Culture Street mural for Grenfell Tower, with poem by Ben Okri, North Kensington, London, image courtesy of IranWire and #PaintTheChange. London-based writer Malu Halasa canvasses the Middle Eastern and North African culture scene in London, where even in lockdown, there’s still much to experience. London makes travelers think of high tea and empire. For those of us who live here and have a passion for and write about the Middle East, London has emerged, more than New York or Paris, as a capital of Arab and Iranian culture outside the region. London has emerged, more than New York or Paris, as a capital of Arab and Iranian culture outside the region. It was not always like this. In the 1990s, relatively few Middle East–related events took place in London. Yet in the past twenty years that I’ve lived here, London has been transformed. The change started taking place in the 2000s. In part, political events, 9/11, and, ten years later, the 2011 Arab Spring or Awakening, as well as the wars in between and after 2011, prompted writers, journalists, and activists to forgo the usual conversation about winners and losers of regional conflicts. Instead, we began to look to creative expression from these countries and in the diaspora for a different kind of understanding and engagement. It was an approach that continued the conversations many of us were having with the people and voices that came onto the streets and in the squares... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2021-04-19 19:22:28 UTC ]
A new crop of adaptations proves that comic book artists can be complex and effective in tackling other writers’ work. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-11-12 10:00:08 UTC ]
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Virtually none of us will ever know what Ahmet Altan has gone through, and continues to live through. After the 2016 Turkish coup d’etat attempt, the writer was arrested along with his brother on such claims as “sending subliminal messages to coup supporters.” In 2018, they were sentenced to... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-11-11 12:00:01 UTC ]
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Comedy group The Good Liars changed covers on the presidential son's book to "make it a little more honest." Continue reading at HuffPost
[ HuffPost | 2019-11-09 12:52:40 UTC ]
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Another Story Bookshop is focused on social justice and diversity, continuing the mission its founder established over 30 years ago. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-11-09 10:00:11 UTC ]
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He may have created the biggest hit on Broadway, but the ‘Hamilton’ auteur still thinks small in a lot of ways, especially when it comes to business. Along with being the creator of a little show called Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda is also known for his enthusiastic social media... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2019-11-08 17:15:09 UTC ]
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Caren Beilin’s new book, Blackfishing the IUD (Wolfman Books, 2019), is a memoir about reproductive health and the IUD, gendered medical gaslighting, and activism in the chronic illness community. Beilin considers the copper IUD’s role in triggering her sudden onset rheumatoid arthritis. She... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-08 09:47:44 UTC ]
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“A Warning” is the latest and most unusual tell-all political memoir to emerge from President Trump’s administration. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-11-08 06:50:32 UTC ]
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Adam Kay’s junior doctor memoir racked up impressive sales over the course of the year and topped the chart, but a self-published title was hot on its heels in second spot. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-08 05:28:53 UTC ]
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In R.J. Palacio’s graphic novel “White Bird,” a grandmother finally shares her harrowing tale of survival under the Nazis. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-11-07 22:07:49 UTC ]
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Myriad Editions has bagged a pair of "graphic medicine" books from Ian Williams and Zara Slattery, as the publisher launches its 2020 Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-07 01:44:47 UTC ]
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Just a few days from the 2019 Love Your Bookstore Challenge, Brooklyn's Books Are Magic crew weigh in with staff picks and must-read titles. The post Love Your Bookstore: Books Are Magic appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2019-11-06 11:00:45 UTC ]
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Penguin Ireland will publish New Zealand rugby union coach Joe Schmidt’s memoir later this month. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-06 02:38:57 UTC ]
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Tori Amos—synesthete musical prodigy, RAINN activist, and one of the most iconic singer-songwriters of the 1990s (easily the greatest musical decade)—is releasing a new, politically-themed memoir entitled Resistance: A Songwriter’s Story of Hope, Change, and Courage. The book, Amos’ first since... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-05 21:44:52 UTC ]
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Book Reviews Alice-Catherine Carls My association with the work of Józef Wittlin started when Professor Anna Frajlich invited me to write a paper about Wittlin’s association with France for her 1996 Józef Wittlin conference at Columbia University. I... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-11-05 14:04:18 UTC ]
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In the middle of Carmen Maria Machado’s new memoir In the Dream House, CARMEN, stylized in all caps like a play script, sits across from the woman with whom she’s been in an abusive relationship (THE WOMAN IN THE DREAM HOUSE). The scene is set (“the curtain rises”) and we’re shown, “the house... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-11-05 12:00:26 UTC ]
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“WHAT IS DIFFICULT is not impossible.” Anne Boyer both writes and proves this maxim in The Undying, her crystalline memoir of illness and the hard knowledge that illness provides. The Undying engages with art from Aelius Aristides to John Donne to Audre Lorde, within an account of the author’s... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-11-04 20:00:59 UTC ]
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Val Kilmer’s memoir lands at a Big Five house, 'Dead Man Walking' goes graphic, the screenwriter of The Jerk sells a thriller, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-11-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Katy Waldman reviews Carmen Maria Machado’s ”In the Dream House,“ a formally inventive memoir that recounts the author’s experience with an abusive relationship. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2019-10-31 17:04:01 UTC ]
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The book doesn’t offer a clear-eyed view of who the singer really was — he would have hated that. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-10-30 14:42:51 UTC ]
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Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine EvaristoSince studying Lara as a student, I have been a fan of Bernardine Evaristo’s work, and am delighted to see her win the Booker Prize this year. Girl, Woman, Other follows the lives of twelve black characters with different backgrounds and experiences, most... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2019-10-30 09:49:28 UTC ]
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