Tales of Two Londons

Acapital city of historic buildings next to degraded social housing. A city ofthe enormously wealthy living beside the poorest and dispossessed. A city inwhich the burnt-out hulk of Grenfell Tower, standing in London's richestborough, is a shocking landmark to the potentially fatal consequences of oursociety's inequalities. A city in which nearly 40 per cent of the populationwas born outside of the country. Acity with stories to tell, but whose citizens' stories don't often seem to...
More Description

Acapital city of historic buildings next to degraded social housing. A city ofthe enormously wealthy living beside the poorest and dispossessed. A city inwhich the burnt-out hulk of Grenfell Tower, standing in London's richestborough, is a shocking landmark to the potentially fatal consequences of oursociety's inequalities. A city in which nearly 40 per cent of the populationwas born outside of the country. Acity with stories to tell, but whose citizens' stories don't often seem to comefrom the same place.

Tales of Two Londonsreasons that everybody has a right to seek a better life, no matter where theylive. Curatedby Claire Armitstead, this contradiction is illuminated in a collection writtenby as diverse a group of people as the metropolis it records. Here, work fromthe famous sits alongside the previously unpublished in fiction, reportage andpoetry to capture the nuances, accents and schisms that define thiscontemporary city.

Featuringwriters such as Ali Smith, Iain Sinclair, Arifa Akbar and Ruth Padel, andstories from previously unpublished writers, immigrants and refugees, Tales of Two Londons is a compellingcollection which captures the constantly evolving fabric and etiquette of thecity: its housing, its restaurants and its pubs; its communities, itsarchitecture and its landscape; its art, its buses and tubes, and even itsgraveyards.