Derz

“And why not? Everyone wants to see a witch punish someone for stealing from her. A witch is a kind of justice in the world. It makes for a fine story. No one wants to admit the truth, for all it stares them plainly in the face.” “What’s that?” “Steal from a woman long enough, and a witch is what she’ll become.”
― Amal El-Mohtar, The River Has Roots

“Perhaps that is how we should frame this question forever; rather than asking what is your favourite work, let’s ask, what continues to pull you back?”
― Caleb Azumah Nelson, Open Water

“(What is a river but an open throat; what is water but a voice?)”
― Amal El-Mohtar, The River Has Roots

“Children muttering over their schoolbooks today think little of grammar. Grammar is tedious, difficult, slow; grammar is a shackle placed on language, correcting who into whom, can I into may I. Grammar and grammarians are constables, sternly watching while you split infinitives, narrowing their eyes at spliced commas while smacking semi-coloned truncheons against their palms. But that is not the truth of grammar. There was a time when grammar was wild—when it shifted shapes and unleashed new forms out of old. Grammar, like gramarye, like grimoire. What is magic but a change in the world? What is conjugation but a transformation, one thing into another? She runs; she ran;”
― Amal El-Mohtar, The River Has Roots