Contents
Lucy Beresford
Why We Should All Go to North Korea
‘The sun always shines in Korea,’ one of our two compulsory guides declares. We have nicknamed her the Laughing Policeman. Not only does she never smile, but – being a state-sponsored guide – … Read article
Sam Kitchener
Duck Soup
The first time I had the honour to meet the late Count Pázmány, I lent him my last 20 korona to pay for a bottle of champagne. He said he needed it, and a cursory appreciation of his somewhat frayed… Read article
Nick Haslam
La source du Nil
‘On est déjà en retard, Monsieur Nicolas.’ I was hung over. I was tired. I was being told off by a retired colonel. This wasn't a good start to the day. ‘Je suis désolé, Monsieur A… Read article
Josephine Livingstone
The Secret History of Longitude
On the BBC’s old General Overseas Service, every news bulletin began the same way. Twenty-eight seconds before the hour: ‘This is London’. Next, the jaunty tune we call ‘Lilliburlero’. Five … Read article
Alex Niven
North Sea Travelogue
Exhausted, feeling hemmed in, I took the first northbound train. Making notes in a moleskine pad I wrote down everything good I had: girlfriend, sister, one or two friends, some skill with words, … Read article
William Dunbar
Partying with the Bayaka
The pygmy village of Yandoumbe stretches for about a kilometre along a road of red earth outside the small town of Bayanga. Banana and mango trees shade the wooden huts with their palm frond roofs, an… Read article
Dan Stevens
RWMR Has It
‘Who wants me dead?’ Cheevers was cowering with Gilman beneath a large desk in the centre of the office. In one clammy hand he clutched a bottle of lukewarm Riesling whilst Gilman swiped an… Read article
David B. Hobbs
Working Space Thinking
‘But inasmuch as any entity within-the-world is likewise in space, its spatiality will have an ontological connection with the world’ – Heidegger I. I’m on a couch at the back of Columbi… Read article
Graham Riach
Ré
Originally commissioned by Oliver Coates for Harmonic Series at Southbank Centre, London, March 2014 to accompany L'Île re-sonante, a piece of electronic music by Eliane Radigue The Î… Read article
Jon Day
Time and the City
8.15am on a Monday morning in 1908. Ruth Belville leaves her modest house on St Luke’s Road in Maidenhead and walks to the station. She gets there 20 minutes later and boards a train for Paddington.… Read article
Fleur Macdonald
In the Family Way
The ride arrived on time. But its proud gait, gleaming mane and the big red bow tied to its reins at a jaunty angle could hardly disguise the fact that it was a couple of hands short of being a horse.… Read article
Tom Mustill
Deep Shit
In 1974 the philosopher Thomas Nagel asked: ‘What is it like to be a bat?’ In 2013 I set out across Mexico to direct a BBC film crew following the thousand-mile migration of a small and unusual… Read article
Editor’s Note
List of Contributors
David B. Hobbs
David B. Hobbs is a writer and an academic living in Brooklyn, NY. @davidbeehobbs
Lucy Beresford
Lucy Beresford is a writer and broadcaster. She is the author of Happy Relationships: at home, work & play, the novel Something I’m Not and several published short stories. She also reviews fiction.
@lucyberesford
Jon Day
Jon Day teaches English at King's College London, and writes for the London Review of Books, n+1, the Telegraph, the Financial Times and others. @Jonhinius
William Dunbar
William Dunbar is a journalist writing mainly on the politics and culture of the Caucasus. Based in London and Tbilisi, this was his first trip to the Central African Republic. @undrawbill
Nick Haslam
Nick Haslam is a public policy adviser and travel writer. He currently lives in Istanbul.
Sam Kitchener
Sam Kitchener is an author. Published works include War and Peace (different one). @sam_kitchener
Josephine Livingstone
Josephine Livingstone is a doctoral candidate and teacher at New York University. @jo_livingstone
Fleur Macdonald
Fleur Macdonald is editor of The Omnivore and devoted to her family. @fleur_macdonald
Tom Mustill
Tom Mustill is a director. So far he's directed lions, camels, giraffes, racehorses, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Fry, Shami Chakrabarti, Harrison Birtwistle, sperm whales, giant squid, a bunch of heavily armed Mexican Federales and ants. You can see some of what he's done at www.grippingfilms.com @tommustill
Alex Niven
Alex Niven is a lecturer in modernist literature at Newcastle University. His first book of poetry, The Last Tape, was published last year. @Alex_Niven
Graham Riach
Graham Riach studied at the University of Glasgow before starting a Ph.D at Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 2011 on the contemporary South African short story. He works as a translator of French and Japanese, and composes music for films. @GrahamRiach
Dan Stevens
Dan Stevens is an actor and writer living in New York. He was one of the judges of the Man Booker prize 2012. @thatdanstevens