First sentenced in 2011 to life in prison for purportedly criticizing the emir in his poem “Tunisian Jasmine”, Qatari poet Mohammed al-Ajami had his reduced 15-year prison sentence upheld by the Court of Cassation in appeal this October.
Read more...
Considering which of Alice Munro’s stories to read can feel something like considering what to eat from an enormous box of chocolates. Here’s a partial guide to the work of the recipient of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Read more...
Making a spot-lit entrance on a balcony over Sampsonia Way, Swami reads three poems as she walks down the street, backed by a jazz band featuring Oliver Lake and Dee Alexander and her Trio, at City of Asylum Pittsburgh’s 9th annual Jazz Poetry Concert.
Read more...
Author and Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie discusses the roots of freedom of expression in the Indian tradition at last session of the India Today Conclave, March 17, 2012. Rushdie is the author of The Satanic Verses, a novel whose import is currently banned in India.
Read more...
Recently, racism and religious violence between Buddhists and Muslims have rippled through Burma. The crisis has spilled over to Facebook, where rumors and a widely shared video attacking Aung San Suu Kyi’s supposed support for Burmese Muslims have drastically turned public opinion against her and her party.
Read more...
Anabel Hernandez has been described as one of the most courageous journalists in Mexico. Her book Narcoland links top Mexican government officials to the world’s most powerful drug cartels. In 2012, she received the Golden Pen of Freedom award from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.
Read more...
Pakistan’s move to ban access to the gay social networking website Queerpk reflects the conservative society’s inability to accept a “larger world view”, activists say. Keeping with Pakistan’s internet censorship policies, some say the ban is aimed at curbing alternate and progressive discourse.
Read more...
