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People From My Neighbourhood: Behind the Scenes

Clare Skeats

Clare Skeats on the cover design for Hiromi Kawakami’s latest book of stories, translated by Ted Goossen.

People From My Neighbourhood

Hiromi Kawakami

‘First prize went to the dog school principal, who of course had submitted a cartoon dog.’ Translated from the Japanese by Ted Goossen.

Surviving Autocracy

Masha Gessen

We knew Trump’s range: government by gesture; obfuscation and lying; self-praise; stoking fear and issuing threats.

Gospel

Carys Davies

‘I would explain to you then, if I could, the theory that in the case of hairline shape, there are two possible variants or alleles: straight, or widow’s peak.’

The Museum of Whales You Will Never See

A. Kendra Greene

‘The Icelandic Phallological Museum is smaller than you’d think. The domestic collection of 212 specimens fits in one room.’ 

August

Callan Wink

‘This was going to be harder than he had thought.’

Pew

Catherine Lacey

‘The church has no thoughts. The church is brick and glass. If they ever slept there, they would see that.’

Forced Out

Kevin Maxwell

An excerpt from Kevin Maxwell’s exposé of structural racism in the British police force.

To All My Past Neighbors

Jessica Francis Kane

‘Connections are being forged, even as we keep our distance. Let’s hold onto them in the after.’

Jessica Francis Kane on neighbourliness in the time of COVID-19.

Fracture

Andrés Neuman

‘Sometimes, in the midst of one of our arguments, he would say to me sadly, I understand you more if I understand less.’

What History Tells Us About Epidemics

Sandra Hempel

‘From when we first began living together in settlements, bacteria and viruses were with us, replicating, mutating and jumping species with extraordinary agility.’

War and Virus

Vesna Maric

‘Wars, national disasters and pandemics do not cause social disintegration – they reveal it, and deepen it.’

Vesna Maric on the difference between wars and viruses.

In Conversation

Jenny Offill & Mark O'Connell

‘This isn’t the end of the world. It’s history going about its business. This isn’t the last apocalypse by a long shot.’

Jenny Offill, author of Weather, talks to Mark O’Connell, author of Notes from the Apocalypse.