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In Frances Mayes’ Book, Another Starring Role for Food

In Frances Mayes’ Book, Another Starring Role for Food

Last month, I wrote about the starring role food plays in Peter Mayle’s memoir, A Year in Provence. Frances Mayes’ Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy has been called the Italian equivalent of Mayle’s book. Mayes is a poet, so it is natural that her prose charms readers with evocative detail and lyrical language.

“Unapologetic Black Muslim Sudanese American”: An Interview with Safia Elhillo

“Unapologetic Black Muslim Sudanese American”: An Interview with Safia Elhillo

In January, Safia Elhillo’s debut collection, The January Children, brought her poems to my doorstep, and many others, as it became Amazon’s top new release in African Poetry. I had the chance to chat with Elhillo about her collection and to discuss what it means to be a writer during this shameful moment in American history.

Home Is a Complicated Thing

Home Is a Complicated Thing

In Jhumpa Lahiri’s stories, immigrants live in a world defined by language, its possibilities, its dead-ends. The legal and political aspects of immigration don’t appear to be the biggest cause of trouble for the characters. Language, however, that first branch of culture, is another matter: characters must continuously code-switch, juggle, negotiate, conceal, and readjust.