Nostalgia, we have agreed, is embarrassing.  Maybe even reactionary.  The notion that some fading aspect of this or that material culture—usurped by the web—is lost, and that that is a loss is, well, not the sort of thing to mention in mixed company. …more

There are worse things to do this Saturday than to read or re-read William Sydney Porter—O. Henry—who died one hundred years ago today. …more

Brad Watson’s new collection of short stories, Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives is just out from Norton Books.  Watson’s two previous books are the National Book Award-nominated The Heaven of Mercury (2002) and the collection Last Days of the Dog-Men (1996), which won the Sue Kauffman prize. The stories in Aliens have appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, and the PEN/O.Henry Prize Stories, 2010. …more

‘A writer drew a circle in the sand and stepping into it said “This is my novel,” but the circle, leaping, cut him clean through….’

—from The House of Hunger by Dambudzo Marechera

Looking at the way most African literature is presented to Western readers, you’d be forgiven for believing publishers think African literature has just two things to offer: importance and a lasting sense of virtue. Both?  For the price of a paperback?  Where do I sign up? …more