https://arab.news/2h9cd
Author: Riley Black
In “The Last Days of the Dinosaurs,” Riley Black walks through what happened after an asteroid impact, tracking the sweeping disruptions that overtook this one spot, and imagining what might have been happening elsewhere on the globe.
Life’s losses were sharp and deeply-felt, but the hope carried by the survivors set the stage for the world as we know it now.
School shootings scare everyone. They make parents afraid to send their children to school. But they also lead to generalizations about those who perpetrate them.
Most assumptions about the perpetrators are wrong, and many warning signs are missed.
In this book, Peter Langman takes a look at 48 national and international cases of school shootings to dispel the myths, explore the motives, and expose the realities of preventing school shootings from happening in the future, according to a review on goodreads.com.
Imani Perry’s “Black in Blues” is a breathtaking meditation on the color blue, revealing its significance in Black history and culture.
This National Book Award winner captivates the heart and soul, leaving readers profoundly moved. After hearing Perry’s interview on National Public Radio, I was immediately drawn in, my curiosity ignited.
Perry’s narrative writing is nothing short of exquisite. She masterfully intertwines her family’s history with the broader tapestry of Black identity through the lens of blue.
While many authors have explored colors in literature, Perry’s exploration feels uniquely resonant, lingering in the mind long after the book is closed. Her writing is lyrical, infused with emotion, and her storytelling is compelling, drawing you into a world rich with experiences and memories.
“Black in Blues” also reveals the powerful correlation between music and the Black experience. This is a work for anyone who seeks to understand the motivations and movements of a vibrant community that has faced adversity yet continues to rise.
The book beautifully delves into how color shapes identity, weaving personal narratives with historical context and cultural commentary.
Perry’s exploration of the color blue becomes a testament to the resilience and creativity of the Black community, illuminating the ongoing struggles for equality and recognition while celebrating the beauty of cultural identity.
In a world that often marginalizes these stories, “Black in Blues” stands as a vital contribution to contemporary discussions on race, art, and history. It’s a compelling read that resonates deeply, inviting all of us to reflect on the complexities of the Black experience in America.
I cannot recommend it highly enough — this is a book that will stay with you, echoing in your thoughts and heart long after you’ve turned the last page.
In “Worlds of Unfreedom,” Roquinaldo Ferreira recasts West Central Africa as a key battleground in the struggle to abolish the transatlantic slave trade between the 1830s and the 1860s.
Ferreira foregrounds the experiences and agency of enslaved Africans, challenging Eurocentric narratives that marginalize African participation in abolition efforts.
Drawing on archival research, he shows how enslaved people resisted the oppressive systems that sought to commodify their lives. He integrates microhistorical analysis with broader world history.
Most of us are aware of the hive mind—the power of bees as an amazing collective. But do we know how uniquely intelligent bees are as individuals?
In “The Mind of a Bee,” Lars Chittka draws from decades of research, including his own pioneering work, to argue that bees have remarkable cognitive abilities.
He shows that they are profoundly smart, have distinct personalities, can recognize flowers and human faces, exhibit basic emotions, count, use simple tools, solve problems, and learn by observing others. They may even possess consciousness.
HASSAN, India: All writers draw on their experience, whether consciously or not, says Indian author Banu Mushtaq — including the titular tale of attempted self-immolation in her International Booker Prize-winning short story collection.
Mushtaq, who won the coveted literature prize as the first author writing in Kannada — an Indian regional language — said the author’s responsibility is to reflect the truth.
“You cannot simply write describing a rose,” said the 77-year-old, who is also a lawyer and activist.
“You cannot say it has got such a fragrance, such petals, such color. You have to write about the thorns also. It is your responsibility, and you have to do it.”
Her book “Heart Lamp,” a collection of 12 powerful short stories, is also her first book translated into English, with the prize shared with her translator Deepa Bhasthi.
Critics praised the collection for its dry and gentle humor, and its searing commentary on the patriarchy, caste and religion.
Mushtaq has carved an alternative path in life, challenging societal restrictions and perceptions.
As a young girl worried about her future, she said she started writing to improve her “chances of marriage.”
Born into a Muslim family in 1948, she studied in Kannada, which is spoken mostly in India’s southern Karnataka state by around 43 million people, rather than Urdu, the language of Islamic texts in India and which most Muslim girls learnt.
She attended college, and worked as a journalist and also as a high school teacher.
Constricted life
But after marrying for love, Mushtaq found her life constricted.
“I was not allowed to have any intellectual activities. I was not allowed to write,” she said.
“I was in that vacuum. That harmed me.”
She recounted how as a young mother aged around 27 with possible postpartum depression, and ground down by domestic life, had doused petrol on herself and on the “spur of a moment” readied to set herself on fire.
Her husband rushed to her with their three-month-old daughter.
“He took the baby and put her on my feet, and he drew my attention to her and he hugged me, and he stopped me,” Mushtaq told AFP.
The experience is nearly mirrored in her book — in its case, the protagonist is stopped by her daughter.
“People get confused that it might be my life,” the writer said.
Explaining that while not her exact story, “consciously or subconsciously, something of the author, it reflects in her or his writing.”
Books line the walls in Mushtaq’s home, in the small southern Indian town of Hassan.
Her many awards and certificates — including a replica of the Booker prize she won in London in May — are also on display.
She joked that she was born to write — at least that is what a Hindu astrological birth chart said about her future.
“I don’t know how it was there, but I have seen the birth chart,” Mushtaq said with a laugh, speaking in English.
The award has changed her life “in a positive way,” she added, while noting the fame has been a little overwhelming.
“I am not against the people, I love people,” she said referring to the stream of visitors she gets to her home.
“But with this, a lot of prominence is given to me, and I don’t have any time for writing. I feel something odd... Writing gives me a lot of pleasure, a lot of relief.”
‘The writer is always pro-people’
Mushtaq’s body of work spans six short story collections, an essay collection and poetry.
The stories in “Heart Lamp” were chosen from the six short story collections, dating back to 1990.
The Booker jury hailed her characters — from spirited grandmothers to bumbling religious clerics — as “astonishing portraits of survival and resilience.”
The stories portray Muslim women going through terrible experiences, including domestic violence, the death of children and extramarital affairs.
Mushtaq said that while the main characters in her books are all Muslim women, the issues are universal.
“They (women) suffer this type of suppression and this type of exploitation, this type of patriarchy everywhere,” she said. “A woman is a woman, all over the world.”
While accepting that even the people for whom she writes may not like her work, Mushtaq said she remained dedicated to providing wider truths.
“I have to say what is necessary for the society,” she said.
“The writer is always pro-people... With the people, and for the people.”
