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
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 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
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
To Change the World
Though I never met James Baldwin in person, and never even saw him at a public event, he is nonetheless to me like a father, or a beloved uncle,… More
Quixote at 400
But what is the symbolic connection between madness and modernity? Why should modern man end up recognizing himself in the words of a lunatic? More
Quixote at 400: Margaret Atwood
The small, buried, dead books have given rise to huge living books and as we watch, the covers of the books open and some of the characters of Don… More
The Way We Love Now: Antoine Audouard
“The way we love now.” I mean, who is “we”? Emily Dickinson: “That love is all there is, is all we know of love.” Okay? That pretty well does… More
The Way We Love Now: Meir Shalev
When we talk about love, it’s part of an international conspiracy: Writers know something about love that readers do not. The same way rabbis and priests and imams know… More
Confronting the Worst: Writing & Catastrophe
I’m not an expert on natural disaster, but on man-made disaster, namely wars. I assume that all of us have received the same question over and over again: “Why… More