Category: personal

For those who are curious (and who speak Dutch): There is an interview with me by Jan Stevens in the Belgian magazine Vacature.

Since my parents are out of town at the moment, we spent the Eid el-Adha (or Eid el-Kebir) holiday with my uncle in Rabat. It was a lovely weekend getaway, and I was surprised to rediscover so many details I had forgotten: The way that sheep bleat incessantly the day before, and then are absolutely quiet when the hour comes; how I always consider becoming vegetarian that day; how the smell of mint tea combined with that of melted crepine on boulfaf makes me succumb every time. After the meal, we looked through boxes and boxes of family photos, made and received phone calls, and sat out on the terrace. But I stayed out too long, and then woke up the next day with a horrible cold and migraine. My best wishes to all of you for a happy and very healthy new year.

I’ve failed to receive several messages that were sent to my Yahoo! email account, and my attempts to get these problems straightened out have led nowhere. So if you have sent me something and have not heard back from me, it probably means I didn’t get it. Please feel free to resend.

Last week, a friend of mine emailed me to ask whether I missed anything about America. I wanted to write back and say that America is everywhere. There are cafés called “Madison Square,” neighborhoods called “Californie,” rappers called “Bigg,” a few reality TV shows, and several McDonald’s and Pizza Huts. But I’ll tell you what I miss: Our house’s fireplaces and central heating. It’s been windy and cold in Casablanca the last few days, and our apartment, like most dwellings here, doesn’t have central heating. In order to get any work done, I have to wrap myself up in fleece blankets, put on the kind of thick socks I usually wear for hiking, and hug my laptop. Time to go buy a heater.

Ihsan Taylor reviews Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits for the New York Times Book Review’s Paperback Row.

For those of you in France: The French edition of Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits will be released by Editions Anne-Carrière in January, under the title De L’espoir et d’autres quêtes dangereuses. I will be doing some events in Paris for this, so stay tuned.