Ali Smith is a writer celebrated for her playful and experimental approach to language and form. Her stories often delve into themes of identity, memory, and the passage of time, fearlessly disrupting traditional narrative structures. Smith possesses a unique ability to weave contemporary events with historical references, creating works that feel both relevant and timeless. Her writing is recognized for its poetic quality, intelligence, and profound understanding of the human experience.
This novel marks the beginning of a pair of interconnected stories by acclaimed author Ali Smith, known for her literary accolades including the Booker Prize shortlist. It promises to explore themes of time, identity, and the human experience, showcasing Smith's distinctive narrative style and innovative storytelling. Readers can expect a thought-provoking journey that intertwines characters and their lives in unexpected ways, reflecting contemporary issues and the complexity of relationships.
From one of Britain's most impressive young fiction writers comes an
extraordinary and haunting novel - A seductive story of what it means to be
alive at the edge of the 20th century: here is a story of what it's like.
"First published in 1945, Glanville Williams: Learning the Law has been introducing new and prospective law students to the foundation skills needed to study law effectively for almost 70 years. Presenting an overview of the English Legal System and covering the essential legal skills that students need to master if they want to succeed both in their legal studies and in their future careers, this is a must-have book for all new law students. This title is of particular interest to undergraduate students on the LLB, postgraduate students on the GDL. It is particularly important as reading to prepare for a law degree, and offers practical advice and guidance throughout the formative year of study."--Publisher's website
As editors Toby Litt and Ali Smith explain in their introduction: "newness is quite a venerable category. There's not much that's new about it. In the 1930s, when a magazine called "New Writing" was first published, it had to compete with "New Signatures," "New Country," "New Verse," the "New Statesman" "and Nation" and "New Theatre," and what with the "New Woman" of the 1890s and new everything else, even then, new wasn't the new new. . . If we've achieved diversity, it's because our submissions were themselves diverse; and the final selection is representative of the proportion of short stories to novel extracts, poems and essays that were submitted. Originality is only proven over time, paradoxically. We are confident that some of the names here you've never heard before will become very familiar. They may even disgrace themselves by winning prizes, becoming established, etc. But they'll be the kinds of writer, like the known names published here, for whom everything they write is a renewal - of language, of place, of the senses and of the contemporary."
SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER A once-in-a-generation series, Ali Smith's Seasonal Quartet is a tour-de-force about love, time, art, politics, and how we live now. 'Her best yet, a dazzling hymn to hope, uniting the past and present with a chorus of voices' Observer What unites Katherine Mansfield, Charlie Chaplin, Shakespeare, Rilke, Beethoven, Brexit, the present, the past, the north, the south, the east, the west, a man mourning lost times, a woman trapped in modern times? Spring. The great connective. With an eye to the migrancy of story over time, and riffing on Pericles, one of Shakespeare's most resistant and rollicking works, Ali Smith tells the impossible tale of an impossible time. In a time of walls and lockdown Smith opens the door. The time we're living in is changing nature. Will it change the nature of story? Hope springs eternal. Discover all four instalments: Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. Ali Smith's new novel, Companion piece, is available now. ***** 'An astonishing accomplishment and a book for all seasons' Independent 'Smith is a masterful storyteller . . . Savour it' Evening Standard 'Infectious in its energy and warmth' Daily Telegraph
A celebration of the greatest kind of shop in the world, by an award-winning cast of writers including Ali Smith, Michael Dirda, Elif Shafak and Daniel Kehlmann. A cabinet of curiosities, a time machine, a treasure trove - we love bookshops because they possess a unique kind of magic. In Browse, Henry Hitchings asks fifteen writers from around the world to reveal their favourite bookshops, each conjuring a specific time and place. These inquisitive, enchanting pieces are a collective celebration of bookshops - for anyone who has ever fallen under their spell. Contributors include Alaa Al Aswany, Stefano Benni, Michael Dirda, Daniel Kehlmann, Andrey Kurkov, Yiyun Li, Pankaj Mishra, Dorthe Nors, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Elif Shafak, Ian Sansom, Iain Sinclair, Ali Smith, Saša Stanišic, and Juan Gabriel Vásquez. A dazzling collection of original essays about the bookshop by fifteen bestselling international authors.
