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On the Roof
Geoff Dyer
‘Destiny, I think, is not what lies in store for you; it's what is already stored up inside you—and it's as patient as death.’
The Siege of Mazar-i-Sharif
Luke Harding
‘We didn't know it then, but this was the end of the Taliban—their final surrender after what had been (though, again, those of us who witnessed it had no way knowing this at the time) the most significant struggle of the short war in Afghanistan. Was this final struggle intended? Was the slaughter inevitable? Or was it, as many armed conflicts must be, a long series of mistakes born out of vengefulness, ignorance and fear?’
Another Age
Helon Habila
‘This snapshot of us in the foyer of the MuSoN Hall has come to symbolize a lot of things to me. Our smiles seem to say that the worst for our country is over, we are gazing beyond the camera into a new and brighter future, where we could be poets without fear of arrest, murder or exile. We had cheques worth 50,000 naira and 20,000 naira in our pockets. But above all the picture is a confirmation of my deepest dream, that of becoming a writer.’
Two Farms: One Black, One White
Lindsey Hilsum
‘They were both in their early forties. We drank tea on the veranda, watching the dogs play as the water sprinkler greened the lawn. This was the Africa of the white man's dream, where nature can be subdued inside the compound, but where the bush extends in its thrilling wildness just beyond the fence.’
King’s Girls
Lindsay Watson
‘The effeteness of a small number of King's students was fascinating to me at first, then repellent, and before long completely uninteresting. They dressed in peculiar clothes, talked in silly voices and appeared to me to be living caricatures of the human race. At times I longed for some familiar ordinariness and found it with boys from other colleges who introduced me to football and pool and pubs.’
The Elk’s Funeral
Todd McEwen
‘Against each wall stands an ornate throne—junk, dark Victorian junk, pulled by crowbar twenty years ago from the old lodge in the doomed downtown. Sitting on each is a battered looking Elk in a frayed tuxedo or black suit, his shoes cracked as the skin around his eyes. You feel sure they will sleep, and soon.’
Seminarians
Marcos Villatoro
‘The seminary building, parked smack in the middle of the campus, looked west to Davis Hall (women), south to another women's dorm building, and east to the vocationless, unharnessed men of Beast Hall. What did they expect, with so many earthly reminders of flesh around us? Out of the fourteen young men who discerned the call, few, very few, made it to ordination.’
What Franco Did for Me
Stuart Christie
‘I began to question my assumptions about the nature of good and evil.’
You, the Viewers at Home
Andrew O’Hagan
‘Every time I drink a glass of claret it goes straight to my face.’
Jubilee Girl
Fintan O’Toole
‘Those who control the image of the monarchy did not then know the power of indifference.’
Hotel Oblivion
Geoff Dyer
‘The mushrooms made an unexpected comeback and all the accumulated confusion of the day burst in upon us and left us stranded in an alien city’.
