Published by Sort Of Books, 1999, 247 pages. In 1988, Chris Stewart and his wife Ana bought an old, remote farm in Las Alpujarras in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Andalucía. This is the first book in his trilogy about living on their farm, El Valero. Chris, a former Genesis drummer, doesn’t pretend that living …
Continue reading Driving Over Lemons—An Optimist in Andalucía: Chris Stewart
Usha Raman is an Indian author and poet. She is also a Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Hyderabad. Her first novel, Polite Conversations, was published in 2024. Her other books include Writing for the Media (2010); a collection of poems, All the Spaces in Between (2009); and a children’s book, …
Continue reading Breaking the Veil of Politeness: An Interview with Usha Raman
Published by Margika—An NGO for Special Needs Children, 2022, 249 pages. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one in four people faces challenges in the functioning of their body or mind. Many of them start experiencing these challenges— autism, for example, or a physical disability—before they are 25. However, this does not mean that …
Continue reading Mindscapes—A Canvas of Emotions in a Special World: Neena Rao
Rebecca Lowe is a British journalist specializing in the Middle East and human rights. Her book, The Slow Road to Tehran: A Revelatory Bike Ride through Europe and the Middle East (2022), was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year Award 2023. Rebecca has written for the BBC, The Guardian, The Times, …
Continue reading Cycling Across the Middle East: An Interview with Rebecca Lowe
Published by Bee Fiction, 2024, 416 pages. “Beneath the thin fabric that packaged families, there were so many tangled threads, little knots of resentment and bundles of unexpressed anger that reveal themselves in unexpected ways. How much energy they spent on hiding them from view, maintaining the fiction of smoothness, of harmony, of normalcy—whatever that …
Published by John Murray, 2013, 431 pages. Can you imagine a world without alphabets? They are such an essential part of our lives; the letters help us form words to express ourselves and communicate with others. Take, for example, the “English” alphabet—which is what Michael Rosen’s book is about. It feels like it has been …
Continue reading Alphabetical—How Every Letter Tells a Story: Michael Rosen
Talking About Books 