Granta 163: Best of Young British Novelists 5

Granta: The Magazine of New Writing #163

by Sigrid Rausing (Editor)

Granta 163: Best of Young British Novelists 5 celebrates the twenty most significant writers under forty working in the UK in 2023. Previous issues in this series have earmarked rising stars like Kazuo Ishiguro, Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith and Jeanette Winterson. This cohort was selected by judges Tash Aw, Rachel Cusk, Brian Dillon, Helen Oyeyemi and Sigrid Rausing. The fifth generation is Graeme Armstrong, Jennifer Atkins, Sara Baume, Sarah Bernstein, Natasha Brown, Eleanor Catton, Eliza Clark, Tom Crewe, Lauren Aimee Curtis, Camilla Grudova, Isabella Hammad, Sophie Mackintosh, Anna Metcalfe, Thomas Morris, Derek Owusu, K Patrick, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Saba Sams, Olivia Sudjic and Eley Williams. With portraits by Alice Zoo and cover artwork by Donal Sturt. 

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, British Literature, 21st Century

272 pages, Paperback

First published April 27, 2023

About the author

Sigrid Rausing is Editor and Publisher of Granta magazine and Publisher of Granta and Portobello Books. She is the author of History, Memory and Identity in Post-Soviet Estonia: The End of a Collective Farm and Everything is Wonderful, which has been translated into four different languages.

Reviews

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plenty to be optimistic about re: most of these writers, and luckily I'd only read one prior to picking this up. I now definitely want to read more work by the vast majority, although, if we're talking about technical excellence and voice, I'd say a half dozen stand out: Sara Baume, Eliza Clark, Tom Crewe, K Patrick, Yara Rodrigues Fowler and Eley Williams. The Sophie Mackintosh story is also excellent -- I wonder if she's better in the shorter form, and I'm pretty sure her next book is stories -- and Camilla Grudova, Isabella Hammad, Saba Sams and Thomas Morris are also distinctive and impressive. I've read a few sniffy reviews of this now, and yet there was only one piece here that didn't seem up to scratch. Highly recommended.

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story, like deceit, or myth, is never finished. Each retelling or recalling is embellished by what came before, adorned by what could come after, fortified within the present iteration.
from 'Kweku' by Derek Owusu

This is the 5th edition of Granta's decennial Best of Young British Novelists, a series whose position in the cultural pantheon was cemented by the very first addition whose roster of 20 writers included Kazuo Ishiguro, Graham Swift, Rose Tremain, Pat Barker, Ian McEwan, Julian Barnes and more, some already well known but many with their considerable fame and prize-accumulation ahead of them.

The 2023 list continues with the somewhat questionable tradition of only including authors aged 40 or under rather than say debut novelists, which given the decennial nature of the list means for the average writer the cut-off is actually 35, and it is 31 for some. But the definition of British has been widened from nationality to included those who live in the country. And in some cases it feels that the 'novelist' criteria has also been stretched as there are several writers here (e.g. Camilla Grudova, Thomas Morris, Saba Sams, Eley Williams) better known as masters of the short-story, although I believe the judges did base their decision on submitted novels, including works in progress.

It's an impressively strong list - some names I'm delighted to see from my familarity with their work, including Grudova and Williams, and the writers of some of the very finest novels of the last few years (irrespective of age and nationality/home) including Sara Baume, Natasha Brown and Derek Owusu.

And there is equal delight in the names with which I wasn't familiar but, based on their writing here, who I look forward to discovering e.g. the extract from Sarah Bernstein's forthcoming novel is intriguing.

Of course the judges could easily have picked different names, indeed the editor of Granta in her foreword acknowledges that, including some others that were in contention, a list which includes many who I'd have loved to see on this list such as Missouri Williams, Shola von Reinhold (both, like Eley Williams who was included, winners of the Republic of Consciousness Prize) as well as Alison Rumfitt, Aidan Cottrell Boyce, Vanessa Onwuemezi and others. And I suspect armed with a list to check the rather restrictive dates of birth and nationality/residence criteria I could add some more of my own.

But the aim here is to celebrate the 20 who are included - and every one of them deserves their place.

As for the Granta 163 edition itself: it includes an introduction, as mentioned from the Granta editor Sigrid Rausing, and then pieces from each of the 20 authors written for the magazine (several New Yorker style "stories" i.e. actually excerpts from coming novels).

I was very disappointed that we didn't get a paragraph from the judges on why each writer was chosen, and a brief introduction by each author to their contribution would have been helpful.

Further, this is, as mentioned, a celebration of Best Novelists, so presenting their work in the form of short (typically around 10 page) pieces is perhaps not the best way to judge their work, and in some cases my experience of their novels was rather different to the stories here: Natasha Brown's Assembly is one of the great novels of recent years but her story here is rather more conventional and indeed rather clichéd (but perhaps I am judging the flawed narrator rather than the writer); whereas Tom Crewe's much-feted novel The New Life I found over-long and too traditional in form, including protagonists who spoke and thought like characters in Victorian novels rather than like real people, but his story here is concise and beautifully judged.

Generally the quality is strong, if more of a taster, although a few seem a bit phoned in - I've not read Eleanor Catton's novels, and based on her contribution I'm not terribly inclined to. Indeed it felt like the list needed her - to bank at least one Booker winner - more than she needed the list, and perhaps her contribution reflects that.

Not surprisingly perhaps, the short-story writers come to the fore - Camilla Grudova's 'Ivor', set in a bizarre boarding school, is in the same surreal, highly disturbing and absolutely fascinating vein as her collection The Doll’s Alphabet, Eliza Clark's She's Always Hungry suggests her forthcoming new collection will be one to watch, and Saba Sams' 'Gunk' showcases how one can bring more depth into a short story as a many 400 page novels as did her BBC National Short Story Award winning “Blue 4eva”

But the strongest and most complex piece of all is by Derek Owusu, the one piece that demanded a re-read, a brilliant exposition of story telling and family history within the context of a troubled relationship with the narrator's father.

Overall - a worthwhile list and I look forward to seeing what these writers produce over the next decade, but the magazine itself is a relative disappointment and for the novelists doesn't really give a sense of their work. 3.5 stars

[Vartika · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very excited to explore this year's shortlist, but found the stories features herein middling at best. Nothing knocked my socks off, which is what I usually count on Granta for, and despite the relative diversity of the writers featured herein their voices ultimately felt rather homogenous, blurring into one another, technique and substance not quite distilled. I'm sure all of these young British novelists are fantastic in their own right, but these stories are probably not the most representative, or particularly memorable. Some did stand out more than others — Tom Crewe's "The Room-Service Waiter", Anna Metcalfe's "Circles", and Thomas Morris' "Wales" were my favourites, and I liked the pieces from Eliza Clark, Isabella Hammad, Jennifer Atkins, and Olivia Sudjic as well.

I quite enjoyed Natasha Brown and Yara Rodriquez Fowler's respective stories, but the good stuff seemed to be growing from between the cracks rather than flourishing, taking over. Eleanor Catton, Sophie Mackintosh, and Derek Owusu seemed muted, their words and worlds less powerful than they're known to be. I felt somewhat let down by Saba Sams' offering — she is primarily a writer of short stories, but you wouldn't be able to tell. Eley Williams disappointed, perhaps because my expectations were so high.

I wish there was more story to these stories — not one of them served as a gateway to the authors' other works, I am not frantically looking up any of their future projects we speak, and upcoming publications will have to create their own appeal. This is not a bad thing, of course, but the "Best of" tag, at least as far as these pages are concerned, feels somewhat forced.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is some great writing here but I am shocked by how mediocre and homogenous lots of the writing is in comparison with earlier collections. There were only 5 writers who really stood out and I was already aware of two of those (Thomas Morris and Eley Williams).

[Paul Dembina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of these sorts of shortlists, there seem to be so many other authors just as deserving as the ones eventually chosen

Having said that I enjoyed (to some degree or other) all of the pieces. My favourites being Tom Crewe's short story about an artist's model revisiting his portrait and Camilla Grudova's tale of a bizarre boarding school.

Others tended to be intriguing but ultimately frustrating extracts from works in progress or novels about to be published. A case in point being Eley Williams' Rostrum which has an interesting setup but ends just as things are getting going.

[LittleBubbleBee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its always weird with short stories because some are so good while others you are left questioning things. This was a bit of both, but I enjoyed most of the stories.

[Kuang Ting · Rating 5 out of 5]

《Granta Magazine》每隔十年就會選出十位當代最佳的新銳小說家，因為是英國的刊物，在世界文學的領域自然有一席之地，目前已經出刊至164期，如果你想要多了解world literature的輪廓，可以考慮把他們以前的合集拿來欣賞。這也是我未來預計花時間閱讀的文學作品。Granta的文學風格真的是”純文學”，跟那種國外流行的青少年小說不太一樣，雖然自詡為home of new writing，但刊載的作家通常都三十歲以上，人都需要一些時間的歷練才能寫出好作品，所以這些文章就是處於青澀跟成熟的過渡期。

Granta這一份英國最佳年經小說家的名單在過往可以大幅曝光上榜小說家的知名度，但文學雜誌在網路時代聲量越來越小，衛報所寫的書評〈Granta 163: Best of Young British Novelists 5 review〉中就有討論這個現象，現在此類排行榜是否還有參考的價值呢? 文中也提到相較於十年前的榜單，這一期的作品不再世故(worldly)，不再試圖用文字去批判和修正時代的軌跡，而是全然的向內探索，整本書都在描寫個體的情緒，內心的獨白這一類敘事。

書中的故事有幾篇極具巧思，短篇小說可以塞進那麼多情節變化，不愧是高手。但也有一些普普通通。英國有數百年的小說創作傳統，在這些作品上面依然可見其影響。大英帝國的文化多采多姿，光一個不列顛群島依照區域就有各種文學群像，這也反映在書中，例如融合威爾斯語、蘇格蘭語、愛爾蘭語(凱爾特語)的英語。21世紀的英國文學一直在處理後殖民時代的問題，可以想見一定有關於種族的故事，例如黑人、伊斯蘭、印度人等前殖民地的移民在當代英國社會面臨的困境。2016年脫歐以後，英國人也一直在思考他們的歐洲認同感(What is British?)， 所以一定也有相關的著墨。

另外剛有提到這些故事聚焦在內心小劇場，例如其中一篇就是描寫一對女性友人一起去spa放鬆的過程，這樣也可以入選很扯吧~不過如果你懂意識流的概念，就知道這種瑣碎的細節臨摹有它的藝術性，用文字把瞬間記錄為永恆，其實是文學存在的必要性。

Granta還有推出過最佳年輕巴西小說家、美國小說家、以西班牙語寫作的小說家等名單，或者是某一期聚焦於單一國家，例如澳洲、日本、加拿大、印度，將此國家的知名文學作家齊聚一堂，讓讀者用文字去深度探索不同的文化圈。

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've collected and read all of these. I hope to see two more at least! Such a great guide to the future Big British Writers. Also, because they're a decade apart, they show very interesting trends and shifts in writing styles and themes. Keep up the good work Granta.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always enjoy these collections, and there are usually a couple of authors that become favourites, not that I can predict that in advance. A couple of the standout ones for me were Sara Name, Elet Williams, Olivia Sudjuc and Sophie Mackintosh.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

really interesting collection of stories ! most good, some dull, a few fantastic !

[Harris Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike the Eurovision Song Contest, art should not be a competition, so I won't give marks out of 10 for each piece of writing. Criticism being a form of censorship seems a bit distasteful since this is a celebration of young authors.

That said, apart from the buoyancy of 'Wales' by Thomas Morris, the no-nonsense 'The Cloud Factory' by Graeme Armstrong, and the quirky quality of 'Rostrum' by Eley Williams, most of the writing was a little dour and dull.

That said the piece that transcended dour and dull by some way was 'Ivor' by Camilla Grudova. Though not my favourite, she among all the 23 would seem capable of equalling Granta's 'Best of Young British Novelists' illustrious predecessors.

I'm convinced I was reading about paedophilia, pubescent sex, masturbation, infantilism, bestiality, murder, mass suicide and a young boy's crush on a head monitor. The 'Boys Own' or 'Just William' style of delivery wrong-footed me, but I sensed it was a savage inditement of public schools and their alumni who are destined to live as perpetual public schoolboys.

I enjoyed Eliza Clark's voice and the strangeness of her writing and am encouraged to buy her novel 'Penance'.

Likewise, Jenifer Atkins wrote in a Cusk-esque-like way and did it very well. It was smooth, suave and elegant; similar to the dinner party wine and those who inhabit this gentle, nuanced story of relationships in an upper-middle class group of friends. Beautifully written, with amusing flashbacks and notes of smells, sounds and half-hidden feelings permeating the text.

Tom Crewe's 'The Room-Service Waiter' is a simple story beautifully told with undertones of lost friendships and lovers. Overall conjures an enigmatic and wistful ambience that leaves one with a touch of melancholy and vicarious regrets.

Good luck to all 23.

[Chris]

I was intrigued by the photos of the authors accompanying their stories. Of the 20, only 4 looked directly at the viewer (the camera). The rest stared off at some middle space, or worse, at some faraway distance where all their ideas come from. A couple photos looked candid, like the author didn’t know they were being photographed. Those seem unpretentious. One photo, of Anna Metcalfe, appears posed, is captivating because of the position of her hands, one hand fingers a thin necklace she wears, the other holds the first hand to herself. It appears a gesture of supplication or piety. I thought of baroque portraits of saints.
Anna’s story was enjoyable; a tale of dating and connecting more with the date’s child than the her father. I liked the economy of words used to portray the various, hesitant, relations. Camilla Grudova (looking at camera) had a nice magical realist piece called Ivor. Isabella Hammad (not looking at camera—could be a candid) reminded me how much British writers have grown in that her story has to do with an academic and his relation to the teachings and the person of an older, more distinguished Arabic colleague.
And, Graeme Armstrong wrote a challenging piece all in dialect. I kept thinking do I like this or am I merely pleased that I’ve figured out what he’s saying?
It’s interesting how the restrictions of the most recent pandemic appear in several of the pieces. I wonder if writing from 1919 show any similar recordings?

[Ben Breen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have thoroughly enjoyed dipping in and out of this issue over the last couple of months - there's a great range of styles, themes and voices represented. I definitely prefer the original short stories over the excerpts from longer works (although as this is a prize awarding novellists perhaps the excerpts are more authentic?). Many of the authors have found their way onto my "to-read" list.

Particular highlights:
* Graeme Armstrong's unique and authentic voice - written in Scottish dialect and colloquialism - ruminating on escaping gang culture and losing a sense of community.
* Eliza Clark's almost Lovecraftian she's always hungry, in a society where men absolutely cannot be trusted with anything (even knowledge) and the women do not seem to have their best interests at heart. Eerie, captivating and memorable.
* Tom Crewe's Room Service Waiter recalling what it was like to be painted by a great artist decades ago, and going to see the painting now on show for the first time
* Camilla Grudova's foreboding boarding school where something isn't quite right, and the charismatic older boy for whom the same is true
* Yara Rodrigues Fowler's friends at a spa day, discussing heartbreak and mental health within and around treatments
* Saba Sams' Gunk, which really captures something about what it is like to remain in a relationship where you know you are being mistreated, and the subtle ways confidence can be eroded
* Olivia Sudjic's dying town that is desperate to lure young women in and get them pregnant - the extract that most made me want to buy the full novel (a shame it isn't out for another year!)

[Kaltmamsell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Diesmal war ich bei Weitem nicht so angetan und bereichert wie vor zehn Jahren. Ich las hauptsächlich leise Geschichten, bekam wenige neue Einblicke, sei es erzähltechnisch, sprachlich oder inhaltlich. Daraus hervorstechend in meinen Augen; Tom Creeve, “The Room-Service Waiter”, die Geschichte eines älteren Manns in Paris, der einst einem jetzt berühmten Maler Modell gestanden hat. Außerdem Anna Marcalfe, “Circles”, ein entstehendes Paar, das sich über eine Online-Plattform findet. Ich begrüßte auch einige Ansätze nicht-realistischen Erzählens. Auffallend und bemerkenswert: Das wiederkehrende Thema Armut.

[nocturne89 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mixed bag, as these things tend to go. I appreciate the expansion of “genre” to include technical experimentation with narrative style. i do feel Granta does look for a specific kind of fiction but it’s hard to describe.

The stories that stood out to me:
She’s Always Hungry. I liked the pacing to match the lunacy and magic realism taking over the violence in the story.

A Dying Tongue. Precise work, I liked the run on sentences and progression of internal monologue in this one.

Gunk. Super vivid work, felt like real people.

Other good ones: Universality, Wales, Circles, Best Last Minute.., Ivor.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

We're raised in what would be a body of lies to someone else, truths expressed in a language that sings false to those of a different church, a different culture. All meaning is myth. But we can be convinced that our falsehoods are universal lore.

Although some of the pieces in here were a bit self-consciously literary (normally achieved by ending on a slightly obscure image), this was pretty consistently good. My favourites were "The Cloud Factory", "Ivor", "Circles", "Kweku", and "Gunk".

[Ray Quirolgico · Rating 3 out of 5]

This issue of Granta covers a range of young storytelling voices that are intended to show how (as stated in the editor’s introduction) writing can be mysterious. I found the very first story to be especially challenging because it is written in a phonetic vernacular that is hard to read. And for me, the rest of the collection felt consistently banal and observational and not as compelling as other issues.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the eight Granta magazines I have read this was by far the richest in content. Not, perhaps, surprising, containing writings from the 'Best of young British novelists', which also explains the 'carefully well-ironed' impression of the overall tone, the result of reading all twenty one by one in just three or four sittings. I'll likely look out for more of maybe half a dozen of them.

[Victoria & David Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I really like about Granta is the variety within each issue: fiction, non fiction, memoir, photography, reportage, and even poetry. Thus a complete issue of excerpts from current novelists is, by definition, not among my favorites. That said, there are two or three authors I look forward to reading more of.

[Vladimir Ghinculov · Rating 2 out of 5]

Granta's spring 2023 (number 163) issue was dedicated to the new voices of British writing. It was a perspective-changing experience for me. So many blandly (if not plainly badly) written and utterly boring texts... It does not bode well for UK's near-future literature. Of course there were (unfortunately, so few) exceptions: Natasha Brown's Universality, Eliza Clark's She's Always Hungry and Eleanor Catton's Doubtful Sound. My favorite was Ivor by Camilla Grudova.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of great stories in this collection. Some of them I've recommended to other readers. I hope to get more Granta collections. My favourites from this collection were: The Room Service Waiter by Tom Crewe, The Termite Queen Olivia Sudjic, Gunk by Saba Sams and Rostrum by Elley Williams which made laugh at the end. So many were good though its difficult to name them all.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not up on contemporary British fiction and not every story in this collection appealed, but on balance there was some really strong writing. A few authors with whose work I had no familiarity interested me enough to look into their work further.

[T P Kennedy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a slight volume. There are some good contributions but on the whole it's weak. Selecting a novelist and then giving them 10 or so pages to write may not be the best way of showcasing their work. One of the weaker Grantas!

[Johan Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niet echt een uitschieter gevonden; de beste verhalen:
Jennifer Atkins
Sara Baume
Eleanor Catton
Tom Crewe
Anna Metcalfe
Thomas Morris
Yara Rodrigues Fowler
Saba Sams
Olivia Sudjic
Eley Williams

[KFK · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating collection of short stories of Young British Novelists. Some better than others, but really good to see so much talent in one book.

My favourite is the story written in Scottish working class slang! That took a while to get used to!

[Abi Hockaday · Rating 3 out of 5]

some good, some mediocre, some bad. my favourites:
she's always hungry by eliza clark
ivor by camilla grudova
wales by thomas morris

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hit and miss. Some very good. Would’ve liked more context for each piece/story. I liked Eliza Clark’s, Camilla Grudova’s (particularly), Thomas Morris’, Saba Sams’.

[Charliecat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good edition. Excellent contributions from Sara Baume, Eliza Clark, Tom Crewe & Sophie MacIntosh. The others were good too!

Good writing has a future.

[Jeremy Jl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection from the Granta series promoting the work of young writers, some already quite well-known and others who soon will be. Now, how about a collection of work by older writers?!

[Eleanor Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved these short stories by the Granta young authors of the decade, lots of interesting and experimental writing. Looking forward to reading some of their longer works.