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The World Is a Narrow Bridge

Aaron Thier

‘They’re back on I-95, northbound this time, the city disappearing behind them, the sun setting like a piece of pink candy over the Everglades.’

Oh, the Obvious

Christine Schutt

‘A wizened spring, the sickly prickly pear and organ pipe cacti were so riddled with holes they might have been targets.’

The Duchess of Albany

Christine Schutt

‘The permanence of his absence is a noise she hears when she listens to how quiet.’

The Perseids

Susan Straight

‘The time of the Perseids never varied. That was why Dante’s mother had taught him the stars.’

Painter to the King

Amy Sackville

This is an excerpt from Painter to the King, Amy Sackville's account of the life of Diego Velázquez. Now available from Granta Books.

Fishes and Dragons

Undinė Radzevičiūtė

An excerpt from ‘Fishes and Dragons’ a Lithuanian literary chinoiserie that addresses the interpretation by a European of Qing dynasty culture and art.

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned

Wells Tower

‘Thanks to the easy wind bellying our sails, we crossed fast and sighted the island six days early.’

Johnny Kingdom

Chris Power

'Andy doesn't like any of the names for what he does. He rejects 'impersonator', and resists 'tribute act', although he knows it comes closest.' From Chris Power's exceptional collection of short fiction, Mothers

The Last Children of Tokyo

Yoko Tawada

‘Encountering a real animal – not just its name – would have set Mumei’s heart on fire.’ Translated from the Japanese by Margaret Mitsutani.

Rachel Reaches Out

Ben Pester

‘She hit send and sighed as the email-whoosh came through her headphones. Theo was sitting at his desk less than six metres away.’