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Eliza Griswold Biography

Eliza Griswold (born February 9, 1973) is an American journalist and poet. She was a fellow at the New America Foundation from 2008 to 2010 and won a 2010 Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is a former Nieman Fellow, a current Berggruen Fellow at Harvard Divinity School, and has been published in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, and the New York Times Magazine.

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Eliza Griswold Quotes

My upbringing was pretty interesting. It was a rigorous, intellectual upbringing, but with the idea that we were a part of an important and legitimate enterprise. What that meant was sitting around the dinner table from a really early age with people from all different backgrounds who believed in God. When I was reporting in the wake of September 11th in Iraq and elsewhere, I felt I had the capacity to talk to people whose beliefs might sound outlandish to more secular journalists. I felt like I could be a translator between those two worlds.

Age, Enterprise, Intellectual, Interesting, People, Sound

If we were to see Western landay poems, we'd see them out of disenfranchised populations, maybe out of the legacy of slavery. Spirituals, rap music - that would be the space we'd find American landays in.

Legacy, Music, Poems, Rap, See, Slavery

I can't imagine how Afghanistan's fall isn't going to be ten times faster than Iraq's.

Fall, Imagine, Iraq, Ten, Times

Islam doesn't have a monopoly on violence in Africa. And violence plays a particularly critical role in places where statehood is weak at best, such as the Maghreb.

Islam, Particularly, Play, Role, Roles, Statehood

In most of the world, poetry has such a different reputation than it does in Western culture. Poetry is a popular genre in Afghanistan. If you turned on the radio, there would be a poetry program that would be as popular as The Real Housewives. People aren't listening to poetry as if they're taking their vitamins. Instead, it's a popular vessel you can fill with anything. You could fill it with sass. You could fill it with rage. You could fill it with political statements.

Afghanistan, Listening, People, Political, Real, Western

Poetry isn't as relevant in the Western world as it is in Afghanistan. And not many people make time for something that doesn't feel relevant.

People, World, Making Time, Make, Time, Western

We know what war means, and we know what poverty means. We need to develop a better model for reaching out to the world than we have.

Develop, Know, Mean, Reaching, War, World

I worked with two young women translators. One died and the other received a death threat from the Taliban.

Death, Received, Threat, Two, Worked, Young

It's important to understand that violent Islam is only one face of violent religion.

Islam, Important, Faces, Face, Understand

The future of Afghanistan is incredibly dark, and decisions are happening incredibly quickly. Speculation is a fool's game, but I've seen many political projections that look like the Taliban could hold most of the country, and possibly Kabul, within perhaps a short time. I can't imagine how Afghanistan's fall isn't going to be ten times faster than Iraq's. The role of women in that space is terrifying, and the idea of retribution is a nightmare.

Country, Dark, Fall, Future, Like, Seen

Speculation is a fool's game, but I've seen many political projections that look like the Taliban could hold most of the country, and possibly Kabul, within perhaps a short time.

Country, Games, Like, Political, Seen, Short

In most of the world, poetry has such a different reputation than it does in Western culture.

Western Culture, Doe, Different, Reputation, Western

If we think about folk forms, they belong to disenfranchised people, people who have not been allowed access to the poetry of literature or the leisure time that comes with the pursuit of poetry. Instead, this is ceremony. This is a highly charged way to create a sacred space that isn't necessarily about God, but is about human experience at its most profound levels - whether that's love or grief, separation, or homeland. All are altered states.

Belong, Charged, Create, Grief, People, Thinking

News isn't designed to talk about daily life in its nuances, but poetry is.

Daily Life, Designed, Life, News, Nuance, Poetry

You can't be wrong in journalism. Take a wrong turn in journalism, and you are writing fiction. You can take a wrong turn in poetry, and something wonderful can happen.

Fiction, Happen, Journalism, Writing, Wrong

I think most good poetry is about suffering; I think that's what underlies the love in these landays pieces - suffering and longing.

Landays, Longing, Poetry, Suffering, Thinking, Underlies

Poetry allows me to write about what I don't know, whereas journalism demands a higher level of certainty to be worthy of being written.

Demand, Demands, Know, Levels, Writing, Written

The future of Afghanistan is incredibly dark, and decisions are happening incredibly quickly.

Dark, Decision, Afghanistan, Quickly, Future

The most dangerous thing I've ever encountered was a run-in with Boko Haram around 2007 in a small town in Nigeria. I got caught along with the photographer I was working with, the same one I worked with on the Afghanistan book, Seamus Murphy. We were caught in an attack by a mob after Friday prayers. And the level of violence was so extreme. It was more violent than any other mob violence I have ever seen.

Caught, Friday, Prayer, Running, Violence, Worked

I was examining what religious identity meant in Africa. Along the edge of the Islamic world, what patterns were shaping identity? And the truth is, when I looked at the rise of violent forms of religion, no single identity was prevalent. It's central to note that in Nigeria, that tree is rooted primarily in Christianity. It's not just Islamic militants in the Middle Belt.

Islamic, Middle, Nigeria, Note, Religious, Tree

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