JO NEWMAN

I compose in bed, in fits and starts, on my phone. Quick, get the thought down before it disappears. Quick, get it right before memory distorts your words. Now, now, hurry, quick.

ZHAO XINGYU

One day, after a particularly bad club session, one of my court partners approached me. He sauntered over, sweat dripping down his stubble. In a half-mocking tone, he said, ‘Hey dude, I can’t help but notice that your form is wrong. You need to use your waist more.’

ASHA RAJAN

In a last act of petulance, to remind me that even as ashes, she was still my mother and would brook no public display of emotions, she crested the waves, slapping at my legs like she had when I was a child.

LUOYANG CHEN

Dr AI still doesn’t know me. Neither does his supervisor – Head of Discipline, nor Head of School to whom I should be grateful (should I?). I was invisible in his class. Week one, week two. Weeks went by. Week ten, his email found me. Then I was in his office.

JOHN MATEER

Its street-facing window was partly visible and only ever open a tiny bit and, if Iain recalled correctly, its glass was coated with a dark film that prevented anyone from observing the goings-on inside.

HADIWINATA & IAN ROWLAND (TRANSLATOR)

Think about the guy who’s been hawking vegetables around your neighbourhood for the last two weeks, whose tempeh and bean curd prices you haggle down. He never used to be there, did he? He used to work for a company before being kicked out due to the pandemic.