Despite my best efforts, word that an American tourist was in town quickly made its way around Grozny. That I had come to Chechnya not for business or NGO work, but to see the sites and meet the people, was notable enough to be broadcast throughout the republic. Anthony Marra americanbroadcastbusiness share on social
While looking up news from the North Caucasus on Twitter, I was linked to the sanguinely titled 'Seven Wonders of Chechnya Tour' on the website of Chechnya Travel, the postwar republic's first tourism outfit, founded in 2012. Anthony Marra caucasuschechnyafound share on social
When confronted with the facts of foreign atrocities, the experience is often consigned to the realm of the unimaginable. Fiction makes the unimaginable imaginable. Anthony Marra atrocityconfrontconsign Change image and share on social
Calvin and Hobbes are the only two characters from my childhood reading that I return to with any regularity, and they have grown with me, yielding newer and deeper meaning. Anthony Marra calvincharacterchildhood Change image and share on social
My first real awareness of Chechnya came when I was a college student studying in Russia. I arrived in St. Petersburg about two months after Anna Politkovskaya was assassinated for her reports on Chechnya. I lived with an elderly woman and her grown children in an apartment that was not too far from the neighborhood military cadet school. Anthony Marra annaapartmentarrive share on social
When I came to the last line of 'Car Crash While Hitchhiking,' I read it as a pitiless statement of indifference: a refusal to warn the family of their impending collision, a refusal to help when miraculously spared, a refusal to act on the empathy hiding behind the story's language. Anthony Marra actcarcollision share on social
Chechnya forms the bookends to Tolstoy's career. He began writing his first novel, 'Childhood,' while in Starogladovskaya in Northern Chechnya, and his final novel, 'Hadji Murad,' is set in the Russo-Chechen War of the 19th century. Anthony Marra 19thbeginbookend share on social
At Grozny TV, the line between journalism and government propaganda is traversed as often as a Manhattan crosswalk. Anthony Marra crosswalkgovernmentgrozny Change image and share on social
I think after you write something and you're finished with it, there is a sense of loss. That this is a world I can't really re-enter the way that I could when I was working on it. The covers of the book close it to the writer. Anthony Marra bookclosecover share on social
When you're writing in big block paragraphs, you can afford to have a redundant sentence now and then, but the Twitter format requires concision. Anthony Marra affordbigblock Change image and share on social