Jacob Silkstone Archives – Page 3 of 10

Around the Literary World in 80 Words (#16)

By Jacob Silkstone

Jacob Silkstone rounds up the news from around the literary world, 80 words at a time. Featuring Camus, the human race serving machines, and ornithologist James Bond.

Roving Eye, Spotlight

Poet of the Month: John Robert Lee

By Jacob Silkstone, John Robert Lee

“I try always for depth and vision…” John Robert Lee, The Missing Slate’s Poet of the Month, interviewed by Jacob Silkstone.

Alone in Babel, Arts & Culture

The Sleeping Dictionary

By Jacob Silkstone

Jacob Silkstone reviews Sujata Massey’s ‘bold and ambitious’ new novel.

Alone in Babel, Arts & Culture

Doris Lessing, professional contrarian

By Jacob Silkstone

‘A professional contrarian’ whose work deserves to go on being admired. In memory of Doris Lessing (1919-2013).

Alone in Babel, Arts & Culture

A Cold Second Coming

By Jacob Silkstone

The Missing Slate’s Jacob Silkstone on Colm TÃ³ibÃn’s Booker-shortlisted The Testament of Mary.

Alone in Babel, Arts & Culture

Elmore Leonardâ€™s 10 rules of writing (and 50 reasons to ignore them) #8

By Jacob Silkstone

Jacob Silkstone tells you to go ahead and write those ‘detailed descriptions’ after all…

Alone in Babel, Arts & Culture

Spotlight Writer: Farah Ghuznavi

By Farah Ghuznavi, Jacob Silkstone

Farah Ghuznavi discusses the dangers of stereotyping, the riches of Bangla literature, and the reasons why no one should be a writer…

Alone in Babel, Arts & Culture

The logodaedalist (#5)

By Jacob Silkstone

E is for eschaton…

Globetrotter

A Letter From Dhaka

By Jacob Silkstone

by Jacob Silkstone

Alone in Babel

The Science of the Iambs

By Jacob Silkstone

Jacob Silkstone on Nicholson Baker

In the Magazine

A Word from the Editor

Don’t cry like a girl. Be a (wo)man.

Why holding up the women in our lives can help build a nation, in place of tearing it down.

Literature

This House is an African House

"This house is an African house./ This your body is an African womanâ€™s body..." By Kadija Sesay.

Literature

Shoots

"Sapling legs bend smoothly, power foot in place,/ her back, parallel to solid ground,/ makes her torso a table of support..." By Kadija Sesay.

Literature

A Dry Season Doctor in West Africa

"She presses her toes together. I will never marry, she says. Jamais dans cette vie! Where can I find a man like you?" By...

In the Issue

Property of a Sorceress

"She died under mango trees, under kola nut/ and avocado trees, her nose pressed to their roots,/ her hands buried in dead leaves, her...

Literature

What Took Us to War

"What took us to war has again begun,/ and what took us to war/ has opened its wide mouth/ again to confuse us." By...

Literature

Sometimes, I Close My Eyes

"sometimes, this is the way of the world,/ the simple, ordinary world, where things are/ sometimes too ordinary to matter. Sometimes,/ I close my...

Literature

Quarter to War

"The footfalls fading from the streets/ The trees departing from the avenues/ The sweat evaporating from the skin..." By Jumoke Verissimo.

Literature

Transgendered

"Lagos is a chronicle of liquid geographies/ Swimming on every tongue..." By Jumoke Verissimo.

Fiction

Sketches of my Mother

"The mother of my memories was elegant. She would not step out of the house without her trademark red lipstick and perfect hair. She...

Fiction

The Way of Meat

"Every dayâ€”any dayâ€”any one of us could be picked out for any reason, and we would be... Weâ€™d part like hair, pushing into the...

Fiction

Between Two Worlds

"Ursula spotted the three black students immediately. Everyone did. They could not be missed because they kept to themselves and apart from the rest...."...

Essays

Talking Gender

"In fact it is often through the uninformed use of such words that language becomes a tool in perpetuating sexism and violence against women...

Essays

Unmasking Female Circumcision

"Though the origins of the practice are unknown, many medical historians believe that FGM dates back to at least 2,000 years." Gimel Samera looks...

Essays

Not Just A Phase

"...in the workplace, a person can practically be forced out of their job by discrimination, taking numerous days off for fear of their physical...

Essays

The Birth of Bigotry

"The psychology of prejudice demands that we are each our own moral police". Maria Amir on the roots of bigotry and intolerance.

Fiction

The Score

"The person on the floor was unmistakeably dead. It looked like a woman; she couldnâ€™t be sure yet..." By Hawa Jande Golakai.