Women in the twenty-first century - from Kent to Accra - still live in a world in which the balance of power remains tipped towards men.

This bold, political issue of Granta magazine, Granta 115: The F-Word will explore this dynamic from a wide variety of literary genres and perspectives. In ‘You Speak to Save Your Life’, A.L. Kennedy investigates the surprising ways in which the human voice can be trapped and unlocked. Sara Wheeler retraces the American travels of Fanny Trollope, who uprooted to Ohio from England at the age of forty-eight and began an improbable second life. Julie Otsuka contributes a powerful piece of fiction about mail-order brides from Japan arriving in the US and with ‘The Sex Lives of African Girls’, the issue will introduce an astonishing new voice, Taiye Selasi, who spins a haunting story about the way adult sexuality can be imposed upon the young.

With award-winning reportage, memoir and fiction, over the years Granta has illuminated the most complex issues of modern life through the refractory light of literature. The F-Word will continue this tradition by addressing a theme many readers know has never lost its urgency.