Explore Essays and memoir
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Endurance
Maartje Scheltens
‘Four Organs allows us to step out of time and briefly inhabit infinity.’
Maartje Scheltens on Steve Reich, repetition and discomfort.
Things That Dream
Brian Dillon
‘Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” might well be the greatest record to feature the Linn drum sound.’
Brian Dillon on the legacy of drum machines.
Mute Tree
Y-Dang Troeung
‘When and where does the crisis of war begin and end?’
Y-Dang Troeung on the longevity of war.
Meat Love
Amber Husain
‘They say it takes a village to raise a child and the same can be true of killing.’
Amber Husain on meat.
Notes on Craft
Natasha Calder
‘What strikes me most, though, is how writers and climbers share an appetite for failure.’
Natasha Calder on bouldering.
Notes on Craft
Colin Grant
‘Always I tell myself: yes, you transmit but do they, the readers, receive?’
Colin Grant on distilling truth in memoir.
Jealous Laughter
Joanna Biggs
‘She could not make me see my best qualities, but she could sit with me.’
Joanna Biggs on literary friendships between women.
Introduction
Sigrid Rausing
‘What does the list tell us about the next generation or the state of the nation?’
The editor introduces the issue.
The Cloud Factory
Graeme Armstrong
‘There’s this paradoxical nostalgia where even though yi suffered, yi miss it.’
Memoir by Graeme Armstrong.
The University of Nigeria
Ike Anya
‘There is a sense of carnival mingled with outrage, especially for us since this is our first demonstration.’
Ike Anya on universities, financial cuts and student protest.
On Writing ‘Blind Bitter Happiness’
Adam Mars-Jones
‘When I was put on Granta’s first Best of Young British Novelists list in 1983, no novel of mine had been published.’
On Literary Celebrity
Caryl Phillips
Caryl Phillips on being chosen as a Best of Young British Novelists in 1993 and the nascent culture of literary celebrity.