You, Bleeding ChildhoodLong before the latest vogue for autofiction, Michele Mari, one of Italys most beloved authors, cast his mind back to the days of his own childhood, and found it crawling with monsters. Raised on comic books and science fiction, the young Mari constructed an alternate universe for himself untouched by uncomprehending grownups or sadistic peers. Compared to the horrors of real life, Long John Silver and Cthulhu made for positively cuddly company; but

Alaa al-Aswany Two short stories

Captured by the ruthless – and gormless – Criminarch of Radishia

when the law closed in

Can she make sense of herself in relation both to her own family and the Trinidadian family she marries into

There’s free accommodation here – and garden smorgasbord quite near – with yummy aphids

Znak’s stories in different voices chart 100 days in prison in Belarus today

Banipal 33 includes many book reviews to whet readers’ appetites

beer and bourbon and Brêton cider

On his trip he encounters corrupt police

Leslie Thompson’s life was not without its tragedies

At once familiar and strange

Tatyana Bek