Suppose a stranger comes to your home for dinner, comes with an acquaintance that you’ve invited alongside other few guests, and they sit at your dinner table, drink wine, eat, engage in big and small talk, and at some point this stranger responds to a bathroom call, and after something like 30 minutes, the friend […]
Ali Smith: “How to be both” and “Girl Meets Boy.”
I’ve decided to add a new category to my blog called “Reading Lists” that will be dedicated to all the books I’ll read in preparation for the PhD comprehensive exams. I’ve thought it a great idea to have a blog page as a way of keeping track and checking in on myself via public posts. […]
Experiments in Reading: the thief in Teju Cole and Amos Tutuola’s books
I’m inclined to experiments in reading. I will sometimes read five books concurrently, and to avoid mixing the stories, I will select two books in poetry, two in fiction, and one nonfiction. The mind can handle an evolutionary biology text alongside Ezra Pound, Teju Cole, Charles Simic and Ali Smith. Surprisingly–and this is partly why […]
Amos Tutuola and “The Palm-Wine Drinkard” revisited
Recently I reread Amos Tutuola’s classic: The Palm-Wine Drinkard at the same time I was revisiting Cervantes’ Don Quixote, and was surprised to see how close, how similar the two books are. I mean, they’re both outrageous in their summations, conquests, tales of chivalry and trickery. In my opinion, they belong to the same genre […]
“Perhaps it just means that I still have a heart”
Book Review of The Secret History of Las Vegas Sometime in the summer I wanted to read books that delight, entertain and also instruct in a subtle way. Pede Hollist suggested Chris Abani, and I realized he had been on my list for many years but I never quite got to reading him. I started […]
So the Path Does Not Die by Pede Hollist
I’ve had this book for a while sitting on my shelf and beckoning to be read. But I got sucked into all the reading and writing for my PhD program I hardly had any time left for books outside the class requirements. When summer started and I closed the first year, So the Path Does […]
Telling Tales: Audio version of “Bless the Broken Path”
Summertime Great for listening, reading, traveling, sharing, and Shannon Guillory a.k.a. “Ms.G” honors us with the audio version of my story, Bless the Broken Path, read in her most warm and delightful voice on KTOO 104.3, in Juneau, Alaska. To listen, here is the clip Thank you.
Bless the Broken Path, short story
I’m delighted to have my short story, Bless the Broken Path, published in Northeast Review. I welcome readers, comments, your feedback. Thank you.
Silence Would Be Treason: Last Writings of Ken Saro-Wiwa
To read my review of Silence Would Be Treason: Last Writings of Ken Saro-Wiwa edited by Helen Fallon, Íde Corley and Laurence Cox, published jointly by CODESRIA and Daraja Press. Click this link African Writers Trust. Thank you.
2013 might be the year of the short story
Fresh air: short story authors have garnered world attention this year, and made a mark in International Literature. January started with George Saunders’ “Tenth of December,” topping the list: “the best book you will read this year” a change from previous “best books” having been mostly novels. But btw: publishers will still insist that the […]
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