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Explore Essays and memoir

Best Book of 1993: To Live

Jianan Qian

Jianan Qian on why Yu Hua’s To Live is the best book of 1993.

Best Book of 1982: The Years of Lyndon Johnson

Beth Gardiner

Beth Gardiner on why volume one of Robert Caro’s The Years of Lyndon Johnson series is the best book of 1982.

Mushroom

Rob Doyle

Foraging for the infamous liberty cap mushroom in Dublin.

‘At the root of my interest in both drugs and art was the longing for an encounter with otherness.’

On Europe | Peter Stamm

Peter Stamm

Peter Stamm on the Swiss referendum to join the EU. Translated from the German by Michael Hofmann.

A Language of Figs

Sema Kaygusuz

Sema Kaygusuz on the inheritances of genocide and historical memory, and what her own grandmother, a survivor of the Dersim Massacre in Turkey, taught her about life and language.

Introduction

Sigrid Rausing

‘Somewhere in-between is the truth. Somewhere in-between is the story, or at least the European story.’

Maly Trostinets

Joseph Leo Koerner

‘It was also mainly Viennese Jews who, between 6 May and 10 October 1942, were murdered in Maly Trostinets. Tens of thousands of Jews from elsewhere died there too, together with Soviet soldiers, Belarusian citizens, both Jewish and Christian, and partisans.’

Tom McCarthy | On Europe

Tom McCarthy

‘Like theatre itself, Europe is a contraption, a machine.’

Our Home Is Mortal Too

Katherine Angel

Katherine Angel on Stromae and Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium.

Refuge

Bruno Fert & Nam Le

‘This series showcases a more intimate kind of human absence.’ Nam Le introduces the photographs of Bruno Fert.

Alicja Gescinska | On Europe

Alicja Gescinska

‘Europe has proved to be at its best when it embraced unity in diversity.’

We Do Not Know Each Other

Lara Feigel

‘Is that what family is for? Helping you to understand what formed you?’

Ludmila Ulitskaya | On Europe

Ludmila Ulitskaya

‘It seems clear to me that during the past ten years, Russia has reached the apex of its estrangement from Europe.’ Translated from the Russian by Polly Gannon.