Explore Essays and memoir
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A Language of Figs
Sema Kaygusuz
Sema Kaygusuz on the inheritances of genocide and historical memory, and what her own grandmother, a survivor of the Dersim Massacre in Turkey, taught her about life and language.
A Night in the Engadine
John Kaag
John Kaag, author of Hiking with Nietzsche, camps out in the mountains of the Engadine where Nietzsche wrote Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
Best Book of 1952: The Palm-Wine Drinkard
Sandra Newman
Sandra Newman on why Amos Tutuola’s The Palm-Wine Drinkard is the best book of 1952.
Best Book of 1993: The Smell of Apples
Magogodi oaMphela Makhene
Magogodi oaMphela Makhene on Mark Behr’s The Smell of Apples.
Best Book of 2013:
The Crocodiles
Noor Naga
Noor Naga on why The Crocodiles by Youssef Rakha is the best book of 2013.
Best Book of 2014: H is for Hawk
Chigozie Obioma
Chigozie Obioma on Helen Macdonald’s H is for Hawk, the best book of 2014.
Best book of 2015: The Argonauts
Lucia Osborne-Crowley
Lucia Osborne-Crowley on why The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson is the best book of 2015.
Best Book of Any Year: A Thousand and One Nights
Mazen Maarouf
Mazen Maarouf on why A Thousand and One Nights is the best book of any year.
Bookshelves: John Berger in My Family Album
Amitava Kumar
‘The contours of the family arranged on the bookshelf shifted.’
Boxing
Fatima Farheen Mirza
Fatima Farheen Mirza on navigating gender roles in a Muslim family, wearing hijab and learning how to box.
Confessions of a White Vampire
Jeremy Narby
‘Many of the people I was living with considered me a white vampire, who killed to extract human fat.’ Jeremy Narby on the Amazonian myth of the white vampire.