Blogs & Ecology

Kiruba Shankar compiles a list of some recommended perspectives by renowned Indian writers on the recent terror attacks in Mumbai.

Belatedly, a link to the post on Milan Kundera controversy - at Balkans via Bohemia.

Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp weighs in on the discussion about literary authenticity and the Caribbean writer: “Storytellers come and go, but the story of the Caribbean continues to evolve–waiting for storytellers to respond to the relationship between a people and a place through time.”

Forget politics, Obama or the economic crisis. The new buzz in the Syrian blogosphere is about love.

Mariyah, a Syrian blogger from Damascus, has been playing with the hearts of her readers with the most delicate series of posts about the story of Ghassan and Alexandra.

It all starts on one cold evening in the winter of 1955 in Stuttgart, Germany:

Fidel Castro's new book has not escaped the notice of El Cafe Cubano or Guyanese blogger Propaganda Press.

To bring this series about Brazilian myths, legends and haunts as seen on the Lusosphere to a great close, we couldn't choose a better entity to speak about than Saci Pererê.

Guyanese litblogger Charmaine Valere of “Signifyin' Guyana” - Photo is the blogger's; used with permission.

Sylwia Presley discusses some issues raised in Polly Courtney's novel about Polish immigrants in the U.K., “Poles Apart.”

Admário Costa Lindo [pt] publishes one of his poems as his contribution for the Blog Action Day. It is a concrete poem about hunger written in 1974, and there is also an English version.

Now you've already met and been frightened by some of the Latin-American frights, legends and popular myths selected by Juliana Rincón in her two articles (here and here) about this subject for Global Voices, it's time to plunge headfirst into the imaginary popular universe of Brazil.

The government of Uruguay received a donation from the government of Spain of a virtual library containing nearly 1500 titles. Any citizen can take a blank CD into their local departmental office and can receive a burned copy of the e-books. Tan Conectados [es] is looking for a complete online listing of the titles available, and thinks it is a great idea.

Haiti Innovation wonders what's next for the hurricane-ravaged town of Gonaives, while Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp focuses on a new book about Haiti.

On this second installment on the Myths, Lore and Legends of Latin America, we will get to know the Venezuelan Animas and their unfinished business, the Sayona and the Whistler, and Ecuadorian myths such as the foundation myth of Guayas and Kil, Father Almeida, the Headless Priest, the gagones (something similar to familiars) and the Cantuña Cathedral myth. You can read Part 1 here.

Antilles, the blog of the Caribbean Review of Books, notes that “the Caribbean is well represented” among the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award winners: “Three of the four categories were won by Caribbean books.”

Bahamian Nicolette Bethel and Jamaican Geoffrey Philp have a conversation about art, culture and money that leaves the latter to conclude: “Culture is too important to be left in the hands of people who only know about money or power.”