NYRB

Re: Drawings

Yipppeeee! I have a few drawings in the latest New York Review of Books. I was asked to submit several non-representational drawings, abstract shapes, that could be used to break up the text. Punctuation shapes. So I sent the art editor a few sets of these drawings and she was good enough to choose some of them. Here is an example:

I’m particularly pleased that a couple of my drawings also accompany the piece “Living the Nakba” in the issue by my smart and terribly handsome friend Tareq Baconi. Here is one drawing of mine from Tareq’s review-essay:

As Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are bound to warn you, immigrants are always trying to find a way in and take away your jobs. Abstract drawings aren’t really my jam, but I’m delighted that I was given this assignment. And, one way or another, my name has now appeared in this august publication. The struggle continues!

Earlier, I had sent some other drawings to the editors at NYRB. Janet Malcolm, one of my literary heroes, was a regular contributor to the magazine. As an act of homage, I used oil on a wood panel to paint one of Malcolm’s photographs of a burdock leaf. The editors, while expressing warm appreciation, didn’t utter the magic words. But I present the drawing here below. Dear reader, you know what letters to the editor are for? Surely, you know how to write a good letter! Make suggestions, present demands! Ask them politely to publish my drawings!

In an ideal world (oh, I know), your letters will move the editors to publish in their very next issue a detailed and gorgeous review of my last novel and, and, and, this is crucial, they will also use in the review one of my drawings as the illustration. Maybe this oil on a wood panel depicting a gulmohar in bloom in my native land. See below. (I’m pleased to announce that both the burdock leaf and the gulmohar will appear in the final volume of my trilogy of drawing books, The Green Book, about to be published by HarperCollins India later this year.)

One final note: I do not wish to be greedy. I’m aware I’ve appeared grasping and needy. Let me take a moment to show gratitude instead. Leanne Shapton, the art editor at NYRB, is an amazing artist and I thank her for accepting my work. My title for the series of abstract shapes (which Leanne had said should simply float in white space) is “Swimmers” as a tribute to her own work. And my love for Emily Greenhouse, the head honcho at NYRB, couldn’t conceivably be lessened by any form of rejection. I can’t go on, I’ll go on, etc.

P.S. New York publishing is an odd world. I’ve seen people get jobs by tweeting about it. I’m trying to do the same by putting Substack to some use. Maybe you will see my name in the NYRB again. Also: Please come to the Brooklyn Book Fest at the end of the month (Sept 29, 12 noon) as I’ll be discussing my recent novel, My Beloved Life.