Public library and other stories

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

A richly inventive new collection of stories from the MAN BOOKER PRIZE-SHORTLISTED and WOMEN'S PRIZE-WINNING author of How to be both and the critically acclaimed Seasonal quartet

Why are books so powerful? What do the books we read make of us? And what does the vanishing of public libraries say about us?

These stories are about what we do with books and what they do with us: how they travel with us; how they shock us, change us, challenge us, banish time while making us older, wiser and ageless all at once; how they remind us to pay attention to the world we make.

Public libraries are places of joy, freedom, community and discovery - and right now they are under threat from funding cuts and widespread closures across the UK and further afield. With this brilliantly inventive collection, Ali Smith raises her voice in defence of our public libraries, celebrating their essential place in our culture and history.

'Smith is dazzling in her daring. Sheer inventive power' Observer

'In Ali Smith we have a writer whose dazzling sophistication will surely be celebrated, studied and argues over hundreds of years after we're gone' Scotsman

© Ali Smith 2015 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Critics Review

  • Publisher’s description. A story collection from the peerless, multi-award-winning Ali Smith. What do we do with books – and what do they do with us? How do books shock us, change us, challenge us, banish time while making us older, wiser and ageless all at once? And how might they remind us to pay attention to the world we make?

    Penguin

  • Smith is dazzling in her daring. Sheer inventive power

    Observer

  • Ali Smith is a one-off. Her imagination and originality make her one of the most exciting novelists of her generation

    Daily Express

  • In Ali Smith we have a writer whose dazzling sophistication will surely be celebrated, studied and argues over hundreds of years after we’re gone

    Scotsman

  • Smith’s world is incredibly generous – it’s a place where all sorts of stories and human connections are possible

    Metro

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