Alan Cheuse International Writers Center
College of Humanities and Social Sciences

"There are moments when I become deeply despaired about whether words have any significance at all. But still, our mission does not change. Literature must foster humans and make the souls of people stronger in order to overcome the loneliness that may swallow up humans when they face atrocious fates."
The Asahi Shimbun

Elif Batuman reckons with the ideology of Anna Karenina, Eugene Onegin, and other beloved Russian books.
The New Yorker

"Now, with the release of Victory City, writers are again rallying around Rushdie to champion his work. Many see it as a moment to celebrate Rushdie’s exuberant and playful imagination, to turn attention back to his fiction and to savor the fact that Rushdie is here to witness the reception of his novel. Some say the book’s overarching message — that stories will outlast political clashes, wars, the collapse of empires and civilizations — has taken on a heightened resonance in light of what Rushdie has endured."
The New York Times