Minae Mizumura: Crossover Artists: Writing in Another Language
"Crossover Artists: Writing in Another Language," with Minae Mizumura and Shan Sa, appears in PEN America 7: World Voices. This conversation was presented, in slightly different form, at the… More
Literature & Power: Writing about Politics, with John Ralston Saul, Oksana Zabuzhko, Shashi Tharoor, Tomás Eloy Martinez, Francine Prose, and Bernard-Henri Levy
When I first read the title of our panel, what immediately came to mind was an episode from the last day of the Ukrainian Orange Revolution. Those of you… More
Reinventing Home
MICHAEL ONDAATJE: In Purple Hibiscus, on the acknowledgments page at the end, there’s a wonderful sense of community—I almost want you to read that because it feels like part… More
Elif Shafak: Crossover Artists: Writing in Another Language
I want to talk about how I made the journey from the Turkish to the English language. Before doing that, I would like to draw a historical framework—how literature… More
Postcolonial Passages: Assia Djebar & Lyone Trouillot
"Postcolonial Passages," with Assia Djebar and Lyone Trouillot, appears in PEN America 7: World Voices. This talk was presented, in slightly different form, at the 2005 PEN World Voices… More
Power Struggles: Tsitsi Dangarembga & Achmat Dangor
I think one learns early where one’s place in life is meant to be and one has to decide whether to occupy that place or not. Luckily, my parents… More
Continental Divides
I’ll begin by reading from my book Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna:During the middle of the night, I woke to this huge sound—like rain,… More
In Search of the Sensual: Hanan al-Shaykh & Salman Rushdie
One of the sad things about the modernist way is that there’s a disconnect with the old tradition. The same thing happened in India. There are old temples with… More
Confronting the Worst: Writing & Catastrophe
I’m not somebody who, like a combat photographer, stands up when there’s shooting to get a better picture. I wait until it’s just calm enough perhaps to have a… More
Confronting the Worse: Writing & Catastrophe
I have been a roaming correspondent in Africa, Asia, and Latin America for a long time, have seen many catastrophes, and have often had to write about them. There… More
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