Salman Rushdie's latest book, Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights, is in its title and storytelling, exactly what it might vaguely call to mind – his version of The Arabian Nights. Rushdie explains that he wrote his book partly in an attempt to understand what the through-line of the collection of classic tales is and partly as a portrait of the human race and its salvation. He talks about how the otherworldliness of his tales involving fairies, genies, and humans – often in modern scenarios – is a comment on climate change and finding the agency in oneself to believe one can change the world.
Photo: Larry Hirshowitz