Speak to Strangers

What started as a web project for London Word Festival's '100 Days to Make Me a Better Person' project that Josie Long started in 2010 is now a beautifully-package collection of microfiction pieces from Gemma Seltzer.

The premise is simple enough: the book catalogues 100 sequential days where Gemma forced herself to talk to a stranger, recording each encounter in the process. Each story reveals a little about its author and her fears, regrets, memories, loves but there is an acute insight into each person she meets, from the way they carry themselves to how they relate to this stranger and her interaction with them. An arc emerges, we get a snapshot of life in London over the course of 100 days, how it moves and changes and is malleable to each of its inhabitants. A beautiful book in a beautiful package from a writer in command of her abilities, disseminating seemingly bitesize chunks that speak volumes.