Against Totalitarianism: Syria’s Nihad Sirees on Fiction and Morality

Exiled Syrian Novelist Nihad Sirees, whose novel The Silence and the Roar is published in the US today, reflects on the role of a novelist in the midst a totalitarian state.

Discussion: Why Is The New York Times So Behind on So Much? The New York Times has been increasingly slow to pick up on trends in the book business, but if newspaper buyers are still the same people as book buyers, they deserve better.

More News from PP: Ether for Authors: AWP in Boston, B&N’s Travails, McEwan’s Doubts Porter Anderson's weekly round-up of writerly buzz from around the web previews this week's AWP conference in Boston, B&N's bad news, Ian McEwan's doubts about fiction. 45 Years of Bringing the World’s Greatest Writers...to Oklahoma! The Puterbaugh Festival has brought many of the world's greatest writers to the University of Oklahoma for 45 years. This April's event focuses on Ethiopian Maaza Mengiste.

From the Archives: Rafik Schami’s Swallow Editions Aims to Help Arab Authors Take Flight Syria’s Rafik Shami is one of the world’s leading Arab writers. He’s now launched a new press to bring new Arabic voices to the attention of English-language readers.