Linda Strange
Strange Countries
Browse: Home » books
The Future is Now

The Future is Now

April 26, 2018 · by Linda Strange · in Mexico, Syria, USA

If you’d asked me a few years ago, only a few, whether or not I ever read dystopian fiction, I…

And Now For Something Completely Different

And Now For Something Completely Different

April 3, 2016 · by Linda Strange · in Canada

Take heart, readers! This post will not be yet another cry of dismay over the troubling ascendancy of Donald Trump….

Lists

Lists

December 31, 2015 · by Linda Strange · in France, Germany, Syria, USA

As another year draws to its close and the next one edges near, there seems to be in both the…

O Canada

O Canada

November 2, 2015 · by Linda Strange · in Canada

A flash of light rent the October sky, lasted a few short moments, and then vanished as quickly as it…

The Long Walk Across Europe

The Long Walk Across Europe

September 29, 2015 · by Linda Strange · in England, Germany, Greece, Syria

In December of 1933, a young man set out from England on a great adventure. His intention was to walk…

The Neighborhood

The Neighborhood

August 19, 2015 · by Linda Strange · in Italy, USA

Can you believe it? The maple leaves are starting to turn. It seems like summer, while we’re still in the…

Savages

Savages

October 19, 2014 · by Linda Strange · in England

On the southwestern edge of the Wiltshire Downs in England, in the valley of the River Kennet, lies the ancient…

What Makes Them Do IT?

What Makes Them Do IT?

September 10, 2014 · by Linda Strange · in Russia, USA

When I was in high school, a friend of mine presented me with a copy of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spake…

Fruits of the Earth

Fruits of the Earth

July 15, 2014 · by Linda Strange · in Canada, Finland

Nadine Gordimer died today, the great South African writer, though I had actually sat down to write about another great…

Arrivals and Departures

Arrivals and Departures

April 28, 2014 · by Linda Strange · in Spain

The Dutch novelist, poet and journalist, Cees Nooteboom, wrote a wonderful book called Roads to Santiago. In it, the author…

Sevastapol

Sevastapol

March 9, 2014 · by Linda Strange · in Russia

I’ve always found that when I want to understand something that’s happening in Russia, it helps to hit the books….

Death in Venice . . . California

Death in Venice . . . California

February 21, 2014 · by Linda Strange · in USA

When you think of Venice in literature, what do you think of? John Ruskin’s The Stones of Venice? The novels…

Holiday Reading

Holiday Reading

November 29, 2013 · by Linda Strange · in USA

As we sit in front of the television watching football and trying to digest our Thanksgiving dinners, or attempt to…

Road trips

Road trips

October 17, 2013 · by Linda Strange · in Russia

Crumbling provincial towns, the Gypsy wedding of a fourteen year old, the dismal condition of the M10 which connects Petersburg…

The Girl in the Photo

The Girl in the Photo

October 8, 2013 · by Linda Strange · in USA

It’s that time of year again. The leaves are falling, my wormy quinces are lying under the trees waiting for…

Boat People

Boat People

November 22, 2012 · by Linda Strange · in Uncategorized

So, Thanksgiving is once more upon us, the season in which where I work, little lines of boys and girls…

Shorefront Anyone?

Shorefront Anyone?

November 6, 2012 · by Linda Strange · in Uncategorized

When I was an undergraduate at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, England, there was a lecturer there by…

It's Not a Riot Any More

It’s Not a Riot Any More

October 28, 2012 · by Linda Strange · in Uncategorized

The trial was over. The appeal had failed. The world’s press had gone home when last weekend, Maria Alyokina, age…

Carcassonne: Land of the Cathars

Carcassonne: Land of the Cathars

August 1, 2012 · by Linda Strange · in France

One summer when I was about ten years old, my mother went to the library to get some novels for…

Author

Portrait photo of Linda Strange

All countries are strange, none stranger than your own.

January 2023
I am delighted to announce that Glass Mountain Literary Magazine has published my short story Retention in their current issue. You can read the story here.
September 2022
Watch a video of me reading a live version of a blog about the Berlin Wall, The Wall I Knew.
July 2022
Watch a video of me reading a live version of my blog, The Last of the Best.
May 2022
I’m excited to announce three pieces of my writing have recently been published. What Ever Happened to Igor, an essay in Pangyrus, is about a study trip I took to Ukraine in 1985 with a group of Finns and Swedes. Igor was a young Ukrainian-Swedish man from Stockholm who was going to meet his father in Kyiv, a father he hadn’t seen in twenty years. Want to watch a video of me reading the essay? Click here. Will They Make it Home Again?, another essay in Pangyrus, explores the relationship between the images of World War Two childhood evacuations recorded in select works of European literature and the images of evacuation we now see on our television screens from Ukraine. Click here to watch the video.
Finally, The Longest Day, is a short story published in the 2022 Freshwater Literary Journal. It details the experience of a young non-English speaking Cape Verdean girl, Gee, on her first day in an American inner-city school. It is an account of Gee’s first encounter with her new ESL teacher and the safe space this teacher creates for Gee to express her true emotions. Watch a You Tube video of me speaking with Georbina DaRosa, the real-life inspiration for my story.

Copyright © 2023 Linda Strange

Powered by WordPress and Origin