"When Tash is finishing his manuscript, I will read it. And when I finish my manuscript, Tash will read it. Then we have days of what we call “coordination”: we discuss what could be reinforced, what could be erased, what should stay. I only have this kind of close friendship with Tash and maybe two other people. ⁠ ⁠ Our creation and friendship have become so intertwined. Basically we have conversations about literature and politics almost every day. I think that friendship is a kind of avant-garde laboratory for creation — and there is no avant-garde without friendship. When you say things that people don’t want to hear, when you show things that people don’t want to see, you expose yourself to extremely violent reactions. If I didn’t have people like Tash, or Didier Eribon in Paris, I would surrender." —Édouard Louis⁠ ⁠ We talked to Tash Aw and Édouard Louis about friendship, writing, politics, and collaborating on Aw's translation of Louis's A Woman's Battles and Transformations, out now from @fsgbooks. Read the rest at the link in bio.