Bana al-Abed just landed a book deal, but I bet she’d give it up for peace in Syria
Bana al-Abed first tweeted on September 24, 2016. She simply wrote, “I need peace.” At the tender age of seven, Bana has lived the vast majority of her life in the now… Read more »
Refugees must also leave their libraries behind
I’m writing this today in the shadow of fifty-nine cruise missiles launched by my country against Syria in the aftermath of a chemical weapons attack. All of this horror takes place in the shadow of… Read more »
Er, because books don’t explode and kill Syrian children
Just yesterday, the New York Times’ Russell Goldman reported that the Syrian civil war has resulted in a quarter of that country’s population fleeing. Those that remain live under the constant threat of… Read more »
Syrian intellectuals see common goal in U.S. and Russian policy in their country
Less than two weeks after John Kerry announced that the U.S. was working with the Russian government to establish an (already compromised) ceasefire in Syria, a group of Syrian writers, artists,… Read more »
Syrian refugee opens a bookstore and publisher in Istanbul
Samer al-Kadri is one of 3 million Syrian refugees now living in Turkey. A year ago, he opened Pages, the first Arabic-language bookstore in Istanbul, and he even has plans to… Read more »
What happens when your state-controlled-and-funded news agency shows up at your international book fair?
Book fairs offer strange sights. We all know this. Greater-than-life-sized cutouts of Mitch Albom and John Grisham, for example. Impossible tents featuring brand new carpeting, carpeting that feels very good… Read more »
Thom Yorke drafted “Airbag” in an old copy of William Blake’s poems
Used bookstores are places of endless wonders, for obvious reasons. But those that enjoy a proximity to Thom Yorke’s home in Oxford might be especially rewarding. Earlier this week, Nicholas… Read more »
Novelist Michel Faber throws the book—his—at British P.M. David Cameron
In “a satirical gesture, just to let off some impotent steam,” author Michel Faber has sent a gratis copy of his latest (and, he says, his final) novel, The Book… Read more »
Agatha Christie’s forgotten memoir
In addition to writing more than 60 mystery novels, Agatha Christie also once wrote a travel memoir about the time she spent in the Middle East, traveling with her archaeologist… Read more »
Syrian writers and artists publish to protest tyranny
The work of over 50 Syrian artists and writers has been collected in Syria Speaks, a new book published in the UK by Saqi. The anthology contains poems, cartoons, posters,… Read more »