I lifted the spray can and wrote a big, blue P. The letter bled and blurred. "Oh, I messed it up," I said. “Spray closer to the wall, Matt,” my friend Walid told me. No problem. I just moved onto the next section of concrete. Unfortunately, there’s plenty of wall.

Miles and miles of it, in fact, winding as far as I could see. It ran down the hill from where I stood among…

In less than two months, my next novel MOZART’S LAST ARIA will be published in the UK (the US publication date is November). This means I have to start thinking about publicity.

Naturally I’ll be doing the usual kinds of things that writers do these days. The promo video is already made and can be seen on…

My taxi pulled up at the traffic lights on the way into Jerusalem late Sunday night. A half dozen Breslav hassids were bouncing up and down in front of the traffic, waving signs and grinning with the exultation of wedding party dancers. They were singing, “Death to the Arabs.”

Welcome home, I thought. Something dark descended on me. I’d been away for a week attending a…

Potential students of the London School of Economics ought perhaps to rethink their choice of university, particularly if they plan to study international relations. After all, Muammar Qaddafi had to kill thousands of his own people before the LSE’s distinguished academics realized he might be something of a dictator.

However, if your plan is to study how to be a…