Granta | The Home of New Writing

Explore Essays and memoir

Webs of Fiction

Emma Glass

‘The complexity of stories is not singularly reliant on an abundance of words.’

All the Devils Are Here

David Seabrook

‘A seaside shelter in the middle of autumn – it seems a strange choice.’

Faltering Song

Danny Denton

‘Didn’t we remember lyrics fine before we had the internet in our pockets?’ Danny Denton on the lost art of sing-songing.

Best Book of 1996: The Lost Lunar Baedeker

Natalie Eilbert

‘Mina Loy has been a preferred voice in my head, echoing with a signature delirious chant as a kind of primordial poetry mother.’

Souvankham Thammavongsa | Notes on Craft

Souvankham Thammavongsa

‘When I look at a word, I can see the thing inside it. The ear inside heart.’

Best Book of 1990: Anecdotes of Modern Art

Natalie Shapero

‘If I tell you a book is an encyclopedic and fast-paced tour of the interrelationship of making art and being in pain, need I say more?’

Best book of 1936: Locos

Ingrid Persaud

Ingrid Persaud on why Felipe Alfau’s Locos is the best book of 1936.

Best Book of 1969: Pricksongs & Descants

Lisa Taddeo

Lisa Taddeo on why Robert Coover’s Pricksongs & Descants is the best book of 1969.

When We Fight, We Have Our Children With Us

Madeline ffitch

‘We are all politically involved whether we like it or not, and children are already on the frontlines.’

Anosh Irani | Notes on Craft

Anosh Irani

‘The interiority that we keep speaking of in fiction is built on pain’

Mountains Don’t Know Borders

Lois Parshley

‘In the Balkans, the present is often perched precariously on top of the past.’

Poetry in the Beginning

Andrew Motion

Andrew Motion shares how he came to write poetry.