‘Nothing really escapes the detritus of death in this wreck of a city.’
Baghdad collage welcome you, the sign reads along a street that is ordinary, but only if you live in Baghdad. Nothing really escapes the detritus of death in this wreck of a city. Certainly not the cement barriers along this wayward street, painted yellow and white but more distinguished by the chis…
Sign in to Granta.com.
‘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.
‘It’s very difficult to say what kind of Iraq is going to emerge from this trauma. I think we have to wait a generation.’
‘Words can’t quite re-create the smell of war. I have found myself trying to wash it out of my hair, off my fingers. More than once, I have run water over the soles of my shoes.’
‘I realize it is my fault: whenever I live in any country, everything turns wrong. I see it as a gift.’
‘There’s this paradoxical nostalgia where even though yi suffered, yi miss it.’
Memoir by Graeme Armstrong.
‘How do we perform our politics, our outrage and our grievances when we are among a group?’
Anthony Anaxagorou talks about his collection Heritage Aesthetics.
‘It was hot and windy in the garden of Our Lady of the Wheat, but inside the convent it was worse.’
