Sign in to Granta.com.
The Termite Queen
Olivia Sudjic
‘It dawned on her, the fact sliding ice-cold into her body; now that she had crossed the border into her forties, Alma herself was no longer eligible for the scheme.’
An excerpt from Olivia Sudjic’s third novel.
2023 Forward Prizes
Withstances
‘I alone know a running stream
that is recovery partly and dim sweat
of a day-fever’
A poem by Rowan Evans.
In Conversation
‘Humour is a thread we hang onto. It punctures through the fog of guilt.’
Momtaza Mehri in conversation with Warsan Shire.
In Conversation
‘Something shifted in me that night. A small voice in my head said, maybe you can make a way for yourself as a poet here, too.’
Mary Jean Chan in conversation with Andrew McMillan.
Joy and Insecurity in Port-au-Prince
‘There was to be an exhibition. There were lots of pictures like his, apparently – of waiters, pastry cooks, valets, bellboys.’
An essay by Jason Allen-Paisant from Granta 159: What Do You See?
Naming
‘I have started to see that nothing is itself’
A poem by Jason Allen-Paisant from Granta 154: I’ve Been Away for a While.
Olivia Sudjic
Olivia Sudjic’s debut novel, Sympathy, was a finalist for the Salerno European Book Award and the Collyer Bristow Prize in 2017. Her second novel, Asylum Road, was shortlisted for the Encore Award and the Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize in 2021. Her non-fiction work, Exposure, was named an Irish Times, Evening Standard and White Review Book of the Year. ‘The Termite Queen’ is an excerpt from her novel of the same name, forthcoming from Bloomsbury in 2024.
More about the author →