This week we dive into the world of fiction, and we’re in conversation with award-winning writer Rawi Hage. Born in Beirut, he lived in Lebanon through the civil war in the 1970s and then immigrated to Canada in 1992. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages, and you might know him for acclaimed novels such as De Niro’s Game, Cockroach, and Beirut Hellfire Society. 

Hage recently released his first collection of short stories, Stray Dogs. In the May issue of The Walrus, we featured the story “The Wave.” Hage recently sat down with Jessica Johnson, the editor-in-chief at The Walrus, to talk about his latest book, being a political writer, and identity. 

Rawi Hage talks about writing short stories and finding inspiration in photography. 

Hage then discusses writing about marginalized people. 

He also describes becoming disillusioned with traditional photography—or at least of his place in it.

Hage talks about the local aesthetics of photography and the intersections between photography and the written word.

Finally, Hage talks about why he needs distance from his work and the nature of human beings to move between victim and victimizer.

• Hear more about JS Rutger’s story about housing inequality: thewalrus.ca/podcasts-the-deep-dive-s1e2/
• Read an excerpt from Rawi Hage’s new short story collection: thewalrus.ca/the-wave/
• thewalrus.ca/im-not-your-kind-of-muslim/
• thewalrus.ca/ok-ok-blue-jays/
• spoon-tamago.com/2022/04/13/koenji-writing-cafe/

Thanks for joining us on this week’s episode of The Deep Dive. It was produced by Sheena Rossiter and myself with editing help from Simran Singh.

Thanks so much to Rawi Hage for joining us this week and to Jessica Johnson for doing the interview.

Music for this podcast is provided by Audio Jungle. Our theme song is “This Podcast Theme” by Inplus Music. Additional music includes “Stay Cool” by Loops Lab, “Podcast Intro” by Inplus Music, “Floating Cities” by David MacLeod, and “Oh My” by Patrick Patrikios. 

Floating Cities by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3765-floating-cities

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license