Sunjeev Sahota speaks with Ellah Alfrey about his work, Midnight's Children and having a day job.
‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
Sunjeev Sahota was born in Derby and currently lives in Leeds with his wife and daughter. His first novel Ours are the Streets was published in 2011. ‘Arrivals’ is an excerpt from The Years of the Runaways, his second novel, forthcoming from Picador.
More about the author →A conversation between Kamila Shamsie and Sunjeev Sahota.
‘But he couldn’t lose the sense that this was a turning point in his life, that she’d been delivered to him for a reason.’
‘It’s more like painting. It’s not like a film.’
Wang Xiaoshuai on the evolution of Chinese cinema and the challenges faced by those working at the vanguard of independent film.
‘A cold star breeze, you pass through my eyelashes.’
A poem by Ekhmetjan Osman translated by Joshua L. Freeman.
‘In a bad position, any move is worthless.’
New fiction by Maxim Osipov, translated from the Russian by Alex Fleming.
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