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Losing Irina

Aria Aber

‘I did sometimes fantasize about her Ur-wound, the traumatic memory image from which her asceticism sprung.’

Fiction from Aria Aber.

Model Country

Shida Bazyar

‘Are you talking as Laleh now, or as the Islamic Republic of Iran? I don’t say anything.’

Fiction by Shida Bazyar, translated by Ruth Martin.

Ava

Devon Brody

‘It is a nice thing when we say to each other, I am as happy with you as I am when I am alone.’

A story by Devon Brody.

Sever Babylon

Fer Boyd

‘On this fine, hazy day, the eyes are hazel, the tongue long and spackled with a white coating.’

Fiction by Fer Boyd, winner of The Space Crone Prize.

Barbarism

Allen Bratton

‘He is an ancestor, he has had his son, he has lost possession of the world.’

Fiction by Allen Bratton.

TonyInterruptor

Nicola Barker

‘Insofar as value for money is relevant to art, that audience – an attentive audience, a great audience – were determined to get it.’

Fiction by Nicola Barker.

Oceans Away From My Homeland

Agnes Chew

‘At the entrance to the gynaecology clinic, I ring the bell.’

Fiction by Agnes Chew.

Lech, Prince and the Nice Things

Rue Baldry

‘I spend the afternoon scarifying ceilings. My neck and shoulders are killing me by the time I leave.’

Fiction by Rue Baldry.

A Certain King

Jennifer Atkins

‘I didn’t think she was happy; I thought she was in love, but I didn’t know what that told me, if it told me anything.’

Fiction by Jennifer Atkins.

The Hair Baby

Sara Baume

‘She has been ten for a month and she does not like it. She carries the weight of her extra digit like a chain-mail vest.’

Fiction by Sara Baume.

A Dying Tongue

Sarah Bernstein

‘What needs explaining was that, and it was a funny thing, a very funny thing, I did not speak the language.’

An extract from Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein.

Universality

Natasha Brown

‘She boils her sentences down to high-sucrose sweeties and calibrates her tone for maximum engagement.’

Fiction by Natasha Brown.

Doubtful Sound

Eleanor Catton

‘I knew that Dominic had cheated on me. I couldn’t tell you when, or who, or how many times, but I was certain that he had.’

Fiction by Eleanor Catton.

She’s Always Hungry

Eliza Clark

‘I could hear the sea, and I could hear my own name.’

Fiction by Eliza Clark.