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Overture

Janice Galloway

‘To catch an octopus needs stillness.’

Fiction by Janice Galloway.

The Physician

Nathan Harris

‘The boy is long dead, of course. Buried outside of town in a pile with the rest of the bodies.’

Historical fiction by Nathan Harris.

The Emperor Concerto

Julie Hecht

‘Upbringing is important, and I’ve never gotten over mine.’

Fiction by Julie Hecht.

An Olive Grove in Ends

Moses McKenzie

‘The infamous Hughes family – known to police and hospital staff across the city.’

Fiction set in Bristol by Moses McKenzie.

The Picnic Pavilion

Debbie Urbanski

‘They are wearing dresses. I am not wearing a dress. Another difference is they’re dead and I am not dead.’

Debbie Urbanski on the BRCA1 gene.

a cold white wing

Kate Zambreno

‘I wonder what I sounded like, whether my voice was recognizable as the animal I had been.’

Fiction by Kate Zambreno.

Tender

Ariana Harwicz

‘Why can’t the heart keep still and why isn’t the brain smooth to the touch.’

An excerpt from Ariana Harwicz’s novel Tender.

Cold Enough for Snow

Jessica Au

‘I wondered how I could feel so at home in a place that was not mine.’

An excerpt from Jessica Au's novel Cold Enough for Snow.

Here Again Now

Okechukwu Nzelu

‘There was a division in his mind: home was Manchester; work was London, LA, Lagos.’ Fiction from Okechukwu Nzelu.

When We Were Birds

Ayanna Lloyd Banwo

‘Some days Darwin can’t work out how long he in the city.’

An excerpt from Ayanna Lloyd Banwo’s debut novel.

Here Comes the Miracle 

Anna Beecher

‘They so wanted to be the grown-ups still.’

An excerpt from Anna Beecher’s debut novel, shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer Award 2021.

Violets

Alex Hyde

‘There was the enamel pail of blood. She couldn’t think what she had done with it.’

An excerpt from Alex Hyde’s debut novel.

The Colony

Audrey Magee

‘Imagine that, said Mairéad. A Frenchman and an Englishman squabbling over our turf.’

A linguist and a painter clash in this excerpt from The Colony by Audrey Magee.

In a Jar

Morgan Talty

‘It was a glass jar filled with hair and corn and teeth. The teeth were white with a tint of yellow at the root.’

A story by Morgan Talty.