Category: personal

I have an essay in the September issue of World Literature Today, on the topic of writing in one’s third language. Here is the opening paragraph:

Not long ago, while cleaning out my bedroom closet, I came across a box of old family photographs. I had tied the black-and-white snapshots, dog-eared color photos and scratched Polaroids in small bundles before moving from Morocco to the United States. There I was at age five, standing with my friend Nabil outside Sainte Marguerite-Marie primary school in Rabat; at age nine, holding on to my father’s hand and squinting at the sun while on vacation in the hill station of Imouzzer; at age eleven, leaning with my mother against the limestone lion sculpture in Ifrane, in the Middle Atlas. But the picture I pulled out from the bundles and displayed in a frame on my desk was the one in which I was six years old and sat in our living room with my head buried in Tintin and the Temple of the Sun.

The essay is available in its entirety online. I hope you enjoy reading it. You can subscribe to WLT here.

This summer I did what I had promised myself for many years I would do: take a proper holiday. I stayed away from the internet, the television, and the mobile phone. Instead, I spent time with family and friends; walked, swam and hiked; read four books and took notes; ate loads of grilled fish, meat tagines and pasta arrabiatta (appropriately enough); bought lots of books; stayed up, slept late, or woke early, depending on the day; bargained for souvenirs and knickknacks; and generally just tried to focus on the moment. It was great to be away. But now I am back and of course I have many, many emails to sift through, deadlines to meet, and various appointments to make. More tomorrow.

I am still (thankfully, blissfully, perhaps even embarrassingly) still on holiday. We went up to the town of Asilah for a week, which gave me a chance to catch a couple of the events at the annual summer festival there. Then we continued on to the beautiful town of Chaouen (or Chefchaouen) where we hiked up to Qantrat Sidi Rabbi (Bridge of God.) I’m now wrapping up my stay in Morocco and running around saying goodbye to everyone.

I spent a wonderful week in London: I visited dear friends, met with my UK editor, did a reading for the African Writers’ Series, and found time for a couple of trips to the museum. I love this city, so my stay felt far too short. After a brief detour in Rome, I flew to Casablanca, and then on to Rabat, where I still am at the moment. I’ve been busy catching up with family and friends and have had little time to get online.

While I was in London, my essay “Out of the Kitchen,” which is about a recent travel experience in Morocco, came out in the Los Angeles Times. Meanwhile, the Moroccan magazine Le Temps published an interview I did a while back.

Photo above: The Mohamed V Mausoleum in Rabat.

I will be doing a reading from Secret Son in London this week, at the invitation of Nii Ayikwei Parkes. Here are the details:

Friday, July 17
7:30 PM
Reading and Discussion
Poetry Cafe
22 Betterton Street
London

If you’re a reader from London, come on out and say hello.

Eleven years ago, the Seattle Public Library launched a program to get people in the city to read and discuss the same book. (This program has since been emulated by many other libraries in cities across the United States.) This year’s pick is my novel, Secret Son, so I will be visiting Seattle next May for readings and discussions centered around the book. I’ll also be giving a public lecture as part of the Seattle Arts and Lectures series.