Dear Leanne,
About five years ago now, I sat down with a copy of your book, As We Have Always Done. I’d planned to flip through the first few pages over my morning coffee. In the end, though, I . . .
The way I remember it, I’ve stopped reading, but I spend an awful lot of time unemotionally looking at my books without really grasping their contents, as if they’ve become hollow things, emptied of their words, simple sheets, papers, pigments, . . .
I am mixing zaatar and olive oil in a small bowl. Zaatar is a particular blend of herbs and spices—thyme, sumac, marjoram, oregano, sesame seeds—and the trick to making a paste from it to spread on bread is getting just . . .
Juan Gabriel Vásquez: Tomás, we’re having this conversation by email, not only due to the pandemic, but because several years ago you decided to move far away from Bogotá. Where do you live now? What made you decide to . . .