From the voices of protestors to the encroachment of a new fascism, everywhere we look power is revealed. This thought-provoking issue of the acclaimed literary annual Freeman’s explores who gets to say what matters in a time of social upheaval.

Margaret Atwood posits it’s time to update the gender of werewolf narratives. Aminatta Forna shatters the silences which supposedly ensured her safety as a woman of colour walking in public space. The narrator of Lan Samantha Chang’s short story assumes control of her family’s finances to buy a house. Meanwhile the hero of Tahmima Anam’s story achieves freedom by selling bull semen. Josephine Rowe recalls a gallery attendee trying to take what was not on offer when she worked as a life-drawing model. Booker Prize winner Ben Okri watches power stripped from the residents of Grenfell Tower by ferocious neglect.

Featuring the work of new writers Nicole Im, Jaime Cortez and Nimmi Gowrinathan, as well as some of the world’s best storytellers, including Tracy K. Smith, Aleksandar Hemon and Elif Sharak, Freeman’s: Power escapes from the headlines of today by going to the heart of the issue.

John Freeman is the former editor of Granta and the author of books including How to Read a Novelist. He is executive editor at the Literary Hub and teaches at the New School and New York University. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, New York Times and Paris Review, and has been translated into more than twenty languages.

‘If you don’t know this smart quarterly journal, think Granta with more variety and spirit.’ Washington Post

‘A motley collection of superb writing.’ Kirkus Reviews

‘Freeman’s is fresh, provocative, engrossing.’ BBC

‘A terrific anthology…sure to become a classic.’ San Francisco Chronicle

‘There’s an illustrious new journal in town…[with] fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by new voices and literary heavyweights…alike.’ Vogue

‘Freeman draws from a global cache of talent…An expansive reading experience.’ Kirkus Reviews

‘Freeman’s sets a new standard for literary journals…Refreshing.’ Chicago Literati