Issues
← Back to all issuesGranta 93: God’s Own Countries
Spring 2006
This issue of Granta explores the varieties of religious belief and their personal, social and political effects, in fiction and non-fiction. Pieces feature a conversation with Orhan Pamuk and John McGahern, Nadeem Aslam and Simon Gray on their own religious encounters.
From this Issue
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A Prisoner of the Holy War
Wendell Steavenson
‘Thayr held out. He would not betray his country, he would not betray his leader.’
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The Lord in his Wisdom
Jackie Kay
‘I realize with a fresh horror that Jonathan is seeing me as the sin’
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Tales Out of School
Kees Beekmans
‘But it seems I’ve said something stupid again, and blasphemous to boot.’
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Kiss Daddy!
John Borneman
‘The whole family giggles and I am standing there, holding his father’s hand, looking into his eyes, hesitating. Time seems to slow down.’
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Cruising
Kamran Nazeer
‘Over samosas and pakoras and three different kinds of green chilli chutney, she spoke to us about politics.’
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Jesus Who?
Alison Smith
‘Jesus came walking across the lawn, a grin on his face. I waved. “Hi, Jesus.”’
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St Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves
Karen Russell
‘Sister Josephine tasted like sweat and freckles. She smelled easy to kill.’
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Nadeem Aslam | God and Me
Nadeem Aslam
‘I loved—and continue to love—the pages of certain copies of the Qur’an.’
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God and Me
Geoff Dyer
‘All my religious experiences—if we can call them that—have been drug-related.’
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God and Me
Pankaj Mishra
‘I was unfortunate to know a Christianity so tainted by colonialism and racial distrust.’
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God and Me
Blake Morrison
‘My hopes weren’t high, even to begin with, so I felt no bitterness when He didn’t reveal Himself’
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God and Me
Richard Mabey
‘It’s always been like this for me with spirituality. I catch a whiff of the numinous, and it turns visceral in a moment.’
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God and Me
Andrew Martin
‘At the moment, I would say that depends what you mean by ‘believe’ and what you mean by “God”’
|No Issue
God and Me
Lucretia Stewart
‘It’s almost impossible to describe how it feels to believe in God. There really aren’t words elevated enough to explain it.’
