Living Shrines
May 16, 2013 § Leave a Comment
My interview with Lisa Ross on Uyghur shrines in the desert is at the Los Angeles Review of Books- thanks again to her for answering my questions in such a thoughtful manner.
Dead Pigs, Toxic Smog
April 24, 2013 § Leave a Comment
I write about the apocalyptic pollution in China on the LRB Blog
Previous ‘Pollution in China!’ posts:
‘Medieval Lifestyle’
April 16, 2013 § Leave a Comment
A mining project in Xilinhaote, Inner Mongolia
Isobel Yeung, who works for CCTV, China’s state broadcaster, recently wrote a piece for The Independent in which she argued that the Western media are misrepresenting China’s policies towards ethnic minorities in Inner Mongolia. She argued that the government aren’t trying to destroy the culture of nomadic herders by moving them into cities- they just want to improve their ‘medieval lifestyle’. Here’s my response to this in The Independent.
Welcome to Comely Bank
April 12, 2013 § Leave a Comment
2013 PEN World Voices Festival
March 25, 2013 § Leave a Comment
The program for the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature in New York is now online, featuring many great writers, such as James Kelman, Aleksandar Hemon and Edna O’Brien. If you happen to have $1000 kicking around, I’d suggest you get a ticket for the Philip Roth Literary Gala event.
I’ll be taking part in two events in the festival, the first A Literary Safari, where I will be pursued, Running Man style, through a booby trapped labyrinth while giving a reading. The second is a more sedentary affair, though possibly equally perilous- I’ll be moderating an event on Revitalizing Endangered Languages.
Lots to check out- and if you’re not in NYC then, I’m sure a lot of it will be online on the PEN site.
Game the News
March 7, 2013 § Leave a Comment
I have a post on the London Review of Books Blog about turning the news into computer games, including Endgame: Syria and one on cotton picking in Uzbekistan.
The Art of Escape
March 4, 2013 § Leave a Comment
I have a review of Sven Lindqvist’s The Myth of Wu Tao Tzu up at the Los Angeles Review of Books
