A few years ago the self-exiled Kenyan writer, Ngũgĩwa Thiong’o, came to the University of Toronto to give a talk. His most memorable anecdote had to do with the writing of a Gĩkũyũ novel in prison on prison-issued toilet paper. It was so stiff, he joked, that it actually made for a good writing surface.
Exile is a heavy-handed theme for the Hart House Review. And it’s not really a theme either, as none of the student submitted pieces really deal with the theme directly, nor does the Review have a history of putting out themed issues. But since it is our 15th anniversary, we, the editors, wanted to illuminate these pages with a contribution of a different kind.
Through Anjula Gogia at PEN Canada we found Reza Baraheni within our own university community. Eloquent and unrelenting, he is a voice of exile. We hope that his voice inspires you as much as it inspired us.
Veronika Izabela Bryśkiewicz, Editor-in-Chief and Ramya Jegatheesan, Assistant Editor