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Persist

Zaina Arafat

‘I grew obsessed with the place, thinking that getting to see it, to experience it, would make the pain of that fall go away.’

The Glitch

Rafael Frumkin

‘Them and not me, thought EJP. I can be invisible. I’m glitching.’

Amateur Dramatics

Jonathan Lee

‘I heard the news from a nurse with a piece of tinsel tied around her waist: my father had become a hypochondriac.’

The Diplomat’s Daughter

Chanelle Benz

‘Natalia used to be a wife. His name was Erik. His name was Viggo. His name was Christien. His name was Lucas. His name was Nils.’

This Is Not A Test

Stuart Evers

‘In the end, because he loved her still, still so very much, he let her win.’

How We Got Mother Back

Valério Romão

‘With the passing of time we got used to hearing our brother being our mother.’

Sea Bean

Tim Fitts

‘Fred was the type whose worldview gazed through a shadow of things that could go wrong, like most of the South Philly lifers.’

What It’s Like

Anya Yurchyshyn

‘I’d been telling myself I would get there and get through it. I’d been telling myself I was doing the right thing, that no one could escape doing this thing and that was why the thing was right, not wrong.’

Crow Fair

Thomas McGuane

‘You’re in a different world when your own mother doesn’t recognize you, or thinks you’re the stranger who gave her a hickey.’

Late in Life

A.L. Kennedy

‘Eating figs is different for girls.’

From Dream to Dream

Yiyun Li

‘At what point had one’s life stopped belonging to one?’

After the War

Patrick French

‘My antipathy to military culture started early and it wasn't helped by living in a garrison town.’

Success

Adriana Lisboa

‘They hadn’t tried them yet but the girls both knew, from the adverts, that Hollywood cigarettes were awesome.’

A Letter From Wales

Cynan Jones

‘Believe me – it will be impossible for you not to wonder – when I vow I am entirely sane.’