Stories about Literature from April, 2007
Jamaica: Decolonization of the Mind
Further to his post on Frances-Anne Solomon, who called creation “a form of terror, particularly when you come from a colonial context”, Geoffrey Philp examines fellow Jamaican Olive Senior's poem...
Cameroon: collective amnesia
Individual memory and collective amnesia in Cameroon: “The absence of memoirs, autobiographies and biographies in Cameroon is merely one facet of a much broader problem, i.e., the collective inability (or...
Czech Rebublic: Tribute to Egon Bondy (and Kurt Vonnegut)
Deleted by Tomorrow posts tributes to Kurt Vonnegut – and to the “Czech philosopher, writer, poet and professional dissident Egon Bondy” who died two days before Vonnegut.
Trinidad & Tobago, U.S.A.: R.I.P. Kurt Vonnegut
Both Caribbean Free Radio: “Like many of my ilk (US-educated Trinidadians of a certain age?), I had my Vonnegut phase” and The Latin Americanist: “One of his best science fiction...
Dominica: New Book about the Caribs
The CAC Review is happy about the publication of a new book about the indigenous Kalinagos (or Caribs) of Dominica, which “tells the story of a remarkable people”.
Bahrain: Neutral Language?
Bahrain-based blogger Bint Battuta writes her thoughts on the book Perfume – from a linguistic perspective. “Perfume is a novel written in German, but set in France. I read the...
Jamaica: Frances-Anne Solomon Speaks
Jamaican Geoffrey Philp features writer, producer and filmmaker Frances-Anne Solomon in her own words: “Creation is a form of Terror, particularly when you come from a colonial context and background...
South Asia: DST, Agent MR-9, SAARC Car Rally, Tshechu ritual, Caste Practices, Driving and Piracy
A wide range of topics up for discussion in the South Asian blogosphere. The possible chaos of adopting Daylight Saving Time, Bangladesh's answer to 007, a car rally to improve...
China: On Wang Xiaobo ten years later
Blogger and Life Weekly editor looks back at another renowned cultural critic—Wang Xiaobo, on the tenth anniversary of Xiaobo's death, how he relates to works from someone a generation older...
Belarus: Gospels in Romany
April 8 was International Roma Day; TOL's Romantic writes about Gospels translated into Romany language, and posts an interview on the Belarusian Roma community with Nicolas Kalinin, Belarusian delegate to...
Jordanian Blogosphere: An Iris Also Blooms
The seasons are moving forward, the weather is moving forward, and the clocks have all sprung forward for spring. But controversy is in the air these past few weeks on...
Zimbabwe: another Dambudzo Marechera?
Poet Tinashe Mushakavanhu has been compared to Dambudzo Marechera. eshuneutics disagrees: The gaps are more to do with a poet learning a visual syntax whereas the breaks in Marechera are...
Kenya: voting dilemma
My Voting Dilemma – A poem by Kenyanpoet: This paradox of how a piece of paper With X and ticks marks like an exam paper To examine my literacy and...
Bangladesh: In Conversation with Ravinder Randhawa
black and gray in conversation with novelist Ravinder Randhawa. “British-Asian writers may traverse all the territory from fantasy to reality, chick-lit to crime novels, but, in general, if a novel...
Bloggers in India Mourn the Untimely Death of Shakti Bhatt
Bloggers in India have been mourning the untimely death of Shakti Bhatt, who passed away in Delhi last Saturday night after a sudden and unexpected illness. Shakti – who was...
Belarus: Romani Tales
Olia Yatskevich of Romantic posts Romani tales from Belarus: here and here.
Czech Rebublic: Roma in Hrabal's Work
Romantic, a TOL-hosted blog on “Roma issues around Central and Eastern Europe,” writes about representation of the Roma in the works of Bohumil Hrabal, a Czech writer.
Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea: Tell-all Biography of Slain Activist Félix Moumié's Widow
Says Le Pangolin [Fr]: “Marthe Moumié is the widow of Cameroonian nationalist Félix Moumié, assassinated in Geneva by the French Secret Service in 1960. Marthe writes a book prefaced by...
India: On Kabir
Indian Muslims on revisiting Kabir. “Nevertheless, a synthesis of sorts was navigated by hundreds of yogis, Sufis and poets of India. Very much a people’s movement from the below, Bhakti...
Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia: 100 best novels written in Spanish in the past 25 years
With CNN and the BBC no longer readily available in Buenos Aires, perhaps it's time to get acquainted with what the Colombian magazine Semana calls the “100 best novels written...
