Reflections on Belonging

I am a furious code-switcher. When you are comfortable in two or more languages, code-switching comes naturally. As you seek to express yourself in one language, but know that the person you are addressing is also multilingual, your subconscious mind scans your inner vocabulary, picking and choosing the perfect word to convey exactly what you […]

“Language is the home of being”—I don’t remember what grade it was in which we had to write an essay under this title. I no longer remember what I wrote, only that this topic overwhelmed me, as I see now, for a long time. Still a child, I was tormented by a question which I

Back to Sappho: Not War on Love, but Love as War “What would change if women ruled the world?” Recently, in Warsaw, in the context of a discussion with writers and journalists from the countries of Central Europe, I had to respond to that question. I remember how puzzled I was with the word “ruled.”

The Ardennes horse weighs 1,000 kilograms, which is a ton. Currently, I feel as if such horse had accidentally squashed me. It is so heavy! As heavy on my chest is the task of describing my difficult experience as a Lithuanian immigrant in Belgium—which I can’t do. I can’t. I don’t know how. I don’t

1. It’s been a year since I came back to where I belong, and to my surprise I find myself longing for a country I don’t belong to. I just spent ten years in it. My friends ask me why am I missing it—where does this longing come from? This country didn’t accept you, and

“What impression could have possibly been made by just a pair of shoes and a pipe?” What? “Lithuania had terrible luck because the band’s instruments and traditional costumes were lost on the way.” What—a naked pipe player represented Lithuania at an international exhibition? No, not naked, just not wearing the traditional costume, therefore failing to

I was in a taxi on my way to the Vilnius book fair last winter when the driver looked in the rear-view mirror and asked me if there was any particular book I could recommend. He was an old-school cab driver, grizzled and speaking with an accent. Polish? Russian? Hard to tell. No other cab

Some years ago, in a craft of writing class focused on the work of Toni Morrison, taught by Tayari Jones, we were discussing that prominent academic theme: post-colonialism. I raised the issue of whether Lithuania and other Eastern Bloc countries were post-colonial. It seemed to me that they were. The Soviet Union had forcibly integrated

Samogitian English is a branch of Sarmatian English (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra) If, when you’re reading, you come across something you don’t understand, don’t worry—it’s normal not to understand everything. For example, I don’t completely understand authors who talk or write clearly. Because there’s really no point in talking or writing about something that is

Migration is an increasingly significant feature of contemporary life and as such, an important subject that shapes literary trends and informs literary imagination and aesthetics. Patterns of migratory flows are defined by a push and pull, causing some countries to experience large influxes of migrant populations, whilst others suffer hemorrhages in human resources. North America