Discussion

Wonderful to read this interview with Ben Okri--and great to hear about his new book! I really do hope it will be published in America as well ...

The pink and the other sound.

You' re a
luminous rose,
your delicate
sound appears
in my mind
like a sensible
care in the
light of a
candle....

Francesco Sinibaldi

Ritter, Strauch et al don't appear as (live) characters in Yánez Cossío's novel, but one of the characters in Beyond the Islands/Más allá de las islas develops a fascination with the vanished Baroness and has her replicated as a plastic doll. It seems there's always room for fiction to go just a bit further than the far-out reality.

Thank you for this great read, the word picture comes through loud and clear. I was part of the team of psychologists working with DoJ in Australia. I fictionalized my experiences in my book, THE CON. The politics of the work was the conundrum. I relate to your check mated position, "let too many pass and we lose our funding". I take my hat off to you, and yes they are an amazing client load.

Thanks Amalia. Does Cossío actually fictionalise those very people for some of her characters? I'd well understand if she did - they're crying out to feature in novels. Forgive a cliche, but Ritter & Strauch are almost so good you couldn't make them up.

On the topic of "Books of the Archipelago," may I suggest "Beyond the Islands," my translation of Ecuadorian novelist Alicia Yánez Cossío's "Más allá de las islas"? It's just been published by UNO Press (unopress.org). Pirates, tourists, naturalists, a little magic--and a few of the characters Treherne's book portrays.

I imagine your disconnection from the prisoners is similar to their disconnection from society.

For whatever reasons, the prisoners don't deal with their unlikeness very well.

Very nice read! Thanks for it!

Los ojos benditos del canto.

Ésta es una
dulce canción
que viene
silente donde
el soplo del
mar reposa
contento.

Francesco Sinibaldi

This is a beautiful and moving story. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Theme and covered compelled me to purchase the Aliens issue, first ever Granta I've read. It's fantastic! My only question: Why are there no stories about aliens from outer space? (I'm embarrassed to say, the cover led me to believe that I was going to find UFOs inside). Are little green men not considered a literary subject? Or is it just harder to find good memoirs about flying saucers?

La course du soleil.

L'oreiller me
donne la poésie
d'un moment
silencieux et
plein d'harmonie,
comme le
chant du matin
quand le vent
disparaît....

Francesco Sinibaldi

Every moment in our lives count. In the Romani village of Investi, there lives a 25-year-old woman named Rifca Stanescu. I found this here: http://www.newsytype.com/4726-youngest-grandmother-rifca-stanescu Rifca's young, growing family consists of 13-year-old daughter Maria and 2-year-old grandson Ion. Thus, Stanesca, in accordance with Sun and Daily Mail research, is the youngest grandmother on record, having become one when she was twenty three.

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Comme créer une poésie....

La nature
engageante est
comme le soleil
qui souffle
dans le chant
du matin et
cette harmonie,
en donnant
une lumière,
devient perpétuelle
comme la voix
des sourires.

Francesco Sinibaldi

Every day of your life.

Every day
of your life
is a luminous
moment and
every sunshine,
when the light
fades away, is
a magical quietness.

Francesco Sinibaldi

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The message of a blackbird.

Often, in the
sky, a little
blackbird
describes the
profile of a
sad persuasion,
but always
remains, in
the light of
a candle.....

Francesco Sinibaldi

Haunting and surreal. I have never looked at my own hospitalizations in that way. I enjoyed the read.

Wonderful. I think it's my favourite Granta cover ever.

'Where else do you think all this Islam and drugs and guns and bombs came into this city? They are a recent invention. Americans gave him the money and guns and a carte blanche for drugs to fight the Soviets, and he fucked the country and this city for his jihad next door, thank you. You do find some Comrade occasionally, still bitten, his ass still bleeding and bandaged'. Brilliant

Brilliant.

Synchronicity, I believe is the word that best describes this sequence of events:

A few days ago I found my copy of Granta's BBYN, 2003 that still bears the teeth marks my dog George left on it after chewing most of it. The only story that was untouched was Peter Ho Davies' "Leading Men."

Serendipitously, a few weeks before I had discovered a story by Mr. Davies in a 2001 issue of Harper's "What you Know" and wrote to Mr. Davies to express my luck at finding him. He was gracious enough to reply back (via e-mail)

An today, I found this blog, weird!

Cheers.

'The most difficult character in comedy is that of the fool, and he must be no simpleton that plays that part.'

[Cervantes]

http://sixhundredk.blogspot.com/2011/02/green-shield-stamps.html

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/0205/1224289031363.html

Un evento dichoso.

El balido
vive como un
sueño templado
que recuerda la
estrella de una
dulce poesía,
el amor delicado
y el sonido
infinito.

Francesco Sinibaldi

Each phrase is fat and juicy. You just wonder where each one will lead.