Five Dials

A free literary magazine from Hamish Hamilton

Number 49 | Unsettled Lands

‘Gayness, queerness, gender plurality, plural pronouns – Africa got there two millennia ago.’

Marlon James on the vast world of Black Leopard, Red Wolf

'War is complicated. Revenge is complicated. These things carry costs. It was very important for me, even though I was writing a fantasy novel, to make it a very grown up book.'

‘How could this possibly be mysterious? Where could this take us?’

A conversation with Tana French

'I’ve looked at criminal investigations through a detective’s eyes six times. But there are a lot of other people involved. There are witnesses, there are victims, there are suspects, there are perpetrators...'

The Body-Text Speaks

What happens when an author subverts the conventions of the book? By Alan Trotter

What are the parts of a book? There is a front and a back, there are the pages: not much to name. Let’s make the attempt though.

Number 48

Glitches

Sam Byers on Autechre, new fiction from Niamh Campbell, artwork from Stanley Donwood, a treat for Scorpios from Sophie Mackintosh and an interview with Adam Phillips

Number 47

Other People

A special issue of unfurling illustrations by the artist Paul Davis. As you scroll down through the issue you’ll see ink drawings, pen drawings, paintings of volcanoes, sculpture and, thankfully, more than one flowchart. Look for a gloriously murky painting of the Thames.

Number 46

What is it good for?

Features Pat Barker on the silence of women in warfare, Antony Beevor on the trials of researching in Russian military archives, plus a former British soldier re-examines the journal he wrote in Basra and an intrepid photographer tracks down the fields and lanes where WW1 deserters were shot.