Published to mark one hundred years since Kafka’s death, A Cage Went in Search of a Bird gathers ten contemporary writers responding to Kafka.

The result is a sharp, varied collection of stories full of boards, hotels, doorways, institutions, impossible instructions, bodily unease, and that very Kafkaesque feeling of having entered a system whose rules are both absurd and brutally serious.

The contributor list is strong: Ali Smith, Joshua Cohen, Elif Batuman, Naomi Alderman, Tommy Orange, Helen Oyeyemi, Charlie Kaufman and others, with an introduction by Becca Rothfeld. It’s a good anthology for readers interested in Kafka’s influence, contemporary literary fiction, bureaucratic dread, dream logic and cosmic horror. A handsome hardback edition, and a nice bridge between classic weirdness and current literary fiction.

Hardback first published in Great Britain by Abacus in 2024. Near new condition, with only very minor handling wear visible to the cover. Pages clean and unread; binding is tight.