BackStory: Six Questions with Mehreen Ahmed Author of East Bengal, 1971 What inspired you to write ‘East Bengal, 1971’? I was reading an article on the Bangladesh Independence movement of 1971 one day in a newspaper. The article was about…
East Bengal, 1971
East Bengal, 1971 by Mehreen Ahmed It was lunch time in Madhupur. Taramon, a motherless farmer’s daughter of 24, was just getting ready to sit down with her four siblings for lunch. Their father had left for the field early…
BackStory: Four Questions with Cathy Ulrich
BackStory: Five Questions with Cathy Ulrich Author of Something That Can Never be Held What inspired you to write ‘Something That Can Never be Held’? I recently got a new book about Bonnie and Clyde (side note: it’s fine, but…
Something That Can Never be Held
Something That Can Never be Held by Cathy Ulrich You are being photographed with a stolen camera. You are pretending to smoke a cigar, you are wearing your best dress, you are holding a shotgun. You are going to…
BackStory: Five Questions with Carolyn Oliver
BackStory: Five Questions with Carolyn Oliver Author of Infanta What inspired you to write ‘Infanta’? I intended this piece as a companion to Ravel’s Pavane for a Dead Princess, a stately dance that, thanks to its title, tends (for me,…
Infanta
Infanta by Carolyn Oliver after Ravel’s Pavane for a Dead Princess Infanta, you dance as a gull sways on a salt breeze, as a fan swings closed between jewelled fingers, as a whisper stalls in a hot room. Eyes tally…
BackStory: Five Questions with Philip Charter
BackStory: Five Questions with Philip Charter Author of The anatomy of a hurdy-gurdy What inspired you to write ‘The anatomy of a hurdy-gurdy’? I had an idea about a musician who plays a hopelessly old-fashioned instrument and settled on the…
The anatomy of a hurdy-gurdy
The anatomy of a hurdy-gurdy by Philip Charter The curve of the body is yours. Wooden lines live and breathe. I cradle you, as if you were still a part of me, but you are not. My instrument is angular…