Ben East Writes

Ben East Writes Freelance Journalist. Books, Culture, Sport and lots more besides. www.beneast.com

My little think piece on why Abdulrazak Gurnah not only deserves the Nobel Prize but now, a much wider readership. Start...
12/10/2021

My little think piece on why Abdulrazak Gurnah not only deserves the Nobel Prize but now, a much wider readership. Start with By The Sea, by the way...

The writer explores the legacy of colonialism and asks readers to see the other point of view, something of a rarity today

Here are my six books to read this month, featuring Wole Soyinka, Hassan Akkad, Anuradha Roy, Colson Whitehead, Richard ...
03/09/2021

Here are my six books to read this month, featuring Wole Soyinka, Hassan Akkad, Anuradha Roy, Colson Whitehead, Richard Powers and of course... Sally Rooney.

From a Syrian biography to a Nigerian Nobel Laureate's novel almost 50 years since his last, there's plenty to look out

Here's my chat with Merky Books' author Hafsa Zayyan about her impressive debut We Are All Birds of Uganda, combining Id...
05/02/2021

Here's my chat with Merky Books' author Hafsa Zayyan about her impressive debut We Are All Birds of Uganda, combining Idi Amin's expulsion of South Asians in 1970s with a contemporary coming of age story. Intergenerational trauma, as she puts it! But she's right, there's something really interesting about Zayyan's generation not knowing about the experience of their parents and grandparents because they don’t like to talk about it. "But as you get older as an immigrant child, that journey of discovering more about where you come from comes at the same time as you start to question what you’re doing with your life.”

Author Hafsa Zayyan on why she wrote of her family's experience

Really enjoyed talking to Megha Majumdar about her brilliant novel A Burning. Such a clear-eyed, readable view of the co...
04/02/2021

Really enjoyed talking to Megha Majumdar about her brilliant novel A Burning. Such a clear-eyed, readable view of the complexity of the world through the lens of India, taking on ambition, equality, injustice and so much more.

The Kolkata-born author set out to write a book that grapples with the big issues while still being a fun read, and has succeeded

Olivia Sudjic's Asylum Road is a seriously good book about Brexit, relationships, the conflict in the Balkans... all sor...
27/01/2021

Olivia Sudjic's Asylum Road is a seriously good book about Brexit, relationships, the conflict in the Balkans... all sorts really but generally we had a really good chat about the idea that we normalise difference and sleepwalk into disasters both personally and as wider groups of people. That it's never a good idea to say 'this couldn't happen here'.

In her new book, the British writer explores how society, states and people can be paradoxical

Really enjoyed this one. Leave The World Behind is a fantastically unsettling, timely novel. We spoke about America, the...
26/11/2020

Really enjoyed this one. Leave The World Behind is a fantastically unsettling, timely novel. We spoke about America, the pandemic, climate change and fatherhood. And Netflix casting Denzel Washington in the film adaptation.

The Bangladeshi-American writer says his third book is a reflection of his fears for the future of his children

Two really thoughtful books which look at the world from two wheels.
20/10/2020

Two really thoughtful books which look at the world from two wheels.

Categories BIBLIOVELO BOOKS Bibliovelo review: Fifty Miles Wide by Julian Sayarer; Signs Of Life by Stephen Fabes Post author By Ben East Post date October 20, 2020 No Comments on Bibliovelo review: Fifty Miles Wide by Julian Sayarer; Signs Of Life by Stephen Fabes One goes to ride across Israel and...

My column in yesterday's Observer; some great autumnal reads from Margaret MacMillan (War: How Conflict Shaped Us), Sigr...
19/10/2020

My column in yesterday's Observer; some great autumnal reads from Margaret MacMillan (War: How Conflict Shaped Us), Sigrid Nunez (What Are You Going Through) and Joseph O'Connor (Shadowplay).

Margaret MacMillan’s exemplary study of war

Really enjoyed catching up with Stuart Turton again. The Devil and the Dark Water is fab - a properly thoughtful, twisty...
12/10/2020

Really enjoyed catching up with Stuart Turton again. The Devil and the Dark Water is fab - a properly thoughtful, twisty, character led Holmesian mystery that's such a lot of fun too.

The author says his time as a travel journalist in Dubai informed him how he could move his characters around and what that meant

Really enjoyed speaking to Abdulrazak Gurnah about his new historical novel 'Afterlives'. It explores the traumatic cons...
25/09/2020

Really enjoyed speaking to Abdulrazak Gurnah about his new historical novel 'Afterlives'. It explores the traumatic consequences of colonialism and war in East Africa - but somehow finds hope and kindness.

'Colonialism obviously transformed everything, and in that process you can find good aspects,' says Gurnah

My reviews column in last weekend's Observer.
25/09/2020

My reviews column in last weekend's Observer.

Ocean Vuong explores family trauma, ex-goalkeeper Neville Southall reveals all and Robert Saviano goes back to the mob

Will C Pam Zhang make the shortlist tomorrow? I spoke to her just before the announcement about flipping the script of...
14/09/2020

Will C Pam Zhang make the shortlist tomorrow? I spoke to her just before the announcement about flipping the script of Wild West narrative in her brilliant debut How Much Of These Hills Is Gold. And yes, she should.

Her Booker Prize-longlisted novel is hard to pin down, but that's why it's brilliant

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