This year's anthology is an eclectic collection of high quality prose, a rich and vivid read of startling, compelling and moving texts set across the world and close to home. Explore the unexpected: belly-dancing in Japan, the collapse of bricks and mortar in an ordinary street in an ordinary town, drugs buried in a Norfolk beet field or sample a still life on Brixton Station. Why does a canary sing in Kabul? What is the significance of the calf born in the snow? Infidelity and re-visited virginity, sinister origami and movie-making, the true nature of Jane Austen's dog and murder in Mexico. This is a book for the curious featuring winning entries from our annual new writing competition. This year's guest judge Emma Healey, author of 'Elizabeth is Missing,' has selected a range of texts that show us what it is to be human. Ann Abineri, Deborah Arnander, Susan K Burton, Caroline Davison, Sharon Eckman, Sarah Evans, Victoria Hattersley, Danusia Iwaszko, Sara Keene, Julie Kemmy, Isabelle King, Kathy Mansfield, C.G. Menon, Margaret Meyer, Nicola Miller, Antoinette Moses, Patricia Mullin, Glenys Newton, Dani Redd, Sarah Ridgard, Claudine Toutoungi and Louise Tree.