Sample Story – The Invisible Village

‘Thanks to the astuteness of Alam’s ability to weave individual stories into one coherent protagonist, there’s enough here to give even the most elusive Whitehall cost-cutter a chance to understand what it is to be a community.’ – Philip Wood, The Student Journals. Here’s a sample of one of the individual stories from The Invisible [...]

The Invisible Village

In a Britain that is still said to be characterised by increasing segregation, deprivation and social divisions, the Big Society aims to create a climate that empowers people and communities to help themselves. But when we talk about what’s best for our neighbourhoods, how often do we look beyond the headlines to see the reality [...]

Reflections on Writing Short Stories

M Y Alam’s paper ‘Identity politics and the conditions of production: Reflections on writing Short Stories’, which he recently presented at the 11th International Conference on the Short Story in English, has been published on route-online.com Here is a small extract.

Stories behind the Stories

A series of small interviews with the authors featured in The Route Book at Bedtime has been posted on route-online.com The Route Book at Bedtime (Route 22) is a book of 12 stories that aims to capture those moments of deep emotional significance which return to us in our dreams. But what is the story behind the stories? In this feature, 10 of the authors talk about the inspiration behind the work. Here are a few samples.