“Silence Became My Mother Tongue”: A Conversation with Sulaiman Addonia, by Anderson Tepper

Interviews Photo of Sulaiman Addonia by Alexander Meeus. For me, one of the most astounding books of this past year—which may have slipped your attention due to the pandemic—was Silence Is My Mother Tongue, the second novel by Ethiopian Eritrean writer Sulaiman Addonia (@sulaimanaddonia). Published last September by Graywolf Press, the novel is just now beginning to get the recognition it deserves: it was recently shortlisted for the Firecracker Award for Independently Published Literature and is a 2021 LAMBDA Literary Award finalist. Set in a refugee camp in Sudan, the novel defies expectations—shimmering with sensual detail, it charts the daily encounters and erotic dreams of an extraordinary cast of characters, with the inseparable siblings Saba and her mute brother, Hagos, at its center. Of course, since war erupted in Ethiopia’s Tigray region this past winter, Addonia’s work has only taken on more resonance. “I have been looking at the pictures of refugees fleeing Tigray and waiting outside the United Nations refugee agency office at Hamdayet in Sudan,” Addonia wrote in a New York Times editorial in late November, “the place through which my family and I passed decades ago, on our way to a refugee camp further inland. I was struck by the eyes of young children. Their gazes retreat and shift, as if their wide eyes have already become the trenches into which they will hide their childhood.” We spoke by email—Addonia... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2021-05-18 13:43:22 UTC ]
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“Between the Facts”: A Conversation with Monique Truong, by Renee H. Shea

Interviews Renee H. Shea Monique Truong / Photo © Haruka Sakaguchi Monique Truong, who came to the United States in 1975 as a refugee from Vietnam, began exploring untold and ignored histories in her first novel, The Book of Salt (2003), told through... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2019-09-17 13:54:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #literary legacy #restaurant workers #cookbook #historical fiction #novelists


Reimagining Folktales, But for the Ear: A Conversation with Mahsuda Snaith, by Carolyne Larrington

Interviews Carolyne Larrington Audible’s new fiction podcast, Hag, launching August 29, features eight reimaginings of traditional British folktales by eight contemporary female writers, with folktales chosen from across the UK. The collection will be... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2019-08-30 14:21:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #donkey skin #human experience #talking animals #family history #first novel #costa book #english literature


Simon & Schuster lands Brearley '#MeToo reckoning for mothers'

Simon & Schuster has landed “the #MeToo reckoning for mothers” by writer and activist Joeli Brearley about new mums being pushed out of their jobs. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-28 20:40:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #simon schuster


Recalling and Reimagining Vietnam: A Conversation with Genaro Kỳ Lý Smith, by Mary E. Adams

Interviews Mary E. Adams Genaro Kỳ Lý Smith was born in Nha Trang, Vietnam, and raised in California. His first book, The Land Baron’s Sun: The Story of Lý Loc and His Seven Wives, won the 2015 Indie Book Award for best poetry collection. His other works... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2019-08-12 20:31:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #language barrier #tone deaf #larry heinemann #dog soldiers #book award


Writing to Uganda: A Conversation with Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, by Matthew Davis

Interviews Matthew Davis Ugandan novelist and short-story writer Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s first novel, Kintu, won the Kwani Manuscript Project in 2013 and was longlisted for the Etisalat Prize in 2014. She was awarded the 2014 Commonwealth... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2019-08-06 13:42:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #short-story form #quickly found #american writers #familiar themes #american literature #short stories


Widow, slaveholder, mother of our first president

Mary Ball Washington’s life was marked by family deaths and financial hardship, Martha Saxton writes. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2019-07-25 12:42:38 UTC ]
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George Hodgman, 60, Dies; Wrote Best Seller on Caring for His Mother

He was a leading magazine and book editor who found his own measure of fame with “Bettyville,” in which he also delved into growing up gay in a small town. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-07-22 22:58:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #small town #book editor


Speaking in Tongues: Héloïse and Abélard retold

Poet Peggy O’Brien talks about her newest collection, Tongues, a radical retelling of 12th-century intellectual giants Héloïse and Abélard’s passionate, forbidden love. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-19 04:28:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #newest collection


Filled with a New Kind of Truth: A Conversation with Samanta Schweblin

SAMANTA SCHWEBLIN’S COLLECTION of short stories Mouthful of Birds opens bleakly: When she reaches the road, Felicity understands her fate. He has not waited for her, and, as if the past were a tangible thing, she thinks she can still see the weak reddish glow of the car’s taillights fading on... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-07-10 17:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #samanta schweblin #short stories


Of Tibetans’ Disenchantment, Reclamation, and New Literacy Space: In Conversation with Tenzin Dickie, by Shelly Bhoil

Interviews Shelly Bhoil Tenzin Dickie is a Tibetan writer and translator and editor of The Treasury of Lives, a biographical encyclopedia of Tibet, Inner Asia, and the Himalayan region. Her edited anthology, Old Demons, New Deities: 21 Short Stories from... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2019-06-25 14:25:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #cultural revolution #key figure #memoir #english literature #short stories


Review: Colin Dayan's 'In the Belly of Her Ghost' exorcises memories of mother after she's gone

Colin Dayan's brief but explosive memoir of her relationship to her mother should find a place among the more indelible life histories of the last several years. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-06-05 16:00:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #memoir


Colin Dayan's 'In the Belly of Her Ghost' exorcises memories of mother after she's gone

Colin Dayan’s brief but explosive memoir of her relationship to her mother should find a place among the more indelible life histories of the last several years. Unlike Jeannette Wall’s “The Glass Castle” or Tara Westover’s “Educated,” riveting accounts of tormented childhoods, and unlike... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-06-05 16:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #glass castle #tara westover


BookExpo 2019: Broadening the Conversation

The notion of “Giving a Voice to the Voiceless” lends itself to a range of interpretations. At today’s stage event of the same name, a range of authors and illustrators will talk about how that guided them in their most recent books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #stage event #recent books


BookExpo 2019: Greg Garrett Explains Why Conversation Matters

In 'In Conversation: Rowan Williams and Greg Garrett' (Church Publishing, May), Greg Garrett discusses faith, politics, art, writing, and culture with Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-05-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #rowan williams #church publishing


More Data on Content Moderation Won't Silence Facebook’s Critics

Facebook’s latest report lays out the sheer scale of its battle against fake accounts, spam, and other abuses. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2019-05-23 21:09:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #sheer scale #fake accounts


7 memoirs about moms to read this Mother's Day

Forget what you've seen in sitcoms and gauzy Hallmark television commercials: being a parent might be rewarding, but there's nothing easy about it. The experience of raising a child is an endlessly difficult one, and while there's no shortage of advice books for parents, there's no book that... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-05-07 19:05:00 UTC ]
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Cassell bags book from England bowling hero Jimmy Anderson

Octopus imprint Cassell has bagged a revealing new book from England’s "greatest ever bowler" Jimmy Anderson. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ethan Anderson, Hayley Berfield are honored as City Section boys and girls basketball players of the year

Ethan Anderson of Fairfax and Hayley Berfield of Granada Hills have been selected City Section players of the year for boys and girls basketball, respectively. Both led their respective teams to Open Division championships. On the boys’ All-City team are Kaelen Allen and Jordan Brinson of... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ethan anderson


Anderson Cooper signs two-book deal with Harper

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper has signed a two-book deal with publisher Harper, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. Cooper, the host of the CNN program "Anderson Cooper 360°," will collaborate on the books with Katherine Howe, an author best known for her Salem witch trials-themed novels "The... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Frankfurter Buchmesse Stages a Conversation on AI During SXSW

Taking a talk to Texas, the Frankfurter Buchmesse's Holger Volland will be in conversation with Martina Mara of the Austrian Council on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence during SXSW on March 10. The post Frankfurter Buchmesse Stages a Conversation on AI During SXSW appeared first on... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #frankfurter buchmesse #holger volland #artificial intelligence