The Book of Other People

The Book of Other People is about character. Twenty-five or so outstanding writers have been asked by Zadie Smith to make up a fictional character. By any measure, creating character is at the heart of the fictional enterprise, and this book concentrates on writers who share a talent for making something recognizably human out of words (and, in the case of the graphic novelists, pictures). But the purpose of the book is variety: straight and realism if such a thing exists is not the point. There are as many ways to create character as there are writers, and this anthology features a rich assortment of exceptional examples. Some of the writers featured in The Book of Other People include: Aleksandar Hemon, Nick Hornby, Hari Kunzru, Toby Litt, David Mitchell, George Saunders, Colm Tóibín, Chris Ware.