The Gypsy/الغجرية
“She knows the time/ from the way the roses bend,/ from how far or near the sky is…”
Poem of the Week (January 11), by Dunya Mikhail. Translated from Arabic by the poet.
Drip
“I remember Rukie telling a group of girls that God is deeply sad whenever we go against his word and give in to the flesh, and I wonder how anybody could feel that way when there is an urgent thread of desire pushing itself out of a body…”
Story of the Week (January 6), by Ama Asantewa Diaka. Selected by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Spotlight Site: Kitchen Butterfly
“They say a picture is worth a thousand words… These few words are worth a thousand pictures on social media.”
Robert Cottrell on Kitchen Butterfly, Ozoz Sokoh’s Nigerian food blog.
Spotlight Site: The Marshall Project
“If you want to see journalism at its best, then this is the place to go. Of Bill Keller’s two editorships, the second may yet be the greater.”
Continuing his weekly series on the best of the web, Robert Cottrell admires The Marshall Project.
Spotlight Site: Altucher Confidential
“James Altucher is the Mozart of oversharing…” Robert Cottrell’s Spotlight Series visits Altucher Confidential, with a short detour via Medium.
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Fi Yom Wi Leila
“Spare me this Arab love for dictators tonight./ Come closer, listen—Warda is singing…”
Poem of the Week (November 23), by Zeina Hashem Beck.
Spotlight Site: Ask the Pilot
“Answers to all those questions you have always wanted to know about the inner workings of airlines, but no longer dare ask for fear of ending up on a no-fly list.”
Robert Cottrell’s Spotlight Site series continues with ‘Ask the Pilot’, a blog run by Patrick Smith.
Pushcart Prize 2017 Nominations
The Missing Slate’s six nominations for the 2017 Pushcart Prizes.
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Writing Pakistan
“As with all good books, the questions it poses linger long after the final page…”
Jacob Silkstone reviews Mushtaq Bilal’s collection of interviews with Pakistan’s leading English-language fiction writers.
Spotlight Artist: Shallon Fadlien
“Being a woman, I think that feminism cannot be divorced from my art.”
John Robert Lee interviews Shallon Fadlien.