Writing
Electric Literature
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Essays
Roll Call of Abandoned Languages in Words Without Borders - My language promiscuity and everything it says
The Thrill of Reading Obliviously in Words Without Borders - Translations, comp titles, and reading Anne Frank
What to Read When You're Infatuated in Electric Literature - Leesa Cross-Smith's gorgeous Every Kiss a War plus Simone de Beauvoir's love letters to Nelson Algren, Alexander Chee's How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, and Jenny Offill's Dept. of Speculation
What to Read When You Can't Think of Anything But How the World Has Gone to Hell in Electric Literature-Taking comfort in Eduardo Galeano's miniatures of global history, Children of the Days
Friend Break-Up Book Salve in Electric Literature- Reading Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend to get over platonic heartbreaks
Interviews
Chilean novelist Nona Fernández on the English language debut of Space Invaders, childhood during the Pinochet era, and her country being on fire again in 2019
"Uber Can Go Fuck Itself" - Prix Goncourt Debut Novel Winner Mahir Guven on ride-sharing, race and The Older Brother
The Hundred Wells of Salaga: Ayesha Harruna Attah, ancestors, and difficult legacies
Books As Medicine -The great, great American writer of the classic The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros
Eka Kurniawan, whose stunning Beauty is a Wound is a must-read.
Indian Americana of Neel Patel, If You See Me, Don't Say Hi
Fatima Farheen Mizra, (A Place for Us) on being edited by Sarah Jessica Parker and Shia lady warriors
Lists
9 Unmissable Translated Novels First Published in English This Year - A 2019 "Best of" was impossible but here are some suggestions including Olga Tokarczuk, Patrice Nganang, Juli Zeh, and Yoko Ogawa
7 Novels by London Writers of Color - Books by 2019 Booker winner Bernadine Evaristo, Haroun Khan, Sam Selvon, Ananda Devi, and others
7 Books Set in New Orleans That Go Beyond Mardi Gras - Big Easy books by Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Jami Attenberg, 2019 Nonfiction National Book Award Winner, Sarah M. Broom, and more
Mexico City Books to Read After Watching "Roma"
7 Books that Illuminate the People and Places on the US-Mexico Border - Stunning, saddening, and desert-crisp novels, non-fiction, memoir, and poetry about one of the most crossed and most contested lines in the world. Books by Luis Alberto Urrea, Francisco Cantú, Yuri Herrara, and others.
Novels to Feast On - Food-leaning fiction by Mo Yan, Ntozake Shange, Monique Truong, and others
Literary Afterlives- Posthumous Books by James Agee, Zora Neale Hurston, Malcolm X, and Mikhail Bulgakov
Alone Time-What to Read When You Crave Solitude
2018 Original Netflix Binges - 7 Short Story Collections to Read This Year
Harper's Bazaar Malaysia
Everything that's Important - Personal essay on moving and shifting between minimalism and maximalism
In Between Dreams - Interview with Tamil-Igbo writer Akwaeke Emezi, author of the novel, Freshwater
Studio Cookups - Interview with Malay Ho, beat maker and producer behind Frank Ocean, John Legend, Sam Smith, Zayn Malik, Alicia Keys and others
Mystic Stones - Crystals' wisdom from Style Rituals' Colleen McCann, Energy Muse's Heather Askinosie and others
New York Times Book Review
Review of Mia Alvar's In the Country
From the Archive
In London and New York, I reported on fashion, art, culture, money, and people for style.com, Grazia, Forbes, Chicago Tribune and others. Below are highlights:
Style.com
Before Vogue Runway and the current e-commerce incarnation of Style.com, I covered people and Fashion Weeks in London and NYC for the site. Especially exciting was chatting to Bill Clinton about sustenance, being blown away by Oprah's luminosity at the New York Public Library Lions gala, and hanging out at Marc Jacobs' holiday parties.
Harper's Bazaar
Fashion Week Revealed - Republished by San Francisco Chronicle, the local newspaper of my favorite American city in which I've not yet lived