phati’tude is a series of programs developed by The Intercultural Alliance of Artists & Scholars, Inc. (IAAS). So what’s phati’tude? It began as a literary magazine in 1997, and in time, it made sense to tie all of these initiatives under one umbrella, and that’s how phati’tude programming was borne.
From cigarette packet-sized classics to Don Quixote on the iPhone, Jonathan Gibbs charts the past and future of compact literature.
Terezia Mora overcame language barriers to capture the human condition in her award-winning German novels. The Hungarian-born is recognized with this year’s Chamisso Prize for non-native German authors.
Many students attending schools in America will enroll in their freshman year of high school without ever having heard of Chekhov, Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy. It is likely they will not be able to meaningfully enter into any conversation . . .
Almost 150 years after its creation, Lewis Carroll’s delightfully weird Wonderland world continues to fascinate — and to spawn merchandise. Jewelry, trinkets, clothing, cosmetics: We want it all.
Increased literacy levels and technology have ensured the democratisation of contemporary Indian literature. . . The essential features of the literature during the last sixty years cannot be similarly captured in terms of a few major trends or influences.
Mark Twain, left a worldwide legacy that has continued since his death 100 years ago. As cities across the country are celebrating Twain this year, Twain experts explain how he shaped American literature and culture . . .
We’ve got enough mindless entertainment in the world today. When I read War and Peace, I don’t want to hear an actor reciting Bezukhov’s lines. I want to read them for myself and add my own thoughts . . .
Despite the best efforts of his widow to quash it, a new biography of Ryszard Kapuscinski has been published in Poland which describes the writer as a liar and a communist spy. . . In other words, that he made things up about himself and the events he claimed to have witnessed.
Over 65 years after the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, primary sources are vanishing; there are now only around 5,000 Holocaust survivors alive in the UK. . . . there’s a sense that writers of the second and third generation are beginning to tire of the Shoah.
After 30 years of detective work and eye-strain, Dubliners Danis Rose and John O’Hanlon have produced a corrected version of “Finnegans Wake.” They attribute the mistakes to James Joyce’s failing eyesight. . .
Six years ago, when violence was the order of the day here, Elias Khoury’s 20-year-old son, George, was killed in a Palestinian terrorist attack. The Khourys are Palestinian and so are the killers, who said “sorry . . . we assumed the jogger was a Jew.”
Irène d’Almeida, the University of Arizona’s French and Italian department head, will convene the 36th Annual African Literature Association Conference, which will include lectures, presentations and film screenings.
It has probably not escaped the notice of most attentive readers that female characters are under a lot more scrutiny than male ones will ever be. I see this as a reflection of the world we live in, which is still a world in which women are required to justify their actions much more frequently than men.
The canon of Old Dead White Guys does not rule over high school English class like it once did. Authors like William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Henry David Thoreau and Mark Twain will always have their place, of course, but schools on the Lower Shore are adapting curriculum to reflect a new wave of literature.
I never read books until I was 14 years old. Typical boy, I was out in all weathers playing cricket or football instead. What turned me on to literature, was when a respected older Cousin suggested I listen to The Cure’s “Killing An Arab” and then read Camus’ “L’Etranger”, both of which I dutifully did. . . . Oh yeah, I not only read books now, I write ‘em as well. And as part of that, music is still key.
David Clewell a professor of English at Webster University, has been named Missouri’s second poet laureate. He’s published seven collections of poetry, most recently The Low End of Higher Things.
American heiress and author Gloria Vanderbilt has created a new short fiction prize for Canadian writers in partnership with literary quarterly Exile Editions.
In this candid interview, Jesús Papoleto Meléndez (affectionately known as “Papo”) talks about his poetic form and expression, poetic identity, the politics of poetry, his playwriting, teaching, his relationship with Pedro Pietri and future plans for his writing.
Racism sucks. It sucks even more in publishing, since mass media is basically the only “thing” with the power to reach lots of people fast, and instead, for the most part, media generators–book publishers among them–find that it is comfortable, happy, and money-padded to carry on with the status quo, . . .
J.D. Salinger was a reclusive (and controversial) writer during his lifetime and his death only served to catapult him into an even more mythic (albeit perhaps more of an anti-hero) status. So, what do you think about Salinger’s death? Did you read his famous novel? How do you think Salinger’s life and legacy in words will be remembered and documented in the coming days?
Kentucky is creating a bill to teach the Bible in public high schools . . . . The question is, is the Bible a legitimate piece of literature and therefore, should the bill pass, or is this merely a “back door” opportunity that will eventually usurp the separation of church and state?
Ronny Someck is an Israeli-Iraqi poet who brings his readers into his own memories and combines them with the everyday reality of people, which is why his work has been translated into over a dozen languages.
“Poets are damned but they are not blind, they see with the eyes of the angels.”
Williams Carlos Williams was an American poet as well as a pediatrician and general practitioner of medicine who “worked harder at being a writer than he did at being a physician.” Fortunately for us, during his long lifetime, Williams excelled at both.
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