I’m preparing to go on a rather long trip–to England, Morocco, and Italy–which means that posting in this space will be somewhat sporadic. I will, of course, pop in here as often as I can. I’ve also prepared a few short posts that should go up automatically while I’m away. More soon.
The Moroccan magazine Tel Quel did an interview with me a couple of weeks ago; you can find it here. In other news, my first book, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, is now available on the Kindle. My new novel, Secret Son, should be available in that format soon as well. And take a look at the Santa Barbara Independent‘s recommended summer reading list.
I find myself these days taking a lot of notes for my new novel, but not quite daring to start the process of writing it. I am not sure why. I wonder if it is just a fear of new beginnings, or if it is something else. The truth is, I don’t mind too much. I’m rather enjoying this state of being in between books. There is pleasure in the pathless woods, Byron once wrote. And I suppose I am not in a rush to find a path yet for this new novel.
I am doing a reading tonight with Chris Abani and Rob Spillman, to help promote Gods and Soldiers: The Penguin Anthology of Contemporary African Literature. Here are the details:
Monday, June 15, 2009
7:00 PM
Reading with Chris Abani, Laila Lalami, and Rob Spillman
Book Soup
8818 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, California
The anthology includes work by J.M. Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Chinua Achebe, and many others. I have an essay in it about North African literature. If you live in L.A., come on by and say hello!
I have an opinion piece at The Nation about the proposed $800 million cuts to the budget of the University of California. Here is how it begins:
In the fall of 2003, when Arnold Schwarzenegger was running for governor of California, he famously told Fox News, “The first thing that you have to do is not worry about should we cut the programs or raise the taxes and all those things.” He did, in fact, appear to worry about these things a great deal, though he seemed consistently to reach the wrong conclusions. Schwarzenegger’s first act in office was to repeal an unpopular but highly effective vehicle-licensing fee, which would have generated $4.2 billion a year and would have helped to close the $8 billion deficit the state was facing. Because of California’s Proposition 13, which requires a two-thirds majority in both legislative houses for any increases in tax rates, the state had very few easy options for increasing its revenue. Now, after five years of Schwarzenegger’s leadership, the deficit has ballooned to $24 billion.
And of course you can read the whole piece at the magazine’s website.
Gaiutra Bahadur reviewed my novel, Secret Son, for the New York Times this weekend. The paper ran a long excerpt from the first chapter. There are also reviews in the Brooklyn Rail (by Paul Charles Griffin) and in the summer issue of the Harvard Review (by Laura Albritton).
While I was in New York last month, I did an interview with Ed Champion for The Bat Segundo Show; that podcast is now available here.