Cirrus@Austlit

'A chance to live in the grand house of the former Prohibition-era San Francisco mayor introduces a memorable housemate.' 

'I traced the edge of the table with my finger. Increasing tension and a haggard nail drove a series of small pale gouges into the ruby-brown patina.' 

'Thrust into the heaving metropolis of Delhi, I shed flight fatigue and took up that strange energy, a sort of heightened awareness that travellers feel when they arrive somewhere new. I stared out at everything as we jerked along in a beat-up Honda driven by Sam, our host and friend.' 

'A trip to Iran offers a reminder that people are not their governments and governments aren't always their people.'

'This suburb has not that many trees. A few blocks away I can see the orange neon sign, a petrol station. I pull the car over on the side of a road. We sit in silence for almost a minute...' 

'Chien woke in the dark, before sunrise, just as the rooster began to crow. A gentle heat, sweet and damp, lingered in the air. His brother was coming today. They had not seen each other in forty years...'

'Gerard Elson talks to Rebecca Starford and Hannah Kent about the origins of the magazine, their working relationship and what is in store for KYD in the future.'