The London Reader
14 September 2021
“DOWN BELOW, out the airplane porthole, lay the vast unconquered landscape of Africa — so different from the parcelled geometry of Europe which I had crossed over or the grey, highway-girded northeastern United States where I had made my home for the time being. The red earth and green scrubland, a few huts, a solitary figure wending its way on a trail to somewhere, perhaps carrying water, all under a cool morning sun that would in no time replenish its fires and begin to bake the earth. It must have been the arid north of Kenya, south of Somalia, down there below me, but it didn’t matter, the familiarity was unquestionable and it filled me with a huge emotion. This was my country. This was East Africa, and I was returning home. Read more
Donna Bailey Nurse
2 September 2021
I relish every opportunity to speak with M.G. Vassanji, one of Canada’s most internationally esteemed authors. Vassanji has won two Giller prizes: The first for The Book of Secrets and another for The In-Between World of Vikram Lall. He also received a Governor General’s Award for A Place Within: Rediscovering India. These titles represent the tip of the iceberg: Vassanji’s entire oeuvre is rich in beauty and wisdom. His latest book is a collection of stories called What You Are, which hints at a preoccupation with racial and religious conflict and identity. Many of the stories feature a South Asian-Canadian population firmly embedded in the national mosaic. Read more
Donna Bailey Nurse
2 September 2021
DBN: Marriage comes up often in your work, but especially in the story The Sense of An Ending. What does marriage help you explore? Read more
MGV
9 May 2021
From the archives... Read more
MGV
12 April 2020
Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel prize-winning economist was recently (New York Times, April 2020) asked about his reading list. Here is one question and its answer: Read more