Mathias Énard
A review of the novelist’s “Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants.” (“Michelangelo à la Turk,” The New Yorker)Mathias Énard
Patrick Chamoiseau’s “Slave Old Man”
A review of the Martinican writer’s novel about an elderly runaway. (The New York Times Book Review)Patrick Chamoiseau’s “Slave Old Man”
Gogol’s Fake News
An essay on the Russian novelist’s satire “Dead Souls” and its Trumpian resonances. (The New York Times Book Review)Gogol’s Fake News
Scholastique Mukasonga
An essay about the novelist and memoirist and her portrayal of Rwanda’s history. (“Fatal Beauty,” The New York Review of Books)Scholastique Mukasonga
Curse Narratives in Four African Novels
A review-essay on Jennifer Makumbi’s “Kintu,” Wayétu Moore’s “She Would Be King,” Leonara Miano’s “Season of the Shadow,” and Scholastique Mukasonga’s “Barefoot Woman,” which appeared on the cover of The New York Times Book Review.Curse Narratives in Four African Novels
John Keene’s “Counternarratives”
An essay on the writer’s speculative historical fiction as a queer counterpoint to the family saga. (The New York Times Book Review)John Keene’s “Counternarratives”
Teju Cole’s “Blind Spot”
A review of the writer’s debut photography exhibition and accompanying book, which explore the limits of vision. (The New York Review of Books)Teju Cole’s “Blind Spot”