Others

Proceeds from the book have already benefited the charities concerned: for news of these substantial donations, please see this update.

It doesn’t take much familiarity with the news to see that the world has become a more hate-filled place. In Others, a group of writers explore the power of words to help us to see the world as others see it, and to reveal some of the strangeness of our own selves. Through stories, poems, memoirs and essays, we look at otherness in a variety of its forms, from the dividing lines of politics and the anonymising forces of city life, through the disputed identities of disability, gender and neurodiversity, to the catastrophic imbalances of power that stands in the way of social equality.

Whether the theme is a casual act of racism or an everyday interaction with someone whose experience seems impossible to imagine, the collection challenges us to recognise our own otherness to those we would set apart as different.

Contributors include: Leila Aboulela, Gillian Allnutt, Damian Barr, Noam Chomsky, Rishi Dastidar, Peter Ho Davies, Louise Doughty, Salena Godden, Colin Grant, Sam Guglani, Matt Haig, Richard Holloway, Aamer Hussein, Anjali Joseph, A. L. Kennedy, Joanne Limburg, Rachel Mann, Tiffany Murray, Sara Novic, Edward Platt, Alex Preston, Tom Shakespeare, Kamila Shamsie, Will Storr, Preti Taneja and Marina Warner.

All net profits from the book are being donated to Stop Hate UK, which works to raise awareness of hate crime and encourage its reporting, and Refugee Action, which provides advice and support to refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

Order the paperback of Others from Bookshop.org, supporting independent retailers, or the digital edition directly from the publisher, Unbound.

A genuinely essential collection of essays on identity and otherness, urgently needed here and now. It’s about the failure of imagination and empathy (and common sense) that comes from seeing the world as us and them, when there is only we.

Max Porter

This is a fascinating and challenging collection of work exploring what it means to be ‘other’, whether by virtue of ethnicity, faith, health or the thousand ways we can be isolated by identity and experience. I cannot think of a time in living memory when this book would have been more urgent or more necessary.

Sarah Perry

How do we live with the self that we’ve lost, or how do we dignify others with undue self-regard? These are some of the ambitious contemplations examined by the profound, the witty and tender accounts in Others.

Daljit Nagra

There are some books which are necessary and there are some which are enjoyable and heart wrenching and wonderful; this is all of these things. A book to give to everyone you love.

Daisy Johnson

Others is a captivating exploration of what it means when you’re seen as different, and how much ‘otherness’ – in all its diverse forms – we recognise in ourselves. Others shows how words can be used to make the reader see the world from someone else’s perspective, with the central themes of humanity and hostility resonating long after you finish the final page. This is a rich, thought-provoking collection of writings against hate and in support of harmony; if ever there was a book for our unsettling times, Others is it.

Saba Salman

An impressive cluster of names… Otherness is everywhere… and not just in the obvious differences of sex, race and class.

New Statesman

Another superlative anthology from Unbound… an eclectic collection of pieces in which a diverse range of writers explore forms of otherness, and employ their ways with words to encourage us to see beyond ourselves at all times.

The Bookseller

A powerful crowdfunded collection, as a group of writers explore the power of words to help us see the world as others see it.

Irish Examiner

Extraordinary… unbearably touching… you will find your own triggers to reflection, value and beauty.

The Psychologist