It's unlikely that very many people in Somalia have read the novels of Nuruddin Farah, partly because Somalia remains largely an oral society, but also because Farah was exiled from the country after writing about African dictatorships in a trilogy of novels. Farah is increasingly read outside of Somalia though, and many call him the best writer Africa has produced. He's in the Twin Cities to talk about "Links" his latest work that draws on modern Somalia's history of terror, clan violence, decimated cities, corruption, and conflicting family relations. Despite that list of negatives in his country's everyday life, Farah says he writes to "keep Somalia alive" in the minds of other immigrants, and in the eyes of the world.