“It was enjoyable to be in his company again. To exchange news of friends and family, laugh, and dig out all the little memories which in the last years had fallen through the sieve of her brain like so much sand. He was fun, and funny. It felt painful but good, like the sharp ache when your teeth hit ice cream.
Even though they had lived the same number of years since they’d last seen each other, the fact that only Keiko had grown older seemed to give her a little more weight in the pairing. Where Nathan used to want to teach her things, now here she was, feeling strangely maternal towards her ex-husband.”
Who Wants to Live Forever
Who Wants to Live Forever is a speculative novel rooted in realism and the details of everyday lives and relationships. Spanning a thirty-year time period, it examines the fallout from the introduction of a new drug which extends the human lifespan and halts ageing for those who can afford it. Examining themes of love, class, science, race, and parenthood, it asks questions about what it means to be human and what makes a good life.
Hanna is a British Japanese writer working towards an MA in Prose Fiction at the University of East Anglia. Her work has been published by Bad Form, Baesianz, Badlands Zine, Crooked Arrow Press, Dear Damsels, and The Selkie. She can be found on Instagram @hannamade and on Twitter @hannathomas.
Hanna’s AWW mentor is Natalie Edwards. She has gone on to win the 2022 Morley Prize.