Close Encounters

The pieces of writing included in this section are eerie, haunting and disturbing, preying on the idea of the unknown. Unexplored corners of our lives, surprising circumstances and menacing creatures all feature in ways that tease and tantalise the reader, drawing them further and further into the depths of the story. Writing across genres (short story, poetry and memoir) the work profiled is dazzling, evocative and poignant.

Dispossession

Dispossession - that sense of deprivation and dislodgement is a highly topical issue worldwide that three writers, Nick Barlay, Douglas Cowie and Ogaga Ifowodo all explore on a smaller but equally meaningful scale. Nick Barlay looks at the way that our beliefs define ourselves, Douglas Cowie examines the nature of exile and longing in a story of mystery and intrigue that merely hints at the protagonists past and Ogaga Ifowodo explores the meaning and power of words in confinement.

Altered States

This month's featured texts explore the idea of altered states: the surprises that unexpectedly can change entire lives, the endless new possibilities available through determination and desire, the profound effect of nature on humanity and the possibilities inherent in unconsciousness. Many writers have explored how altered states can affect the way we lead our lives, and in this focus we look at the prose and poetry of three writers who have brought their own skill and ingenuity to a great literary tradition.

The Innocent Eye

The complexity around notions of childhood innocence is something that has proved to be fertile ground for the imagination of many writers. In her powerful novel extract Jane Feaver reflects upon the naivety of Bobby and her siblings in The Railway Children, comparing them to the more complex childhood experiences of Ruth and her siblings. Carrie Etter's poem 'Drought' is an intriguing meditation upon the capacity for control that children - sometimes unwittingly, sometimes not - can create, and how this affects and awes the adult onlookers.

Origins

The origin of something is the point from which it is initiated, or the thing from which it is ultimately derived. This feature discusses the work of three writers who have all explored what their origins mean to them, both their physical beginnings and the land and people that contributed to making them what they are. Paul Muldoon, Greta Stoddart and Kirsty Gunn all have at least part of their roots in a country different from where they currently live and their exploration of personal identity and history offers fascinating insights.

Abroad

The notion of 'abroad' is a concept that has intrigued the British for most of the 19th and 20th centuries - both the idea of travelling themselves and also through reading about it in the work of favoured British authors, from E. M. Forster to translations of Flaubert and Balzac to contemporary writers, including Julian Barnes and Martin Amis. It is by exploring the world of others who may appear foreign and different that in some way we can explore our world and gain a better understanding of ourselves.

Memory

Memory is a powerful force. Almost as significant as a sense, it is an element of the human mind that many writers call on to create some of their most powerful and poignant writing. Maura Dooley, M. Pinchuk, Sean O'Brien and Abdulrazak Gurnah all approach the different emotions that memory can invoke: consolation, pain, nostalgia, melancholy as well as more tangible elements such as music or landscape with a sensitivity and lingering thoughtfulness that brings back to the reader many of their own personal memories and an examination of things that speak to them individually.

Purposes Mistook

'And, in this upshot, purposes mistook fall'n on th' inventors' heads' is a quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet and suggests confusion and disorientation. The texts featured in this month's New Writing focus - novel extracts by Jane Rogers and Vicky Grut - are notable for the feelings of tension and foreboding prevalent in both. The pieces of writing also combine uneasy journeys, a sense of physical malaise and the strain of sleep and nightmares which heighten the agitation of both main characters as they attempt to solve their own particular conundrums.

Visions

The idea that we can find meaning through the foresight, dreams and revelations of others is a powerful one and has intrigued writers throughout history, both those who believe in the idea of visions and those who take a more sceptical approach. In the work of poets Don Paterson and Joan Michelson and cultural critic and novelist, Marina Warner, the profound significance of the visionary is explored in an eclectic range of moving, significant and engaging pieces of writing.

Going Home

The idea of home can suggest a potent combination of memories and emotions. This month's New Writing focus explores the complex feelings that surface when a journey home is undertaken after a new life has been made in a very different place. Through the short stories of Romesh Gunesekera and Anuradha Vijayakrishnan we probe powerful emotions around change, identity, family and friendships.

Rituals

The theme for this month's New Writing focus is rituals; the various ways that we observe the customs, traditions and protocols of our culture. These can be informal events, such as the enigmatic Khan, in James Lasdun's powerful story, who visits the same jeweller each time he buys a gift for a new partner, or they can be the more traditional rites, such as birthdays, funerals, divorces and seasonal changes that feature in the poetry of Carrie Etter, Chenjerai Hove and Paul Perry.

Yearnings

Esther Freud's novel extract has a beautiful dreamlike quality to it, as she explores the awakening of her central character, Lara, through a burgeoning relationship with her father and the adventure they embark on together...