Sherry Jones's Blog, page 9

No laughing matter: "Index on Censorship" censors itself

The latest incident of self-censorship sounds like a bad joke — a very bad one, at which no one, except the usual morons (Muslim extremists and Islamophobes) could possibly laugh.

The respected UK publication "Index on Censorship" revealed today that it has censored itself. Citing fears for the safety of its staff, Index's board of directors voted not to allow Index's editor to use the infamous "Danish cartoons" as an illustration for today's interview with Brandis University professor...

Coco and A'isha: Women Who Aspire, Inspire

Dear Reader,

At last night's screening of "Coco Before Chanel," I had to swallow my tears more than once — not because of the tragedy that occurs in the film (no spoilers here!) but because of the sheer courage and determination of Gabrielle (Coco Chanel, played by Audrey Tatou), the impoverished woman who, abandoned by her parents to an orphanage as a child, uses her wits to find personal success in a world — chauvinistic France, in the early 20th century — where men rule and women submit.

I ...

Fort Hood: Islamophobia Is the Wrong Response

Dear Reader,

What's in a name? If Army Major Malik Nadal Hasan's name were "Smith," we'd be talking about him as a soldier who snapped under pressure, a lone gunman whose fear of deployment to Afghanistan sent him over the deep end — as fear tends to do.

Predictably, however, within minutes after we learned that the gunman in Thursday's Fort Hood, Texas massacre was named "Hasan," Islamophobes were spewing their hysterical venom across the Internet. Suddenly, Maj. Hasan's name transformed a "...

Multi-Tasking: It's Not Just for Teens

Dear Reader,

These days, I find juggling is a useful skill for furthering my career. Filling the blanks left by my publisher's decision to focus on national publicity for "The Sword of Medina" and let me handle the rest could fill all my time. I'm setting up readings and booksignings, blogging, making videos, searching the Web daily for new articles, reviews, and blogs to post on my website, updating my MacBook's operating system for interfacing with the camcorder I bought to videotape myself ...

The only thing we have to fear

Dear Reader,

I was alarmed by news reports of two Chicago men arrested in connection with a Pakistani plot to attack Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and Flemming Rose, the culture editor at Jyllands-Posten. One of the men allegedly wrote in a Yahoo! chat that he was "disposed toward violence" toward these men and toward me because of my books, "The Jewel of Medina" and "The Sword of Medina." Like the staffers at Jyllands-Posten, I'd thought the danger to me was past. And perhaps it is...

Frantic, fabulous touring!

Dear Reader,

Traveling to foreign countries, being on TV and the radio, it all sounds so glamorous! And it is … but it's also very hard work.

I arrived in Stockholm at about 4 p.m., to greet my publisher Shadi Bitar of Earbooks, waiting for me bearing a sign with his own name on it (a security precaution). After a warm handshake he drove me to the Rival Hotel, a truly wonderful place (especially if you like Abba and hot baths) where publicists Camilla Silfvenius and Zandra Thuvesson waited to t...

Behind the Veil: Hegemony

Dear Reader,

As author of "The Jewel of Medina," published by Beaufort Books last fall, and its sequel, "The Sword of Medina," debuting in the U.S. in October 2009, I've done quite a bit of reading on the topic of veiling.

Veiling debuted in Byzantine Christian society long before Islam came along. Aristocratic Byzantine women did not choose to wear the veil but were required to by their husbands to screen them from contact with other men and thus ensure paternity of their children — another...

Anti-"Jewel" arsonists sentenced to prison

Dear Reader,

Something new happens almost every day regarding my debut novel, "The Jewel of Medina," and its forthcoming sequel, "The Sword of Medina."

Today, news outlets around the world are carrying the story that the three men convicted of setting fire to the home office of Gibson Square Books, the London publisher who had planned to publish "The Jewel of Medina," were sentenced to 4.5 years in prison. The judge reportedly told the men, "If you choose to live in this country, you must live ...

Alice in Blunder-land

Dear Reader,

I am a huge fan of Alice Hoffman's novels. Like the critic Roberta Silman, who recently reviewed Ms. Hoffman's latest novel, "The Story Sisters," in the Boston Globe, I came to love Ms. Hoffman's books first by reading "Illumination Night," which I admired as much for the writing as for the tale.

Nothing about the latest Twitter scandal, in which Ms. Hoffman supposedly ranted at Ms. Silman in a series of ever-more-frantic Tweets, changes my mind about her work. And, like writers...

Note to Authors: Don't Do This!

Dear Reader,

I am sick of being called an "Orientalist." As if being interested in another culture were a bad thing. And, as I've pointed out ad nauseum, "The Jewel of Medina" doesn't exoticize the Middle East. To the contrary, readers of my book will find that Muhammad and his followers lived grueling lives of dust, heat, and near starvation.

The reason for my gripe today is a thesis sent to me by a U.K. student accusing my novel, again, of Orientalism. I'm not going to argue that point — I'm ...