Inspiration for Mozart
I’m interviewed on the CBS columnist Jeff Glor’s blog about my new novel Mozart’s Last Aria. Here’s how it starts: Jeff Glor: …
Mozart and Machine Guns
I have a guest post on the excellent Wonders and Marvels historical fiction blog. It introduces some of the story behind why I wrote Mozart’s …
Me, Mozart and the intifada
If there had never been a Palestinian intifada, I might never have written my novel about the death of Mozart, MOZART’S LAST ARIA, which is published …
Using real locations in historical fiction
Historical novelists recreate the emotions and events of distant times. For some novelists, this is a matter of supreme imagination and invention, …
Amadeus, Murder and the real Mozart
The long wait for a successor to Amadeus is over. In fact, my new novel MOZART’S LAST ARIA answers questions about the great composer’s death that are …
My Mozart novel and the intifada
If there had never been a Palestinian intifada, I might never have written my novel about the death of Mozart, MOZART’S LAST ARIA, which is published …
Writers enter character like Black Swan and Springsteen
Writers enter character for more than just dialogue A writer needs to enter the characters in his/her novel. I’ve talked about this with other …
Gentleman and thug: researching my new historical novel
One of the great pleasures of novel-writing is the research which, for almost every book, ought to bring the writer to investigate different areas of …
How to create empathy in writing
Empathy is vital for a writer Malcolm Muggeridge (an old English literateur) once said that George Orwell “was no good as a novelist, because he …
My voice and his voice: first- or third-person narrative in the novel
Robert Harris has been one of my favorite authors since I first laid hands on “Fatherland,” his “what if the Nazis had won” thriller. “Enigma” and …
Guardian: Top 10 Arab-world novels
The Guardian asked me to contribute to their regular feature in which authors pick their top 10 novels on a particular subject. Read my top 10 novels …