Feedback, August 2007
…I also mentioned to you something about accessibility: I said that when I read your more final version of The Book of Mev, I was surprised by how accessible the voice was. Yes, it did…
Category: Dear Layla Welcome to Palestine
One of the Early Influences on “Dear Layla”
We could be like two people who inject themselves with truth serum and at long last have to tell it, the truth. I want to be able to say to myself, “I bled truth…
A Proposal from Marilyn
Marilyn Vazquez Dr. Chmiel Western Culture 16 September 2016 Empathy Practicum After considering what suffering concerns me most, I decided to center my Empathy Practicum on the struggles of the undocumented Hispanic and Latino population…
Some Things Take Time
I read the following in 2005; Dear Layla Welcome to Palestine came out in 2015: Ironic essay, novelistic narrative, autobiographical fragment, historical fact. Flight of fantasy—the synthetic power of the novel is capable of combining…
What Would Sri Krishna and Walt Whitman Do?
Dear Srimatiji My heart aches Reading the last chapter of Dear Layla You are Layla Yet you’re as far away For practical purposes As the Gaza Strip You are a psychiatrist You are a resident…
Dear Layla, Dear Mark by Abbey Fox
Dear Mark, Per usual, I devoured your latest release. YOUR WRITING INSPIRES ME SO DEEPLY. It inspires me to take a moment and notice the tiny things that are the fabric of life and how…
Remembering/2
Henry invited Tanya and me to join him And his new friend Laura Bronstein For a mid-May commemorative event At the very liberal Reform synagogue Henry and Laura had met At an anti-neo-liberalism conference in…
Shimmelstoy’s Way
Henry put me in touch with Darren Crews Prof in the French Department At Bloomington After I’d been home awhile One weekend I drove to see him He visits the West Bank most every summer…
Dear Layla: A Potluck, A Reading, and a Discussion in Chicago
Dear Chicago Friends, I will be in town on Saturday 21 May for a book reading and discussion of my recent novel Dear Layla Welcome to Palestine. Melissa Banerjee has kindly agreed to host us at her home:…
Seeds
In my book on Elie Wiesel There is reference to Mev That was a seed for my next book In The Book of Mev There is reference to going to Palestine That was a seed…