In this interview Jason Q. Ng discusses the place that the social media site Sina Weibo has in Chinese culture, the origins of the Great Firewall and its censorship office, and why certain terms have been blocked on Weibo. Ng is author of Blocked on Weibo.
Read more...
In this video, filmed in Cuba by Silvia Corbelle Batista and edited in Pittsburgh by Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, five of the writers from Generation Zero: An Anthology of New Cuban Fiction discuss the stylistic characteristics and mission of Generation Zero.
Read more...
In this edition of The Writer’s Block we round up the answers of eight different writers to the question ‘What is your least favorite interview question?’ Included in this video are Ivo Victoria, Sridala Swami, Chris Abani, Cornelius Eady, Toi Derricotte.
Read more...
Liu Xia, a poet and wife of imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo, has been under house arrest since October 2010. In this video, secretly recorded in December, Liu reads two of her new works.
Read more...
Activists in Saudi Arabia face a repressive and intolerant government as they advocate popular political participation, judicial reform, and an end to discrimination against women and minorities.
Read more...
A look at Ai Weiwei – The Fake Case, a new documentary produced and directed by Danish filmmaker Andreas Johnsen. Chronicling Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei’s life from 2009-2012, it follows his release from solitary confinement and subsequent placement under house arrest in 2011.
Read more...
In this segment of The Writer’s Block, French author Laurent Binet discusses his relationship with his editors, the risks of mixing history and fiction, and why he doesn’t make a distinction between author and narrator.
Read more...