"And when the woman with the multiple degrees says, I didn't know black women could get cancer, instinctively you take two steps back though all urgency leaves the possibility of any kind of relationship as you realize nowhere is where you will get from here."
(3+7) (Q&A) WITH TAMIL POET R. CHERAN ON POETRY IN THE FACE OF OPPRESSION
Writer and lawyer Gowri Koneswaran spoke with Tamil poet R. Cheran for THE ALIGNIST about his writing, the current human rights situation in Sri Lanka, and an Amnesty International poetry contest on enforced disappearances in the country.
SUGGESTED READING, NOVEMBER 2015 EDITION
"CHILE ADMITS PABLO NERUDA MIGHT HAVE BEEN MURDERED BY PINOCHET REGIME," BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
"MICHAEL HOUELLEBECQ'S 'SUBMISSION,'" BY KARL OVE KNAUSGAARD
"SIX FRENCH FILMS THAT SPEAK TO THE IDENTITY OF THE NATION," BY WESLEY MORRIS AND A.O. SCOTT
"A STORIED BOOKSTORES AND ITS LATE ORACLE LEAVE AN IMPRINT ON ISLAMABAD," BY ROD NORDLAND
"FELLOW POETS PROTEST SAUDI DEATH SENTENCE FACING ASHRAF FAYADH," BY ALISON FLOOD
"FROGS," BY MO YAN
"THE MYSTERY OF PRIMO LEVY," BY TIM PARKS
"FOR OBAMA, A NEW SHOPPING HAUNT: UPSHUR STREET BOOKS," BY JULIET EILPERIN
"THINGS THAT CAN AND CANNOT BE SAID," ARUNDHATI ROY IN CONVERSATION WITH JOHN CUSACK
FIVE BOOKS TO REMIND YOU WHY NOTHING IS SIMPLE IN PARIS
“Paris was a very old city and we were young and nothing was simple there, not even poverty, nor sudden money, nor the moonlight, nor right and wrong nor the breathing of someone who lay beside you in the moonlight," Hemingway wrote in A Moveable Feast.
NOVELIST ORHAN PAMUK BREAKS DOWN LAST WEEK'S ELECTIONS IN TURKEY
(3+7) (Q&A) WITH NOVELIST JENNIFER CLEMENT ON MEXICO'S MISSING
Jennifer Clement's latest novel, Prayers for the Stolen, maps the landscape of violence wrought on the people of Guerrero, Mexico by the drug wars and traces the story of some of its "stolen." THE ALIGNIST spoke with Clement about her response to the disappearance of 43 teaching students from the state last year and asked her how her work came to be one of social protest.
THREE EXCERPTS BY THIS YEAR'S NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE WINNER
“It’s not really about a history of events. It’s a history of emotions." Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy Sara Danius said following the announcement of the award.
HENRY DUMAS WROTE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE KILLED BY COPS. THEN HE WAS KILLED BY A COP.
"A young black man, Henry Dumas, went through a turnstile at a New York City subway station," reads an invitation by Toni Morrison for a posthumous book-launch party she threw for Dumas in 1974, six years after he died. "A transit cop" — who was white — "shot him in the chest and killed him. Circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear. Before that happened, however, he had written some of the most beautiful, moving and profound poetry and fiction that I have ever in my life read."
EGYPTIAN WRITER OMAR HAZEK PARDONED AND FREED FROM PRISON
After serving nearly all of a two year sentence for protesting without official permission, writer Omar Hazek has been released from prison with two novels in the works.
SUGGESTED READING, SEPTEMBER 2015 EDITION
"U.S. TURNS TO 'ZERO DARK THIRTY' WRITER FOR ANTI-ISIS PROPAGANDA," BY ASAWIN SUEBSAENG
"STREET OF THIEVES BY MATHIAS ÉNARD REVIEW -- A GLIMPSE INTO THE TREMORS OF THE ARAB SPRING," BY LAILA LALAMI
"AN EXILE IN THE CORNBELT: ISRAEL'S FUNNIEST PALESTINIAN WRITER DECAMPS TO THE MIDWEST," BY RUTH MARGALIT
"FROM GLOBE TO GLOBAL: A SHAKESPEARE VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD," BY ANDREW DICKSON
"FINDING LOVE AND SELF-ACCEPTANCE 'UNDER THE UDALA TREES," ARUN RATH INTERVIEWS CHINELA OKPARANTA
"FAR FROM HOME: 6 EXCERPTED POEMS ON BEING A REFUGEE, AN EXILE, AN IMMIGRANT," BY MIMI WONG
"TA-NEHISI COATES TO WRITE BLACK PANTHER COMIC FOR MARVEL," BY GEORGE GENE GUSTINES
"BEAUTY IS A WOUND" BY EKA KURNIAWAN
"WHITE MALE POET USES CHINESE PSEUDONYM, BECOMES RACHEL DOLEZAL OF LITERATURE," BY LAUREN OYLER
SUGGESTED READING, AUGUST 2015 EDITION
"IN 'HOW TO BE A HEROINE,' LESSONS FROM A BRONTE AND OTHER BADASSES," BY LUCY SCHOLES
"THE FIRES THAT FORGED ICEBERG SLIM," BY ROBIN D.G. KELLEY
"THE BOY JIHADI," BY YOUSSEF RAKHA
"THE STARTLING POETRY OF A NEARLY FORGOTTEN JAPANESE MODERNIST," BY ADRIENNE RAPHEL
"NOVELIST AMY STEWARD TURNS 1914 TRAFFIC ACCIDENT INTO 'GIRL WAITS WITH GUN," STEVE INSKEEP INTERVIEWS AMY STEWART
"'I REGRET EVERYTHING,' TONI MORRISON LOOKS BACK ON HER PERSONAL LIFE," TERRY GROSS INTERVIEWS TONI MORRISON
SUGGESTED READING, JULY 2015 EDITION
"WHILE SOME ARE SHOCKED BY 'GO SET A WATCHMAN,' OTHERS FIND NUANCE IN A BIGOTED ATTICUS FINCH," BY ALEXANDRA ALTER
"A 'LOST BOY' BATTLES AK-47S WITH EDUCATION," BY NICHOLAS KRISTOF
"BEN OKRI: BEYOND MYTH AND MAGIC," BY POROCHISTA KHAKPOUR
"SCENES FROM INSIDE ALEPPO: HOW LIFE HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED BY REBEL RULE," BY MARWAN HISHAM WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY MOLLY CRABAPPLE
"A KENYAN NOVELIST EXPLAINS WHAT PRESIDENT OBAMA'S VISIT SIGNIFIES," YVONNE ADHIAMBO OWUOR TALKS TO RENEE MONTAGE
SUGGESTED READING, JUNE 2015 EDITION
"BATTLE LINES: WANT TO UNDERSTAND THE JIHADIS? READ THEIR POETRY," By ROBYN CRESWELL AND BERNARD HAYKEL
"CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE: MY FATHER'S KIDNAPPING," BY CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE
"ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK," BY ZADIE SMITH AND CRESSIDA LEYSHON'S Q&A WITH HER ABOUT THE STORY
"JUAN FELIPE HERRERA, POET LAUREATE WITH A WORKING-CLASS VOICE MEANT TO BE SPOKEN," BY DWIGHT GARNER
"7 POEMS THAT SHOW WHAT ITS LIKE TO BE A GIRL IN ETHIOPIA," BY JINA MOORE
"THE MEURSAULT INVESTIGATION REVIEW -- AN INSTANT CLASSIC," BY ROBIN YASSIN-KASSAB
"IT IS TIME TO COME HOME, [KENYAN PRESIDENT] UHURU [KENYATTA] TELLS NGUGI WA THIONG'O," BY PSCU
"HOW E.L DOCTOROW MASTERED THE ART OF MELDING FACT WITH FICTION," BY ANNA CLARK
#BINLADENSBOOKSHELF REVEALED -- AND INSTANTLY PARODIED
Following the release of Osama bin Laden's book list at his Abbottabad, Pakistan home, many took to Twitter to poke fun at the idea of the al-Qaeda leader's bookshelf by reworking the names of famous titles for a terrorist's proclivities.
ON THE ARRIVANTS BY EDWARD KAMAU BRATHWAITE AT THE PEN WORLD VOICES FESTIVAL
Writers Nathalie Handal, Teju Cole, and Binyavanga Wainaina read from and discussed The Arrivants at an event at this year’s PEN America World Voices Festival.
SUGGESTED READING, MAY 2015 EDITION
"WRITING FROM A WAR ZONE DOESN'T MAKE YOU ANNE FRANK," BY FRANCINE PROSE
"REVIEW: 'WAR OF THE ENCYCLOPAEDISTS,' BY CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON AND GAVIN KOVITE," BY MICHIKO KAKUTANI
"CAROL: THE WOMEN BEHIND PATRICIA HIGHSMITH'S LESBIAN NOVEL," BY JILL DAWSON
"WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE OF PERU," BY ALLEN BARRA
"A FATHER'S PROPHESY," BY WILLIAM STYRON
"OUR FRENCH CONNECTION," BY ROSECRANS BALDWIN
"THE DUNIAZAT," BY SALMAN RUSHDIE
"JANE AUSTEN INSPIRED MY ESCORT NAME," BY APRIL ADAMS
WHAT A 1966 ESSAY BY JAMES BALDWIN TELLS US ABOUT THE FREDDIE GRAY PROTESTS
Baldwin's words have haunted me—not least because they have so often merited resurrecting amid months of stories so similar to that of James Powell's. They cried out, most recently, amid the unrest in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray.
THE PERSONAL AND THE POLITICAL: A GRAPHIC NOVEL ON LIFE AS A PALESTINIAN REFUGEE
"[T]elling your stories is also a political act," the 22-year-old author of Baddawi told THE ALIGNIST. Leila Abdelrazaq began to explore her father's life because she felt that most people she encountered lacked a real understanding of what it meant to be a Palestinian refugee.
(3+7)(Q&A) WITH ARMENIAN POET LOLA KOUNDAKJIAN
On the centennial of the start of the Armenian Genocide, THE ALIGNIST speaks with Armenian poet Lola Koundakjian about the poet’s role in documenting atrocity and growing up with the legacy of loss.
SUGGESTED READING, APRIL 2015 EDITION
"LAGOS MUST PROSPER," BY ALEXIS OKEOWA
"IN BHUTTO'S 'CRESCENT MOON,' PAKISTAN DEMANDS A SACRIFICE FROM ITS PEOPLE" BY STEVE INSKEEP
"THE TIGER...AN INTERVIEW WITH WIN TIN," BY ELLEN WILES
"HOW ENGLISH RUINED INDIAN LITERATURE," BY AATISH TASEER
"APOLLO," BY CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE
"THE RADICAL VISION OF TONI MORRISON," BY RACHEL KAADZI GHANSAH
"SWEET SORROW AS STAR-CROSSED LOVERS IN SYRIA AND JORDAN CONNECT VIA SKYPE," BY PRETI TANEJA
"WRITER RETREATS TO A KABUL THAT LIVES ONLY IN HIS MEMORIES AND BOOKS," BY MUJIB MASHAL