The good folks at the University of Johannesburg Literary Prize were kind enough to include Ja, No, Man on their shortlist. The award is interesting because it’s genreless; how often does literary non-fiction get to battle it out with poetry? The other nominees are indeed a mixed bag, and highlight the literary diversity in the country right now. Details here.

The current Afghan war rug exhibit at the Textile Museum of Canada is astonishing. I had of course heard about war rugs when I was in Afghanistan, and seen some crude examples along Chicken Street (which, in better days, used to be the main tourist shopping boulevard), but it wasn’t until I spoke with curator Max Allen that I understand how thoroughly this newfangled form of rug weaving dovetails with my work on pop culture in the region. In some recent pieces, the war rugs have taken on the appearance of a television news broadcast, complete with ticker running under the “screen.” They’re a fascinating and heartbreaking example of how artisans practicing an ancient craft have dealt with over thirty years of consistent war and deprivation. I covered the exhibit for CBC; don’t miss it,

Recently, This Magazine asked me to write a speculative piece - a sort of DC Comics Alternative Universe thing - on Google crashing. Dystopian nightmare scenarios are not really my tour de force - I like to think that I practice happy journalism - but it didn’t turn out to be much of a challenge. Must be something in the zeitgeist. Here’s what I came up with.