Speaking truth to warlords

Banned Afghan MP Malalai Joya on her country’s corruption, the bravery of women and being squashed between two powerful forces

The life of Afghan MP Malalai Joya has become an inconvenient truth about the war in Afghanistan. Rather than showing that Afghan women have been liberated since NATO tanks and troops rolled into the country, Joya has had to brave censorship, threats of violence and four assassination attempts under the new regime. In 2007, she received a three-year suspension from parliament for claiming it was “a stable” filled with warlords and drug barons. She is currently touring North America to promote her memoir A Woman Among Warlords, which she co-wrote with Vancouver journalist Derrick O’Keefe.

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The Word Bookstore

Honouring the Word

The Quebec Writers’ Federation tips its hat to the owners of the cramped, quirky McGill Ghetto bookstore

Stepping into the Word bookstore at 469 Milton is not like stepping into your average big chain bookstore. There’s no convenient Internet database, no oversized lattés, no mood music to lull you into a state of casual consumption and no perky staff in vests primed to sneak a copy of the DaVinci code onto your teetering pile of books. And unlike chain stores, with their mass quantities of bestsellers, pop psychology and yoga accessories, the Word prides itself on its meticulous collection of high quality books.

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