978-1-915789-02-0
90 pages, 198 × 129 mm
28 April 2023,
Read a sample of the book here!
"Charlie Hill’s The State of Us is a clear-eyed, comic, occasionally angry but deeply humane flick through climate collapse, war, political instability, armageddon, competitive parents and warring foodies. He never lets his ire overwhelm his empathy, though, and has an auteur’s eye for a perfectly-timed hard cut. It’s funny but it’s not funny, and in that uncomfortable space Hill captures something essential about humanity."
- Will Ashon, Author of 'Clear Water' (Faber)
“this is no fairy story but a story of human beings”
In Charlie Hill’s satirical short story collection, people stare. Behind twitching curtains. Behind the lens of a camera. With an eye reminiscent of Samuel Beckett, Charlie Hill invites you to be privy to strange social experiments, laugh at the pomp of the privileged classes and dwell in space, floating in the introspection of your thoughts. As these stories delve into questions of human nature, you just might recognise yourself…
✨Joanna Kavenna, novelist, says "Wonderful - a collection of brilliantly inventive absurdist tales from our increasingly fictional reality. If Kafka had come from Birmingham and written about climate change, feminism, war, food, parenting and space travel, then the result might well have resembled The State of Us. The best sort of hilarious and poignant satire."✨
AUTHOR DETAILS
Charlie Hill is an internationally-acclaimed author from Birmingham. He has written long and short form memoir, and contemporary, historical and experimental fiction. He is the co-founder and former Director of a literary festival, the PowWow Festival of Writing, which ran from 2011 to 2017 and featured guests such as Joanne Harris, Alex Wheatle, Stewart Home and Natalie Haynes. He has also appeared at many such events, including Frankfurt’s Literaturm and the Birmingham Literary Festival.
Satire from experienced writer Charlie Hill, who has been interviewed by Mariella Frostrup on BBC Radio 4’s Open Book.
– ‘tremendous storytelling verve’ - Ruth Gilligan
– 'Charlie Hill is a real writer' - Jim Crace
– From pronouncing correctly the Fuvahmulah island in the Maldives (-it's Foo-va-moo-lah-) to describing meltdowns and ice cream flavours in the International Space Station, Charlie Hill delivers provocations in every sentence.
