Literature & Geopolitics Podcast

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 lives, a capacity she worries is increasingly being lost. In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss t...

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 without a clear explanation—and why he believes authorities can sometimes be more afraid of the idea...

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 India. Ambassador Sarna served in the Indian Foreign Service for 38 years, serving as India’s Ambassador...

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 their work. He also talks about a recent lunch he had with the Chinese Nobel Laureate Mo Yan, who wanted...

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 middle age. I talk with Harry Mount, who is the great nephew of Anthony Powell, and the editor of The Ol...

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 writers, including Dante, Chaucer, Pablo Neruda, Sergio Pitol, and many others, have been both writers...