Books in the Reading the City series

The Book of Newcastle brings together some of the city's most renowned literary talents, along with exciting new voices, proving that while Newcastle continues to feel the effects of its lost industrial past, it is also a city striving for a future that brims with promise.

A unique anthology of ten stories set in the dazzling metropolis of contemporary Tokyo, translated into English for the first time.

This anthology brings together ten short stories that go beyond the postcards and snapshots, and introduce us to real residents of Rio - young dancers training to be the next stars of samba, exhausted labourers press-ganged into meeting an impossible deadline, nostalgic drag queens... that make Rio the 'marvellous city' it is.

Traversing the different neighbourhoods and districts, the stories gathered here attempt to capture the essence of contemporary Jakarta and its writing, as well as the ever-changing landscape of the fastest-sinking city in the world.

From the neglected mother whose side-hustle becomes an obsession, to the schoolboy determined to end a long-standing feud, the characters in The Book of Shanghai show a defiance that reminds us why Shanghai - despite its hurtling economic growth - remains an epicentre for individual creativity.

Bringing together fiction from celebrated writers, The Book of Venice is an anthology of short stories charting the social and and cultural change of Venice over the last fifty years, creating a literary map of the city.

Just like Dhaka itself, these stories thrive on the rich interplay between folk culture and high art; they both cherish and lampoon the city's great tradition of political protest, and they pay tribute to a nation that was borne out of a love of language, one language in particular, Bangla (from which all these stories have been translated).

Ramallah, the de facto capital of the West Bank, hemmed in and suffocated by the Occupation as the Oslo Peace Accords have failed. The stories collected here showcase the resilience and humour of its people, who continue to live through countless sieges, and yet still find the time, and resourcefulness, to create.

Iceland is a land of stories; from the epic sagas of its mythic past, to its claim today of being home to more writers than anywhere in the world. Reykjavik, a fishing-village-turned-metropolis, has been both revered and reviled by Icelanders, with tension rising between the city and the surrounding countryside, its rural past and urban present.

Bringing together fiction from celebrated writers, The Book of Barcelona is an anthology of short stories charting the social and and cultural change of Barcelona over the last fifty years, creating a literary map of the city.