I have not posted much here this month, because I’ve been posting a lot over at A Thousand And One Recaps, my close reading of The Arabian Nights.
Here are links to the recaps posted so far.
Continue reading “A Thousand and One Recaps: April”The Zines of Austin Kleon and the Collages of Yasmine Seale
Here are two similar projects that turn on the art of collaging and remixing.
First, Austin Kelon’s flock of zines.
A zine (/zi?n/ZEEN; short for magazine or fanzine) is most commonly a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via photocopier. Usually zines are the product of a person, or of a very small group.
Last month Austin posted a tutorial on how to make an 8-page zine from a single sheet of paper. (It’s also possible to make 14-page zines too).
Continue reading “The Zines of Austin Kleon and the Collages of Yasmine Seale”Three Science Fiction and Fantasy Books I’ve Been Thinking About A Lot During The COVID19 Lockdown
So, voluntary self-isolation becomes a mandatory lock-down.
Plenty of people have been discussing relevant films, TV shows and literature that deal with pandemics, deadly diseases and the like. GIFs from Shaun of the Dead, and all the other zombie movies, fill my timeline.
As for me, I have found that my mind keeps wandering back to three books I read in recent years, which all include moments of apocalyptic lock-down.
Continue reading “Three Science Fiction and Fantasy Books I’ve Been Thinking About A Lot During The COVID19 Lockdown”Reviewing PALESTINE +100 on Tor.com
I’m pleased to report that I have written a book review for Tor.com, one of the world’s foremost science fiction / fantasy websites.
The book is Palestine +100, which (according to its publisher, Comma Press) is the first ever anthology of Palestinian science fiction. It features a dozen stories of speculative fiction, all set a century after the establishment of the state of Israel—an event that Palestinians call the Nakba (catastrophe).
The book’s authors seem to be in dialogue with each other. They ask, first, the extent to which their people must let go of their past in order to secure a future; and second, how much their past defines who they are. Moreover: how does the presence of the Israelis and their nation-building project impact on what it means to be Palestinian?
You can read the entire review on Tor.com, which I hope prompts you to read the book.
Discussing the UK visa system in The Bookseller
Nick Barley, director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, has warned that the UK visa system alienates cultural visitors and is in dire need of an overhaul. In recent years, participants in the EIBF and other major UK festivals have had trouble getting permission to enter the UK – a huge freedom of expression issue for them, and for British audiences who have a right to hear them speak.
I’m also quoted in the piece, noting the many ways in which the UK visa system conspires to discourage cultural visitors.
“Here, I’ve noticed that the issue with visa refusals is not just the culture of ‘suspicion’ which leads to some authors and writers, usually young and usually from countries that are poor or which have security or human rights issues, being refused. The visa application system itself is too complex and it’s too easy to make a mistake or to provide incomplete information, which can also lead to a refusal. And the Home Office never provides any opportunity for the applicant to clarify or amend an application.”
He added: “The system is a combination of hostility and complexity that turns people off as well as turns people away. That this is a case is absolutely a political choice – yet another way in which antipathy towards immigration hurts British culture.”