I am delighted to welcome you to Issue 8 of The International Literary Quarterly.

First of all, it gives me enormous pleasure to introduce the following distinguished literary figures, from a range of cultures, all of whom have kindly agreed to act as Consulting Editors of Interlitq with effect from this issue: Daniel Albright, Leonard Barkan, Shadi Bartsch, Thomas Bartscherer, Susan Bassnett, David Bellos, Charles Bernstein, Elleke Boehmer, Eavan Boland, Stephen Booth, Carmen Boulossa, Rachel Bowlby, Svetlana Boym, Peter Brooks, Marina Brownlee, Alain de Botton, Carmen Bugan, Junot Díaz, Denis Donoghue, Robert Elsie, Stefano Evangelista, Tibor Fischer, Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Marjorie Garber, Anne Garréta, Paul Giles, Vasco Graça Moura, A. C. Grayling, Stephen Greenblatt, Lavinia Greenlaw, Edith Grossman, Boris Groys, David Harsent, Benjamin Harshav, Molly Haskell, Kathryn Hughes, Djelal Kadir, John Kelly, Annette Kolodny, Julia Kristeva, George Landow, Chang-Rae Lee, Julia Lovell, Alberto Manguel, Ben Marcus, Paul Mariani, Richard McCabe, Jamie McKendrick, Susanna Moore, Martha Nussbaum, Tim Parks, Caryl Phillips, Elena Poniatowska, Elizabeth Powers, Elizabeth Prettejohn, Martin Puchner, Kate Pullinger, Paula Rabinowitz, James Richardson, Ritche Robertson, Avital Ronell, Michael Scammell, Celeste Schenck, Sudeep Sen, Werner Sollors, Frances Spalding, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Rebecca Stott, Mark Strand, Kathryn Sutherland, John Whittier Treat, David Treuer, David Trinidad, Michael Wood and Theodore Zeldin.

In terms of contributors, Issue 8 features yet another outstanding line-up of literary talent, with evocative poetry by Shanta Acharya, Evgeny Baratynsky, Peter France, Ian Patterson, Mori Ponsowy, Jem Poster, Fiona Sampson and Judith Taylor; compelling prose by Mary Caponegro, Aamer Hussein, Edie Meidav, Joan Retallack and Leslie Woodard; and lucid and trenchant critical articles by John Stauffer, Karen Thornber and Stephen Wilson. And all of these texts are embellished by the haunting artwork, inspired by his dearly beloved Menorca, of Kenneth Draper RA.

I very much hope that you will enjoy Issue 8 of The International Literary Quarterly, and that you will return to visit us in November.