Rawi Hage

"…The responsibility, the burden, is much heavier for us. If we don’t exercise our collective imagination—and not just documentation —we’ll always be at a certain disadvantage. I think what literature …"

"…I have to be in this frame of mind where I’m feeling pity for myself, and feeling pity for the world. Once I’ve attained the summit of this, then I have to sit down and write…"

"…When I recall the war, I recall it in images, not verbally or by text. That’s what really comes to me: fragmented images, much like photographs…"

"…I suspect that I can attribute my style to Arabic poetry…I permit myself to be overtly poetical in my writing. Maybe because I grew up in a culture that values poetry more than anything…But having sa…"