Kosova, a very young Republic In early 1999 NATO planes flew over Kosova, then still part of Serbia, dropping bombs on significant targets, to stop the Serbian military and paramilitaries from their destructive and intimidating assault on unarmed civilians, who had begun to leave their homes in huge numbers, refugees crossing borders into Macedonia, Albania, […]

Two War Correspondents Remember Bosnia Discussion at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, 17th August 2012 – Janine di Giovanni and Ed Vulliamy, – twenty years on from the beginning of the war in Bosnia. by Morelle Smith The War is Dead, Long Live the War; Bosnia, the Reckoning – Ed Vulliamy   Ghosts by Daylight; […]

In February or March this year, International PEN asked members for a few lines on a piece of writing by a woman writer we particularly admired, to mark International Women’s Day on March 8th. You can find the contributions sent in  on their website here  Some of the books I’ve already read, but others I have […]

‘My dear friends, seeing that I would not be permitted and the consequences would be too dangerous and distressing for me to tell you openly during my lifetime what I think about the government of men and about their religion and morals, I have decided, at least, to tell you after my death ’ So (in […]

    Strasbourg, evening light   La piste des forts is the name of the bicycle path that goes from Strasbourg, in France, over the Rhine and into Germany. It’s well named. If you were not strong before you started you will be less so once you’ve done it. Huge trucks barrel along the main road and […]