[Granta; 2026] Writing about Ben Lerner has long felt to me like an act of hubris. The grace with which he articulates his own artistic vision—in the work itself, in discussing it, and when engaging with the work of others—seems to raise the stakes of a piece of writing like this one. What can one […]
Thunder Song – Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe
Each word resonates, reverberating ancestry.
The Twenties – Varlam Shalamov
Shalamov conveys a sense of lost collectivity
Brother Epistles – Shanda McManus
[Brother Epistles] reads like a lyric experiment in time travel
Château Rouge – Amit Chaudhuri
A modern-day Hemingway would be an M&S shopper, too.
The Rage Letters – Valérie Bah
Even as they inject the stories with magical realism, the collection is grounded by an understanding of the systems of oppression that beget antiBlackness, fetishization, white supremacy, racial capitalism, etc. However, Bah is not defeatist. Black queer and trans people create new languages and new ways of being
Bitter Water Opera – Nicolette Polek
She would force her own legacy
Something shakes up their lives that they cannot ignore, and they must continue the practice of daily life while fighting each battle internally, having to rely mainly on themselves for emotional strength
Auroville: A City of Dreams – Katarzyna Boni
[Boni] writes, “Auroville is not a utopia, it’s a laboratory. A transitional being between what is and what will be.” But what will be? After several decades, it’s clear that the same question haunts Auroville
Don’t Laugh at Other People’s Sex Lives; Beautiful Distance – Nao-Cola Yamazaki
Yamazaki breaks us and reforms us
The Rage Letters – Valérie Bah
Even as they inject the stories with magical realism, the collection is grounded by an understanding of the systems of oppression that beget antiBlackness, fetishization, white supremacy, racial capitalism, etc. However, Bah is not defeatist. Black queer and trans people create new languages and new ways of being
The First Jasmines – Saima Begum
Without dedicated accounts of the voices and roles of women, national literary traditions are incomplete
The Twenties – Varlam Shalamov
Shalamov conveys a sense of lost collectivity
The Rage Letters – Valérie Bah
Even as they inject the stories with magical realism, the collection is grounded by an understanding of the systems of oppression that beget antiBlackness, fetishization, white supremacy, racial capitalism, etc. However, Bah is not defeatist. Black queer and trans people create new languages and new ways of being
Ṣẹ̀gílọlà Arómirẹ́ Ògìdán – Àrẹ̀mọ Yusuf Àlàbí Balógun
Her anger lives in the syntax, in sentences that run long, breathless, or suddenly halt.
The Porno President – Bruna Kalil Othero
“Tits or ass?” Othero’s novel urges us to consider this question in today’s political landscape