Ariel Saramandi
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arielsaramandi.bsky.social
Ariel Saramandi
@arielsaramandi.bsky.social
Mauritian. Essays in Granta, The White Review & more. Portrait of an Island on Fire out with Fitzcarraldo Editions in June 2025.
Reposted by Ariel Saramandi
Maybe there are still a few Labour MP’s who remember that the left used to be against racism
September 14, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Reposted by Ariel Saramandi
If the UK government doesn’t respond strongly to this, then the consequences will be grave.
Elon Musk spoke by video to Tommy Robinson's anti-immigrant rally in the UK today.

"You're in a fundamental situation here where, whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you," said Musk. "You either fight back or you die."
September 13, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Reposted by Ariel Saramandi
"I read of dogs furiously digging holes in the ground to escape the 35-degree heat. Children fainting during assembly early in the morning."

@arielsaramandi.bsky.social for @thedialmag.bsky.social: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
The Future of Climate Change Is on Mauritius — The Dial
Freak tornadoes, “explosions” of jellyfish, flash floods and dried up pumps.
www.thedial.world
August 13, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Reposted by Ariel Saramandi
'I wrote those essays for myself first, to better understand my island, make sense of my thoughts, learn more history, and to remember the last couple of years, because they were momentous.' Ariel Saramandi on her collection PORTRAIT OF AN ISLAND ON FIRE: marthasmonthly.substack.com/p/interview-...
A Portrait of an Island on Fire: an interview with Ariel Saramandi
On Mauritius, writing under a pseudonym and living on the front line of climate change.
marthasmonthly.substack.com
July 16, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Ariel Saramandi
RIP Simon James. Generous, joyful, gentle, and sharp as a tack. He’ll be remembered as a world renown scholar and ambassador for literary studies, and I’m today remembering him rocking out to Shellac. What a loss.
June 16, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Reposted by Ariel Saramandi
Absolutely heartbroken to learn that Professor Simon James has passed away after a short illness. Simon was a stalwart union rep in the English Department, and a personal friend to many of us in the branch. We'll miss his humour, his passion, and his dedication to making things better for people.
June 15, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Ariel Saramandi
📚 JUNE PUBLICATIONS 📚

We are excited to announce our June titles:
📚
– LILI IS CRYING by Hélène Bessette, tr. Kate Briggs, with an introduction by Eimear McBride, out on 5 June;
– PORTRAIT OF AN ISLAND ON FIRE by Ariel Saramandi, out on 19 June.
📚
Read extracts and preorder: fitzcarraldoeditions.com
June 4, 2025 at 1:49 PM
I’ll be in Bristol (Gloucester Road Books) on the 16th June with the great Gurnaik Johal, discussing his novel Saraswati and my collection Portrait of an Island on Fire.
Tickets here: www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/glo...
Gurnaik Johal and Ariel Saramandi at Gloucester Road Books
Gloucester Road Books presents two wonderful writers, Gurnaik Johal and Ariel Saramandi, whose new books masterfully examine the legacy of empire and the snowballing climate crisis in distinct, dynami...
www.headfirstbristol.co.uk
May 15, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Portrait of an Island on Fire will be published by @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social on 19 June 2025.

It’s an essay collection that examines different aspects of Mauritius: our colonial inheritances, the structures and operations of racism and patriarchy, our languages, our political system.
April 30, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Ariel Saramandi
I'd bet most Americans don't realize the six Nazi extermination camps during World War II also involved rendition to a foreign country.

Auschwitz, Treblinka, Belzec, Sobibor, Chełmno and Majdanek were all located in Poland. Not Germany. Important historical fact.
This is a concentration camp, by the way.

This is a death camp. We're setting up death camps in foreign countries and renditioning people there.
Trump admin prepares to send more deported migrants to notorious El Salvador prison

Erik Prince wants in on the action

Prince - who is gaining traction in the second Trump admin - has pitched a plan to set up a US-run immigrant detention facility in El Salvador

amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/04/...
April 10, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by Ariel Saramandi
Don’t miss this beauty if you can help it. One of the finest short story writers ever, Tessa Hadley, weighs in on what made Mavis Gallant one of the world’s most exceptional short story writers. #shortstory
#booksky
‘Everywhere she looks she sees a story; her appetite to get inside it, to render its particular textures and its localised meanings makes her a magnificent ventriloquist and interpreter.’

Tessa Hadley on Mavis Gallant’s short stories: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Tessa Hadley · Packing Like a Fury: Marvellous Mavis Gallant
The sheer quantity and variety of Gallant’s output is fascinating. She’s dislocated, a traveller, eager for clues,...
www.lrb.co.uk
April 9, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Reposted by Ariel Saramandi
this is a staggering amount of money to build camps—suggesting that building & running a gulag will be the primary function of the otherwise gutted Trump-state

in last fiscal yr: "D.H.S. allocated about $3.4 billion for the entire custody operation overseen by ICE"

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/u...
Trump Administration Aims to Spend $45 Billion to Expand Immigrant Detention
A request for proposals for new detention facilities and other services would allow the government to expedite the contracting process and rapidly expand detention.
www.nytimes.com
April 8, 2025 at 4:27 AM
Reposted by Ariel Saramandi
oh look an excerpt from my translation of Constance Debré's NAME is up at @parisreview.bsky.social www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/04...
Father and Mother - The Paris Review
“When they met she was living in a large apartment in the rue Bonaparte, with the sister closest in age, the one who’s going to die of alcohol and pills.”
www.theparisreview.org
April 3, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Reposted by Ariel Saramandi
Incredibly, this appears to be true. We tariffed our own (jointly operated with the UK) military base.
We tariffed BIOT, Mike.

BIOT. Diego fucking Garcia.

We tarrifed our own military base.
April 2, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Reposted by Ariel Saramandi
DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT'S HAPPENING??
March 23, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Forgot to post this but: along with Gilbert Ahnee, I was interviewed by Asymptote. It was fun! Got to talk about the state of Mauritian literature, Exils, and my forthcoming essay collection.

www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2025/02...
Return to the Prodigal Country: Gilbert Ahnee and Ariel Saramandi on the Mauritian Novel - Asymptote Blog
As a writer, translator and most of all reader, I appreciate it tremendously when I see characters speaking in a way that feels true to themselves.
www.asymptotejournal.com
March 5, 2025 at 9:41 PM
The former Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Jugnauth, was arrested at 3am this morning on a charge of money laundering.
February 16, 2025 at 4:33 AM
Reposted by Ariel Saramandi
Such exciting news and congratulations to the great @arielsaramandi.bsky.social
Some news! My debut essay collection, Portrait of an Island on Fire, will be published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in June 2025.
February 12, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Some news! My debut essay collection, Portrait of an Island on Fire, will be published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in June 2025.
February 12, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Ariel Saramandi
The cruelty is what they enjoy—it’s the point—it’s the nature of this coup. Cruelty.Hatred of all but the white & the few…Not a trace of empathy,& no instinct towards,no human grasp of, justice.It’s monstrous.It will not last.They will overreach.We will wake up.

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
Charities reeling from USAid freeze warn of ‘life or death’ effects
Abrupt order has done ‘serious damage’, say experts, with supply chains halted, HIV clinics struggling to source drugs and refugee camps facing loss of vital services
www.theguardian.com
January 28, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Ariel Saramandi
Lydia was the campaign manager for our endorsed candidate Tiffany Koyama Lane, and we are so proud to call them both comrades.

Read her story 👇
www.thecut.com/article/how-...
Manage a Political Campaign Just to Feel Something Again
National politics made me despair. Then my friend ran for office, and I unleashed my inner political animal.
www.thecut.com
January 25, 2025 at 3:20 AM
Reposted by Ariel Saramandi
January 3, 2025 at 12:34 PM