Work

Crime fiction and chick lit are the two contemporary genres that explore the experience of work and the challenges of the workplace really well. In more general fiction, it is often an area of a character's life that is ignored, in spite of the fact that many people gain so much of their identity from their employment. In this month's focus, four writers take this arena and delve into the working life in detail, exploring what is interesting, dull, dangerous, exciting and unsettling about working lives.

Music

Music has always had its place in literature and a number of contemporary writers, including authors such as Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner and Sarah Champion have cleverly used the music scene as a cultural touchstone and as a way of exploring contemporary mores. In this month's special feature we examine how writers delve into the significance of music upon their characters' psyche, their physical and emotional responses to what they hear, and the environment in which they hear it. Youth culture, sexual attraction, drugs and bravado feature in these stories of contemporary life.

Building Books

The enthusiasm, reverence and passion which writers feel for other writers and the great literature they admire is the subject of this month's New Writing focus - Building Books. Two novelists and a critic explore their passion for books and writing through analysis of their own work and the writing of others that speaks to them in important and profound ways. Character, plot, biography and style are scrutinised alongside the way in which writers play and experiment with their work, find their inspiration and reach the cross-over point between fact and fiction.

Journeys

The idea of a journey is one which has fascinated writers for centuries; exploring the significance of both metaphorical and physical journeys, taking the theme as a starting point for exploring desire, change and adventure. In this month's feature four writers explore what the idea of journeys mean to them, using poetry and prose to tease out the longing, the regret and the hope inherent in the journeys embarked upon.

Siege

The war of wills and patience that unfolds during a siege has been the subject of powerful storytelling for millennia, and won't lose its appeal any time soon. The trio of works from New Writing 15 that fall under the siege rubric each address very different aspects of the word.

Haunting

From Shakespeare's Banquo to Casper the Friendly Ghost, stories of spectres, phantoms and apparitions have entertained for centuries. However, in the hands of Moniza Alvi, Anita Desai and Karen McCarthy, the traditions of the ghost story are manipulated, twisted and turned on their head, offering the reader a new interpretation of a classic genre.

Languages

Languages represent many significant truths about our culture, as do the idioms, dialects, slang and speech patterns of a society. Class, status, gender or race are also constantly expressed through what we say and how we say it. The implications of language are one of the elements presented in the work of the four writers highlighted in this section. The work of Lucy Eyre, Lisa Fugard, Nii Ayikwei Parkes and M. R. Peacocke varies in focus, genre and theme, but these writers share a fascination with and enthusiasm for the words that we use.

Loss

Three poems and a short story explore ideas around loss - an experience that many have encountered in their lives, often with devastating consequences. These include a loss of self and identity, the cost of violence and cruelty, the death of loved ones and the losses that seem small but are irreplaceable and fragile. Bringing with them their different idioms, experiences, cultures and knowledge Kwame Dawes, Helen Dunmore, Robin Robertson and Henry Shukman create diverse, poignant and memorable pieces of writing that are also thought-provoking, original and occasionally disturbing.

Clothes

Clothes offer significant markers about individuals and societies as well as revealing profound truths about beliefs, identity and values. In the three pieces featured in this month's New Writing notes, we are offered insight into different cultures, histories and imaginations that are revealed through the clothing that people wear. Rahat Kurd and Sharmistha Mohanty provide insight into the status of women through their clothing while Adam Marek's short story is a shocking tribute to the power of a child's imagination.

Couples

This month's focus includes two poems and one short story that explore ideas around couples and the intensity of relationships - sexual encounters, romance, affairs. Catherine Smith's animated poem considers romance and desire, Henry Shukman writes achingly of an illicit relationship and Charles Lambert's short story is full of the thrill of the hunt. The pieces are also significant for their observations on the largeness of the world we inhabit and our ability to maintain long - distance and international relationships, and remove our romantic interludes to other parts of the world.

Writers on Writing

These days writers are expected to directly engage with their readers and discuss their work on the literary circuit, entertaining audiences and answering questions. However, the inner workings of a writer's mind still remains a mystery and it is refreshing to find two writers in New Writing 15 who have exposed themselves in essays on the nature of their creativity, discussing the highs and lows, the ups and downs and the ins and outs of what it takes to be a writer.

Public Spaces

The idea of a public place suggests an environment in which propriety is maintained and the boundaries of appropriate behaviour are respected. However, in the writing featured in this month's focus, which takes as its theme the idea of Public Space, those boundaries are stretched, but in a restrained and private way which cleverly and subtly reveals the personal dramas taking place beneath an apparently calm surface.