M.J. Hyland

‘A few weeks after I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, I made a pact with dying.’

Issue 120

Terrence Holt

‘At the centre of all this lies the patient, the only one in the room who isn’t shouting.’

Issue 120

Gish Jen

‘It was about doing what sons were bound to do, which was not to pussyfoot around.’

Laura Oldfield Ford

‘Walking around the perimeter of the Olympic site has become an act of remembrance.’

Cynan Jones

‘It’s quite a phone call to get: ‘Will you go to Brazil for us?’’

Héctor Abad Faciolince

‘However, there are countries with an almost secret culinary culture, unknown to the immense majority of the world.’

Marcelo Ferroni

‘This is an exciting moment for Brazilian literature. We may see a batch of new, vibrant novels, really soon.’

John Freeman

Tessa Hadley

‘We had each needed the other for something, which wasn’t kindness or love. We’d both had dry husks for our hearts, that day.’

Anushka Jasraj

‘I’ve never really had any readership, apart from fellow writers who have been forced to read my stories in writing workshops.’

Anushka Jasraj

‘We have been married five years – too soon for us to take pleasure in each other’s absence.’

Esther Freud

‘When the Lindens arrived in Los Angeles it was raining. Not drizzling, or even pouring, but streaming down outside the glass doors of the arrivals lounge in thick, grey sideways slices.’

Mark Haddon

‘Sean finds a log to use as a shooting gallery and sends Daniel off in search of targets.’

Issue 119

Tania James

‘Gama has defeated them all, and more, but how is he to be Champion of the World if this half of the world is in hiding?’