From the voices of protestors to the encroachment of a new fascism, everywhere we look power is revealed. This thought-provoking issue of the acclaimed literary annual Freeman’s explores who gets to say what matters in a time of social upheaval.

Margaret Atwood posits it’s time to update the gender of werewolf narratives. Aminatta Forna shatters the silences which supposedly ensured her safety as a woman of colour walking in public space. The narrator of Lan Samantha Chang’s short story assumes control of her family’s finances to buy a house. Meanwhile the hero of Tahmima Anam’s story achieves freedom by selling bull semen. Josephine Rowe recalls a gallery attendee trying to take what was not on offer when she worked as a life-drawing model. Booker Prize winner Ben Okri watches power stripped from the residents of Grenfell Tower by ferocious neglect.

Featuring the work of new writers Nicole Im, Jaime Cortez and Nimmi Gowrinathan, as well as some of the world’s best storytellers, including Tracy K. Smith, Aleksandar Hemon and Elif Sharak, Freeman’s: Power escapes from the headlines of today by going to the heart of the issue.