A Cage Went in Search of a Bird

Ten Kafkaesque Stories

Charlie Kaufman author Ali Smith author Helen Oyeyemi author Yiyun Li author Keith Ridgway author Elif Batuman author Naomi Alderman author Tommy Orange author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Little, Brown Book Group

Publishing:1st May '25

£9.99

This title is due to be published on 1st May, and will be despatched as soon as possible.

Preorder, due to be dispatched around 1st May 2025

A Cage Went in Search of a Bird cover

'Kafka himself would love it' The i
'As captivating as it is thought-provoking' Glamour
'Unsettling and uneasy' Daily Mail
'Glorious' Harper's Bazaar

A collection of brand-new short stories written by major international writers and inspired by Kafka


What happens when Kafka's idionsyncratic imagination meets some of the greatest literary minds writing in English across the globe today? In this collection of stories, commissioned to commemorate one hundred years since his death, ten of our most celebrated international writers take ideas of Kafka's - motifs from his stories, titles of his famous works, or unfinished fragments left behind in his Blue Octavo Notebooks - and run with them to make something new.

This inspired anthology demonstrates the enduring influence of Franz Kafka's fatalistic worldview and mordant humour ... These stories will do the trick for the Kafka-curious and diehard fans alike * Publishers Weekly *
Unsettling and uneasy ... brimful of the dark claustrophobia that made Kafka's work so startling and suffocating * Daily Mail *
This collection is quite the achievement ... both ridiculous and brilliant. Thank goodness it exists. Kafka himself would love it * i-paper *
A glorious new collection of short stories inspired by the angst-ridden absurdism of the Czech writer * Harper's Bazaar *
A kaleidoscope of Kafkaesque tales woven by a brilliant and diverse array of renowned and talented authors ... Readers are treated to a rich tapestry of narratives, each as captivating as it is thought-provoking * Glamour *
Mind-bending and consistently enjoyable ... A Cage Went in Search of a Bird is a roller coaster ride that will delight the adventuresome reader ... It's easy to imagine Kafka paging through these varied and deeply imagined tales and nodding in admiration * BookPage *
Offer narratives of baffling circumscriptions, illnesses, miscommunications, and technologies. But the stories also make space for potentiality, with characters witnessing change or glimpsing future possibilities - putting Kafka's turn-of-the-century disillusionment into conversation with our own * Poets & Writers *
A boon for Kafkaheads everywhere * The Millions *
Eerie, darkly comic, vertiginously varied ... a refreshing range of responses to the absurdist nature of modern life * Financial Times *

ISBN: 9780349146423

Dimensions: 198mm x 126mm x 22mm

Weight: unknown

256 pages