About the event
Gloucester Road Books presents Karishma Jobanputra, who will be discussing her scintillating debut short story collection, The Body of the Thing, in conversation with award-winning poet and novelist, Nell Osborne.
One of 2026’s most widely anticipated debuts, the stories in The Body of the Thing, at their core, examine the ways in which women negotiate all manner of body politics. Written with great wit and a fierce sensitivity, it’s a stunner of a first outing and this is an event not to be missed.
Here’s more on the book from its award-winning publisher, And Other Stories:
A lyrical and visceral short story collection, The Body of the Thing unpicks the hierarchies that thrum under our relationships. Moving from bougie neighbourhoods in Manhattan to the sun-drenched piazzas of Italy, from coastal Maine to the bustle of London, these stories chase the fallout when women’s bodies are valued for their beauty and youth, dismissed and discarded when ill, or made useful as parents and caregivers. Fluid, sensual, and fearless, The Body of the Thing explores motherhood, body dysmorphia and eating disorders, and celebrates female desire in all its complicated wonder.
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‘Arresting, beautiful, humorous, observant, serious, all at the same time.’ Paul Beatty, Booker Prize-winning author of The Sellout
‘These stories are contemporary portraits of life across continents. Jobanputra’s careful prose depicts all the anxiety and claustrophobia of being alive. I can’t remember the last time I read a collection so compulsively.’ Sarvat Hasin, author of Strange Girls
Entry Requirements: 16+, any under 18s accompanied by 21+ adult 1:1 ratio
Details
Date:
Time:
Price: £7.00
Booking: Book here
Venue
Name: Gloucester Road Books,
Address: BS7 8NU