The Writing Life Around the World by Electric Literature
Electric Literature have asked international authors to write about literary communities and cultures around the globe. Here are their essays, as part of the Guardian Books Network
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The last station: Burhan Sönmez on gentrification, fire and protest in IstanbulAll Turkish authors are destined to write about Istanbul, sooner or later. While doing this very thing, author Sönmez examines the changing face of Turkey’s biggest city
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'The history of a city is the history of its cafés': writing life in MexicoFinding the old coffeehouses among the American chains in Mexico City is hard, says author and journalist Juan Villoros, but they’re wonderful spaces to write in – when you find one
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'How can they write about anything but pain?' The writing life in AfghanistanEmerging Afghan writer Fazilhaq Hashimi looks back at an upbringing surrounded by war, even in language – and reclaims his country’s past status as the land of poetry, story-telling, fables and folktales
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Be careless with your wishes: A Igoni Barrett on the writing life in NigeriaNigerian author A Igoni Barrett recounts how a personal rebellion led him to writing – and to confronting his worse bully: his own country
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A wolf in Jutland: Dorthe Nors on the writing life in DenmarkAs she returns to nature in her native Jutland, author Dorthe Nors reflects on the state of Scandinavian literature – from why crime fiction dominates publishing to why she wishes Danish men would read more
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Things we don't write: K Anis Ahmed on the murdered writers of BangladeshFor Bangladeshi authors and bloggers, religious fanaticism is putting their security and freedom of speech at stake, in a level of repression only comparable to dictatorial regimes of the past. K Anis Ahmed explains what it means to be a writer in Bangladesh’s harrowing “new normal”
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Crucifixion: Nathalie Handal on being Palestinian, writing and enduring loveIn the latest in our series of essays on what life and work are like for writers around the world, Nathalie Handal describes an existence where hearts race so fast it’s hard to find time for grief
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Tarzan in the 21st century: the trials of being a writer in CubaIn this account of a day in his life, sci-fi author Yoss reflects on the chaotic and frustrating reality facing writers in Havana
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Boundaries of empathy and identity: Olufemi Terry On Cape Town and Coetzee’s long shadowThe Sierra Leone-born author reflects on finding himself strung between two very different literary poles in South Africa’s ‘sleepy city’
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Literature as last bastion: Natalka Sniadanko on suppression, solidarity and language in UkraineThe Ukranian author explains why professional writers simply ‘do not exist’ in her country in this essay about its literature and culture
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Better not say too much: Eduardo Halfon on literature, paranoia and leaving GuatemalaGuatemalan author Eduardo Halfon recalls how he learned to write as if his life depended on it, and how a culture of silence and fear makes life creepily dangerous for writers in his country
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A special kind of performance: Can Xue on the course of a Chinese writerChinese avant-garde writer Can Xue recounts her journey from working as a ‘barefoot doctor’, workshop employee and tailor in 1980s China to being a writer, and recalls how she fell in love with performance as a child
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Pineapple and roasted nuts: Ru Freeman on Sri Lanka's enduring love of language and booksSri Lankan-born author Ru Freeman celebrates her country’s cultural tradition of respect for language and books and remembers a childhood without a pair of scissors – but with an English dictionary
'You must embrace the ugliness': the writing life in Mexico City