The self-effacing Farah plays down such honors and awards. To Farah and his readers, life and dreams are lovers entwined. The setting at the Omni Hotel is certainly chimerical. Room gold, chandeliers white-silver. Here, as in Farah's fiction, Old World Africa is shape-shifted by Western influences.
People converse in English and French and various African languages.
A slender blind man with a cane as tall as he glides past. All have been brought together by Farah. It is a sumptuous sampler of sub-Saharan scribes and a rare opportunity for American devotees. This year it is a joint production of the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University. The two have known each other for years.