Granta | The Home of New Writing

Explore

Losing Irina

Aria Aber

‘I did sometimes fantasize about her Ur-wound, the traumatic memory image from which her asceticism sprung.’

Fiction from Aria Aber.

Don’t Wake Me Up Too Soon

Daniel Kehlmann

‘Satire only comes into its own against the powerful; against the powerless it is cheap mockery from above.’

Daniel Kehlmann on writing, translated from the German by Ross Benjamin

In the Unlikely Event of a Loss of Cabin Pressure

Juan S. Guse

‘News of the second contact sent the whole camp into turmoil. After long weeks spent searching in vain, a new vitality returned.’

Fiction from Juan S. Guse, translated by Gwen Clayton.

Evaporation in the Boundary Zone

Ilija Matusko

‘From a dish washer to an author who writes about washing dishes.’

Memoir by Ilija Matusko, translated by Jen Calleja.

He Cleans

Valeria Gordeev

‘He cleans. Cleans the sink, cleans the plughole, takes out the sink strainer and cleans the underside.’

Fiction by Valeria Gordeev, translated by Imogen Taylor.

Lentille

Urs Mannhart

‘I can’t help Lentille. Even though she roars. As long as she roars, I won’t be able to work.’

An essay from Urs Mannhart, translated by Christine Müller

The Blind

Ewan Gass

‘People, he thought, swinging his legs, were only who they were in relation to other people.’

Fiction by Ewan Gass.

Haruspex

Rebecca May Johnson

‘How can I accept a trauma or a loss that I cannot define?’

Rebecca May Johnson on pregnancy and divining the future.

The Invisible Harbour

Deniz Utlu

‘Only from a distance does the observer understand the object that remained an enigma from close up.’

Fiction by Deniz Utlu, translated by Jackie Smith.

Once Again, Germany Defines Who Is a Jew | Part II

George Prochnik, Emily Dische-Becker & Eyal Weizman

‘Turning to Germany, it seems that Jews are the only ones entitled to historical context, to history, and also to trauma. Palestinian history is denied.’

George Prochnik in conversation with Emily Dische-Becker and Eyal Weizman, after 7 October 2023.

Beginning and End

Lukas Maisel

‘If she really knew how beautiful she was, she would hardly have met up with him, so it was best not to tell her.’

Fiction by Lukas Maisel, translated by Ruth Martin.

Hades Baedeker

Ken Chen

‘You may need to gaze at death indirectly, through a mirror crafted into a shield.’

Poetry by Ken Chen.