Either brand new or previously unpublished in the UK, the short stories by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Russell Celyn Jones, Peter Ho Davies and Richard Milward will leave readers longing for more. Alongside these fantastic contributors are 22 edited stories by some of the most talented writers on the Creative Writing programme at Birkbeck, University of London, and a preface commissioned specifically for MIR6 from Jean McNeil.

          This stunning collection continues to confirm The Mechanics’ Institute Review as an important source of emerging writers. Around every corner are fresh, new voices; writers taking their imagination in fascinating directions.

          In these tales, moments of birth, death and redemption are dissected and stark revelations extracted. A cabbie’s philosophy about love, releasing a mother’s ashes, the shadowy legacy of war and the search for that elusive blue Smartie all feature in this vibrant anthology. From breakfast in the Bisti Badlands to night-fishing for girls in Split, each story reveals a different view of human frailty and its consequences.

          This issue also features a range of beautifully typeset quotations about the art of writing.