Literature & Geopolitics Podcast
by Robert Fay
Literature & Geopolitics focuses on long-form conversations with important writers from around the world, with a particular emphasis on authors who deserve a wider audience in North America and more broadly, among English-language readers. Hosted by Robert Fay, this podcast is an extension of the Literature & Geopolitics newsletter on Substack. https://literaturegeopolitics.substack.com/
Episodes
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Michal Ben-Naftali on Literature, Holocaust Memory and the Silence of the Past
Israeli novelist and French translator Michal Ben-Naftali argues that we may be witnessing what she calls “the death of the reader”, in reference to Roland Barthes’ 1967 famous “death of the author.” For Ben-Naftali, literature asks readers to imagine experiences beyond the limits of their own...
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Why Oman Banned This Novelist’s Books | Mohamed Alyahyai
Omani novelist and journalist Mohamed Alyahyai has had several of his books banned in Oman. In this conversation, we discuss censorship, freedom of expression, exile, the history of Omani literature, and his novel The War. Alyahyai explains what it is like to have a book disappear from bookstores...
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Navtej Sarna on Literature, Reading, and the Writer's Life
Explore Robert Fay’s interview with Indian novelist and diplomat Navtej Sarna, who talks about his literary childhood in 1960s India, writing historical fiction, meeting with the renowned Indian novelist Khuswant Singh, and how 20th century English novels of the British Raj are now received in...
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Literature in Exile, Roberto Bolaño, and the Political Novel | Santiago Gamboa
Explore this interview with Colombian novelist Santiago Gamboa as he talks movingly about his friendship with the Chilean master Roberto Bolaño, his years of exile in Europe, why intellectuals and writers in Latin America are close to political power, and how great novelists handle politics in...
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Why Anthony Powell Still Matters Today | Harry Mount of The Oldie
Discover why English novelist Anthony Powell deserves to be remembered as one of Britain’s great 20th-century novelists. He wrote the 12-volume masterpiece “A Dance to the Music of Time” that explores the lives of a group of British characters from the 1920s, through World War II, and deep into...
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Why Diplomacy Is the Perfect Job for Writers | India’s Ambassador Abhay K.
In the first episode of the Literature & Geopolitics podcast, Indian Ambassador and poet Abhay K. discusses diplomacy, poetry, Octavio Paz, Buddhist thought, Nalanda University, and why he chose to write about Africa. We also discuss the long and rich writer-diplomat tradition and why so many...
About this show
Literature & Geopolitics focuses on long-form conversations with important writers from around the world, with a particular emphasis on authors who deserve a wider audience in North America and more broadly, among English-language readers. Hosted by Robert Fay, this podcast is an extension of the Literature & Geopolitics newsletter on Substack. https://literaturegeopolitics.substack.com/
Hosted by
Robert Fay
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