This important collection brings together 34 working-class writers “in celebration, not apology”. There are essays, memoirs, stories and poetry, and most come from the heart. Louise Doughty tells of her aspirational, hard-working father, who left school at 13 and thought ITV and blue jeans were common. Stuart Maconie returns to his childhood home and recalls night-time football, slow-cooked steak and housing projects that almost lived up to their grandly utopian aims.

Previously unpublished writers also shine. Astra Bloom’s tale of a girl’s bittersweet moment of glory after she wins a writing competition is touching and beautifully told. Loretta Ramkissoon anchors her reminiscence around a tower block’s shared lifts, whose cold interiors nurture community spirit, decades of small talk building into something special as the floors rush by.

There are of course common threads – Margaret Thatcher, childhood, the barriers and snobbery that limit access to the publishing industry, the way that working-class writers who do find success are assumed to have somehow become middle class. But what shines through is the variety and quality of the short pieces – whether the subject is darts, ageing, funerals or tinned peaches, there’s something to treasure every few pages.

• Common People: An Anthology of Working-Class Writers is published by Unbound (RRP £9.99). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £15, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99.