The PEN Ten with Emily St. John Mandel
I sometimes used to describe my time in Montreal as an unmitigated catastrophe, but that was untrue. I got a novel out of it. More
Went the Day Well?
He "died" "in the" battle, then fear / "And" sadness infected my milk / "My" baby "died," "on" "the" boardwalk / I "died" when "you" / Turned "your" car… More
The PEN Ten with Maxwell Neely-Cohen
I think that publishers and editors have a great deal of responsibility, but I’m not sure that writers do. Write the best book you possibly can. That’s it. More
The PEN Ten with Forrest Gander
Is the conscience the soul’s surveillance of the self? When are observations neutral? Does a writer, even without knowing, intend to “use” observations for the benefit of the writing… More
from What Is Not Missing Is Light
First an army destroys a temple, the limbs of men and statues are demolished, their names disappear, the soldiers become a hero, then a number, then a statue is… More
The PEN Ten with Amitava Kumar
I fear it is fashionable for many writers to think that they have to be right. I want to be wrong but true. Our task is to be human. More
from On Walking On
He knew that a planet, too, wanders, open, in a field of asters. And watched / the terror vanish, falling with the trees into darkness. You walk the dark… More
2014 PEN Poetry in Translation Award: Four Questions for the Winners
"For me, there’s something about that in-between genre—part diary, part poem, part letter to the world—that felt both fascinating and important." More
The World’s Greatest Fisherman
She couldn’t help notice, when he paid up, that he had a good-sized wad of money in a red rubber band like the kind that holds bananas together in… More