Published to coincide with Norway's Centennial Anniversary, this new volume in Harvill's celebrated Leopard series of anthologies comprises a selection of twenty-eight short stories. A collection of the most exciting and the most interesting short fiction being produced now and over the past four decades by Norwegian writers. The editors - a celebrated critic and academic, a distinguished publisher, and a renowned author - have made their selection to mark the centenary of Norway's secession from Sweden, a milestone that will be the occasion for extensive festivities and almost year-long cultural and diplomatic activity throughout 2005. The focus of the authors is, predictably and as the title of the anthology implies, in the real and raw concerns of contemporary life. The range of these stories, not a few by writers familiar to readers in English, is testament to the vigour and depth of Norway's literary genius.