Tucson Festival of Books 2015

Came, saw, enjoyed. Although manning the booth for the Southwest Festival of the Written Word and keeping my 6-year-old occupied at the same time, I managed to sneak away to some sessions at the massive Tucson extravaganza (100,000 punters, apparently). Highlights for me: the brilliant, courageous, and decidedly humble journalist Alfredo Corchado presented his new…

Ten things you need to know about Mohamedou Ould Slahi

1. He’s just published Guantánamo Diary (Little, Brown and Company, 2015), the only written account by a current detainee. John Le Carré calls it “a vision of hell, beyond Orwell, beyond Kafka: perpetual torture prescribed by the mad doctors in Washington.” 2. Slahi is a Mauritanian, born in 1970, who went to Afghanistan in 1990 to fight…

A Bit of Difference – by Sefi Atta

Sefi Atta first caught the attention of the literary world with her award-winning story collection, News From Home. This, her third novel, once again explores Nigerian mores and people in transit between cultures. Deola, a 39-year-old single woman is at a crossroads in life – unfulfilled at work, based in London while pining for Lagos,…