Explore Essays and memoir
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Body Snatchers
William T. Vollmann
‘The All-American Canal was now dark black with phosphorescent streaks where the border’s eyes stained it with yellow tears.’
One Ridge Over
Josh Weil
‘Some mornings I see him coming up through the mist. The grey shape of a long-haired man carrying a long-barreled gun amid the bare grey branches of the old apple trees.’
Where I’m Calling From
Ariel Leve
‘Pretentiousness was non-existent. Morals were unambiguous and pure.’
Growing up with the King of Pop
Marlon James
‘The thrill of Thriller was being part of something global and local at once.’
A question of identity
Dubravka Ugrešić
‘One of the first things a child learns is the sentiment: My country is… And so begins the homeland briefing that lasts from the cradle to the grave.’
Tales From Literary Festivals
Anita Sethi
‘The imagination can also be a passport to places beyond the realms of our own experience, a lesson learned at festivals which have at their core the concept of storytelling.’
A Summer’s Evening in Beijing
Elizabeth Pisani
‘The air is light with the intoxicating fumes of impending martyrdom.’
Love in the Time of Swine Flu
Alexis Okeowo
‘Being mask-less in the constant sea of blue surgical face masks made me feel like I was an extra on a movie set they forgot to put in costume.’
Editor’s Letter
Alex Clark
‘In 1979, when Bill Buford introduced his first issue of Granta, a penetrating, bravura survey of American fiction, he proclaimed his efforts to be ‘a kind of energetic failure’.’
Letter from Gaza
Hisham Matar
‘It is difficult not to see the assassination of Ghassan Kanafani as an attempt to obliterate the Palestinian narrative.’
‘Useless Chaos is What Fiction is About’
Mavis Gallant & Jhumpa Lahiri
‘Useless chaos is what fiction is about.’
