About This Blog

In another age, we would have met for a latte at the local café to discuss art, literature, and life. Today, we bring the conversation to you through this blog, Tillism (Magic) طلسم , a conversation which will transport you to the magical words of literature from around the world. So make yourself a chai latte and join us.

Latest from Tillism

Angkor, My Foot, by Alle C. Hall

Behind a moat that, in the heyday of Khmer power was filled with territorial crocodiles, was Angkor. For an instant, it felt as though a thousand years had not passed, as if Khmer culture still dominated Asia from Burma to as far south as Indonesia. As if the archaeologist Louis Delaporte had not removed the…

Kitchens, Prayers, and Politics

All this praying will make us thirsty, but I haven’t told anyone yet. I took the cook’s advice.  I have fasted like a bird.

My Big Fat Frankfurt Book Fair

All around us the 2018 Frankfurt Book Fair was cavorting like a circus: six airplane hangar–sized halls assembled around an open-air agora swarming with everyone from green-haired cosplay kids to scarf-tucking intellectuals from Die Zeit.

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