Burning Books, Again
Before this there had been only one burned book. I swear. It happened in 1992 and it scored a small scar on my personal integrity the way my one act … Continue reading
Poetry review
Kvinner som hater menn by Sumaya Jirde Ali My rating: 5 of 5 stars Don’t let the title put you off this book, nor the sub-title-cum-blurb on the back which … Continue reading
Day 4: Kapittel – festival for litteratur og ytringsfrihet
Things to do: Pay my dues to Norsk Pen Find Mikail Eldin’s book about fighting in Chechenia Did I say pay my dues to Norsk Pen? Last year members of … Continue reading
Day 3: The Stavanger Festival of Literature and Free Speech
Day 3 starts at 11 o’clock, I’m still typing, in bed, in pyjamas, blurry eyed and tired… was up all night watching TV, something I only do in hotels, this … Continue reading
Stavanger Free Speech and Literature Festival Day 2
The Stavanger literature festival always has the subtitle “literature and free speech”. I like that. What is literature if not free speech? Still, authors like K.O. Knausgård and V. Hjorth have … Continue reading
On poetry, memoir, truth and revolution: Stavanger Literature Festival Day 1
Actually, they call it an International Festival of Literature and Freedom of Speech. The subtitle is Revolution. There are a number of sessions relating to the Russian Revolution in 1917, … Continue reading
Brenda Ueland, revisted
In the late 1980’s I had returned from student years in Norway to start my adult life in Wisconsin. My youthful propensity for writing, the fake newspapers and spy documents … Continue reading
Words at Year’s End
On the last day of the year I learn about a poet named Judith Ortiz Cofer who died yesterday. Someone on the women’s poetry (WOMPO) yahoo list sent out a … Continue reading
Book Review: I am the Beggar of the World
The beautiful translations of the landays in this collection allow Western readers to share the secret, crafty, sly, witty, subversive utterings of Afghani women, and to relish their vitality and vivacity. There … Continue reading
YA, I LOVE YA!
I am taking a moment out of my heavy duty writing schedule of a textbook for vocational English to say, YA rules. YA as in Young Adult literature. Last night … Continue reading
