Henry Marsh

Dina Nayeri

‘I could shape a story before my mouth could shape the words.’

Emma Martin

‘I’ve occasionally caught a kind of self-consciousness stalking me when I write about New Zealand.’

Diana McCaulay

‘I want my writing to be grounded in the real and complex place, without nostalgia or idealization.’

Andrea Mullaney

‘To move past the ugly parts of history, you have to acknowledge them, on all sides, and this is what I think historical fiction can do so well: show how we got from there to here.’

Daniyal Mueenuddin

‘Great translations are much rarer than great works of fiction or poetry.’

Elizabeth McCracken

‘This week John Freeman spoke to Best Young American Novelist Elizabeth McCracken about her works-in-progress, a novel that broke up into six short stories, and her contribution to Granta’s latest issue.’

Bill Morgan

‘We’ve fallen out of the habit of writing out our lives for one another, and instead we just pick up the phone.’

Victor LaValle

Victor LaValle reads ‘Long Distance,’ an essay about the ‘most loving relationship’ of his early twenties – conducted solely by telephone – and on having sex in a new body, after losing 155 pounds.

Dinaw Mengestu

Dinaw Mengestu talks about how he came to write ‘Big Money’, his contribution to Granta 108, his forthcoming novel, his relationship with his hometown, Chicago, and his inspiration as a writer.

Ian Leslie

Ian Leslie on Barack Obama's election in 2008 and forthcoming administration.

Robert Macfarlane

Robert Macfarlane discusses his piece ‘Ghost Species’, published in Granta 102, and reflects on the future of nature writing.

Akash Kapur

Akash Kapur on ecological catastrophe in southern India.

Issue 83

James Meek

‘I wonder what George Bush had for dinner last night. His fork must have been clinking on the china just about the time when his marines were killing Omar's family.’