One of the finest writers around… Known for the raw energy of his prose and characters that feel alive on the page, I encourage you to put this on your list of must-reads for 2013

Barrett's artful, unsparing and unsentimental stories confirm the arrival of a major talent.

It left me in tears. He is the most exciting writer producing right now. He has an incredible range, a unique voice, and has the power to move.

A. Igoni Barrett is a writer who has succeeded in making colloquial literature without seeking spurious attention by vulgar daring. Here is a reader’s entry to hearing on the page how contemporary communication, not only in his Nigeria, can be inventive. Love Is Power, or Something Like That is, to paraphrase its title: something alive, like that

A. Igoni Barrett does for Lagos what Chekhov did for Saint Petersburg and what Joyce did for Dublin, namely, to give a real face to a place that is too often maligned or mythologized

A bewitching juxtaposition of the grotesque and uplifting, rotten and humane

Barrett captures both the quotidian and the elevated with a gaze that is as relentless as it is sympathetic. Here’s a writer to watch

Brilliant, unforgettable, violent, compassionate

If you loved Out Stealing Horses, you won’t be disappointed by his razor-sharp debut… The language is simple, beautiful and cleansed of literary affectation. There is not a single superfluous word

There is both humour and tenderness… Petterson masters the art of writing simply of big subjects. As a reader, you have to read slowly and attentively to register everything, or read the book twice, which you gladly will

Dreamy and evanescent, [the stories] recall the opening pages of James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Full of heartache and the ways in which we hurt each other, and ourselves... Fans of Kennedy's quirky expressionism won't be disappointed.

Evidence that, at her best, there’s no-one to touch Kennedy.

Full of challenges and beauty.

This is a sure-footed and intelligently organized collection. These small pieces encompass an extensive emotional territory

An arresting collection that blends poetic imagery, raw emotion and cerebral insight

As subtle as the colour of Kitsune's silk

Russell is an amazing storyteller, and this book certainly whets the appetite for her next offering

‘[Barrett] cuts across all kinds of boundaries of class and education to produce immensely tender portraits of living characters.

This is an exceptional debut, and one of the best collection of short stories that I have read in years.

An exciting debut

I don’t think I’ve ever read a better collection by somebody I had never heard of

A technically-assured collection that never disappoints