door and sits down after three months of no-show-face and my happiness just vamoose.’