‘This is worth remembering: if it were not for Africa we would not be here at all.’
It has been the year of Africa, the year, according to Our Common Interest, the report of Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa, when a combination of indigenous resolve and cash from Western governments was to launch a new assault on the roots of poverty in the continent, stimulating trade, increasi…
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.
‘They show people denied access to markets that they enjoyed before the war, people impoverished by the fight to preserve their culture and to assert control of their territory.’
‘The beat of the city was shot through with drumming patterns used to invoke them in the Saturday night ceremonies.’
‘Twenty-five years after his death, His Imperial Majesty, King of Kings, Elect of God, Defender of the Faith,was finally being laid to rest, though they still could not be certain how he met his end.’
John Ryle attends the funeral of Haile Sellasie.
‘Bor is a long way from Khartoum – more than 700 miles. There were other hostile groups on the way and precious little food.’
‘April 2022 marked my first visit to my ancestral homeland in seven years.’
Memoir by Isma’il Kushkush.
Robert Coover reads his short story ‘Vampire’ and discusses the quintessential English novel and the intersection between myth and the modern world.
