Smith Zadie (ed.) The Book of Other People

An anthology of stories edited by Zadie Smith. A stellar host of writers explore the cornerstone of fiction writing: character.Judith Castle by David Mitchell
Justin M. Damiano by Daniel Clowes
Frank by A. L. Kennedy
Gideon by ZZ Packer
Gordon by Andrew O’Hagan
Hanwell Snr by Zadie Smith
J. Johnson by Nick Hornby, with illustrations by Posy Simmonds
Lélé by Edwidge Danticat
The Liar by Aleksandar Hemon
Jordan Wellington Lint by Chris Ware
Magda Mandela by Hari Kunzru
The Monster by Toby Litt
Nigora by Adam Thirlwell
Judge Gladys Parks-Schultz by Heidi Julavits
Puppy by George Saunders
Rhoda by Jonathan Safran Foer
Soleil by Vendela Vida
Roy Spivey by Miranda July
Cindy Stubenstock by A. M. Homes
Theo by Dave Eggers
Perkus Tooth by Jonathan Lethem
Donal Webster by Colm Tóibín
Newton Wicks by Andrew Sean GreerThe Book of Other People is about character. Twenty-five or so outstanding writers have been asked by Zadie Smith to make up a fictional character. By any measure, creating character is at the heart of the fictional enterprise, and this book concentrates on writers who share a talent for making something recognizably human out of words (and, in the case of the graphic novelists, pictures). But the purpose of the book is variety: straight "realism" - if such a thing exists - is not the point. There are as many ways to create character as there are writers, and this anthology features a rich assortment of exceptional examples.