The 'how', the 'who' and the 'when' behind the UK's leading anthology of new literary writing.

Edited by Bernardine Evaristo and Maggie Gee.
Granta, 2007  £9.99  ISBN 978-1-86207-932-8
See list of contributors.

New Writing 15 is the British Council's annual anthology of the finest contemporary writing in fiction, non-fiction and poetry, selected by Bernardine Evaristo and Maggie Gee.

In their introduction to New Writing 15, editors Bernardine Evaristo and Maggie Gee say 'The world of writing in English is rich, multiple, energetic and challenging.' This is clearly demonstrated in the eclectic mixture of work which has been selected for the anthology, featuring new and familiar literary talents from around the world - including Toronto, Scotland, Oman and India. It spans genres, deftly flitting from memoir to poetry to short stories to novel extracts creating an anthology that is hugely enjoyable, leaving readers with a satisfied glow of time well spent and new experiences enjoyed.

This website is a companion and key to New Writing 15 and is for readers and teachers all over the world. It features selected texts grouped into 12 themed sections for New Writing 12, New Writing 13 and New Writing 14. A new theme will be added every month for New Writing 15.

Texts will be available online for six months. After this time please refer to the print publication for the texts. The teachers' pages, readers' notes, interviews and glossaries will remain on site as will some selected pieces of writing.

Buy New Writing 15 here

Any queries relating to this website please contact arts@britishcouncil.org

The enthusiasm, reverence and passion which writers feel for other writers and the great literature they admire is the subject of this month's New Writing focus - Building Books. Two novelists and a critic explore their passion for books and writing through analysis of their own work and the writing of others that speaks to them in important and profound ways. Character, plot, biography and style are scrutinised alongside the way in which writers play and experiment with their work, find their inspiration and reach the cross-over point between fact and fiction.

The idea of a journey is one which has fascinated writers for centuries; exploring the significance of both metaphorical and physical journeys, taking the theme as a starting point for exploring desire, change and adventure. In this month's feature four writers explore what the idea of journeys mean to them, using poetry and prose to tease out the longing, the regret and the hope inherent in the journeys embarked upon.

The war of wills and patience that unfolds during a siege has been the subject of powerful storytelling for millennia, and won't lose its appeal any time soon. The trio of works from New Writing 15 that fall under the siege rubric each address very different aspects of the word.

From Shakespeare's Banquo to Casper the Friendly Ghost, stories of spectres, phantoms and apparitions have entertained for centuries. However, in the hands of Moniza Alvi, Anita Desai and Karen McCarthy, the traditions of the ghost story are manipulated, twisted and turned on their head, offering the reader a new interpretation of a classic genre.

Languages represent many significant truths about our culture, as do the idioms, dialects, slang and speech patterns of a society. Class, status, gender or race are also constantly expressed through what we say and how we say it. The implications of language are one of the elements presented in the work of the four writers highlighted in this section. The work of Lucy Eyre, Lisa Fugard, Nii Ayikwei Parkes and M. R. Peacocke varies in focus, genre and theme, but these writers share a fascination with and enthusiasm for the words that we use.

Three poems and a short story explore ideas around loss - an experience that many have encountered in their lives, often with devastating consequences. These include a loss of self and identity, the cost of violence and cruelty, the death of loved ones and the losses that seem small but are irreplaceable and fragile. Bringing with them their different idioms, experiences, cultures and knowledge Kwame Dawes, Helen Dunmore, Robin Robertson and Henry Shukman create diverse, poignant and memorable pieces of writing that are also thought-provoking, original and occasionally disturbing.

Clothes offer significant markers about individuals and societies as well as revealing profound truths about beliefs, identity and values. In the three pieces featured in this month's New Writing notes, we are offered insight into different cultures, histories and imaginations that are revealed through the clothing that people wear. Rahat Kurd and Sharmistha Mohanty provide insight into the status of women through their clothing while Adam Marek's short story is a shocking tribute to the power of a child's imagination.

This month's focus includes two poems and one short story that explore ideas around couples and the intensity of relationships - sexual encounters, romance, affairs. Catherine Smith's animated poem considers romance and desire, Henry Shukman writes achingly of an illicit relationship and Charles Lambert's short story is full of the thrill of the hunt. The pieces are also significant for their observations on the largeness of the world we inhabit and our ability to maintain long - distance and international relationships, and remove our romantic interludes to other parts of the world.

These days writers are expected to directly engage with their readers and discuss their work on the literary circuit, entertaining audiences and answering questions. However, the inner workings of a writer's mind still remains a mystery and it is refreshing to find two writers in New Writing 15 who have exposed themselves in essays on the nature of their creativity, discussing the highs and lows, the ups and downs and the ins and outs of what it takes to be a writer.

The idea of a public place suggests an environment in which propriety is maintained and the boundaries of appropriate behaviour are respected. However, in the writing featured in this month's focus, which takes as its theme the idea of Public Space, those boundaries are stretched, but in a restrained and private way which cleverly and subtly reveals the personal dramas taking place beneath an apparently calm surface.

Contributors in this issue

Moniza Alvi, Julian Barnes, Richard Beard, Wayne Burrows, Jacqueline Crooks, Andrew Crumey, Selma Dabbagh, Kwame Dawes, Anita Desai, Helen Dunmore, Robert Ewing, Lucy Eyre, Lisa Fugard, Alasdair Gray, Tod Hartman, Ursula Holden, Sarah Hymas, Moses Isegawa, Ma Jian, Anthony Joseph, Jason Kennedy, Rahat Kurd, Charles Lambert, Doris Lessing, Rob A. Mackenzie, Adam Marek, Karen McCarthy, Jane McKie, Sharmistha Mohanty, Nii Ayikwei Parkes, M. R. Peacocke, Kate Rhodes, Robin Robertson, Sue Rullière, Kerri Sakamoto, Fiona Sampson, Sudeep Sen, Henry Shukman, John Siddique, Catherine Smith, Saradha Soobrayen, Jean Sprackland, Zoë Strachan, Boyd Tonkin, Fiona Ritchie Walker, Gerard Woodward, Robin Yassin - Kassab, Pam Zinnemann - Hope.

Full Contents of New Writing 15

Essays

Julian Barnes 'The Case of Inspector Campbell's Red Hair'

Ursula Hodden 'Write at Your Peril'

Ma Jian 'A Chinese Writer in London'

Rahat Kurd 'A Memoir of Modest Apperances'

Boyd Tonkin 'Shelf Doubt: The Intimate History of Bookshops'

Extract from Poem Sequence

Pam Zinnemann - Hope 'On Cigarette Papers'

Novel Extracts

Nii Ayikwei Parkes 'Afterbirth'

Jacqueline Crooks 'Moose'

Alasdair Gray 'Men in Love'

Moses Isegawa 'Major Azizima in Hot Soup'

Sharmistha Mohanty 'The Sari' and 'Tornado'

Kerri Sakamoto 'The Mongolian Spot'

Robin Yassin - Kassab 'Marwan al - Haj'

Poems

Moniza Alvi 'Interior, Degas' and 'The Crossing'

Wayne Burrows 'Under Surveillance'

Kwame Dawes 'The Magic of Monarchy'

Sarah Hymas 'A Wise Man Builds His House on a Rock'

Anthony Joseph 'The Bamboo Saxophone, Soot'

Rob A. Mackenzie 'In the Last Few Seconds' and 'Lighter'

Karen McCarthy 'If I Was a Buddist I'd Chant for Your Happiness' and 'War's Imperial Museum'  

Jane McKie 'Tin Quartet'

M. R. Peacocke 'Simile'

Kate Rhodes 'Four Things You Never Got To See' and 'The Conversation'

Fiona Ritchie Walker 'Inviolata'

Robin Robertson 'About Time', 'Territorial' and 'Unfound'

Fiona Sampson 'As If to Move the Air Is to Disturb It'

Sudeep Sen 'Meditteranean'

Henry Shukman  'Backs of Houses', 'Four a.m. in Icy Mountains' and 'The Call, Upside Down'

John Siddique 'Inside #1' and 'Inside #2'

Catherine Smith 'Prayers' and 'The White Sheets'

Saradha Soobrayen 'I Will Unlove You'

Jean Sprackland 'Birthday Poem, Bracken' and 'The Stopped Train'

Short Stories

Richard Beard 'Hearing Myself Think'

Andrew Crumey 'Livacy'

Selma Dabbagh 'Down the Market'

Anita Desai 'The Landing'

Helen Dunmore 'At the Institue with KM'

Robert Ewing 'Rapture of the Deep'

Lucy Eyre 'Brand Ethiopia'

Lisa Fugard 'Shangri-La'

Jason Kennedy 'The Sandwich Factory'

Charles Lambert 'Entertaining Friends'

Doris Lessing 'In the National Gallery'

Adam Marek 'Batman vs the Bull'

Sue Rulliere 'The Sounds of Flies'

Zoe Strachan 'The Secret Life of Dads'

Gerard Woodward 'Seagulls'

Text as Letters

Tod Hartman 'Dear Dear Leader'  

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