I don’t believe in resolutions. I’d like to say I don’t believe in New Year’s at all, since the calendar is a human construct, but that’s not really true (the earth does revolve around the sun after all and we’re just measuring that passage) and I’m not remotely that cool. As humans we need milestones, […]
I’m Not Making A Single Resolution
The Day North Korea Outdid Itself
Dennis Rodman went to North Korea and became friends with Kim Jong Un, a despotic – and short – heir to the world’s longest running…something. North Korea is something but it’s hard to describe. It is an odd world indeed when “Denis Rodman” is not the strangest word in a sentence but that’s the power […]
I Haven’t Written Anything Here for a Long Time
There. I just changed that. More to come.
The Unthinking: der Giller Part Two
The thing about getting nominated for a major award but not really getting nominated is the potential of it. The glimpse it affords to the other side. Being longlisted for anything is like the Pluto of nominations. One day you’re a planet and the next day you’re not. You’re not even considered a planet anymore. […]
Fidgeting My Through The Ottawa Writers Festival
From last spring. I shared the stage with Miriam Toews and Jonathan Bennett. Despite my ticks, I had a lovely time. Arjun Basu, Jonathan Bennett and Miriam Toews – Where You Stumble – April 28 2014 from OTTAWA INTL WRITERS FESTIVAL on Vimeo. This was my reading. Watch me annihilate my forehead: Arjun Basu reading […]
der Giller
You don’t write to be loved. Or remembered. Or compensated. I mean, all of those things are nice, but that’s not why you write. It is not a career one recommends too often if your goal is wealth. Or simplicity. Congratulations @arjunbasu! Waiting for the Man, is on the #GillerPrize longlist: http://t.co/amyfbUDoPv pic.twitter.com/QN2BvT5q5z — CBC Books […]
So You Want To Be Cool?
The Giller Prize longlist was announced today. I’m on it. It was announced in Montreal. My son goes to school across the street from where it was announced. I am in a hotel room in Anaheim, California. My phone started buzzing. I was on the list for Canada’s richest literary prize. My reaction? I did […]
Farming and Bestsellers…
…have nothing in common. But that passages from Waiting for the Man are being quoted in the most unlikely of places fills me with an odd kind of joy. In this case, a line about farming. I know, like I’m some expert. A tribute to farmers http://t.co/BQbJdFBQMP "Farming is the first rung on the ladder […]