Q & A: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
In the Zambia Daily Mail Austin Kaluna gets Upclose with literary mogul, Ngugi wa Thi'ongo. I have to admit, I'm tickled by the idea of Ngũgĩ being considered a 'literary mogul' (and...
View ArticleAmos Oz Q & A
At Tablet they have a transcript of Daniel Estrin's conversation with Amos Oz (yes, you can also listen to it).
View ArticleChristopher Koch (1932-2013)
Leading Australian author -- and two-time Miles Franklin Literary Award-winner -- Christopher Koch has passed away; see, for example the obituaries by Marc McEvoy (in the Sydney Morning Herald)...
View ArticleÁlvaro Mutis (1923-2013)
One of the grand old South American masters, Álvaro Mutis, has passed away; see, for example, the BBC report -- or, to get a better feel for the man, Francisco Goldman's Q & A with him at...
View ArticleBullfight review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Inoue Yasushi's 1949 Akutagawa Prize -winning novella, Bullfight, finally available in English, from Pushkin Press.
View ArticleMacArthur Fellowships
It's 'genius grant'-time, as this years batch of MacArthur Fellowships -- "$625,000 to the recipient, paid out in equal quarterly installments over five years" -- are announced. Early AP...
View ArticleTranslation notes
At Free Word Canan Marasligil and Nicky Harman briefly debate the use of forewords, footnotes, and the like in translations, in To foreword or not to foreword ? -- a preview of their debate...
View ArticlePrize: Dayton Literary Peace Prize
They've announced the winners of this year's Dayton Literary Peace Prizes (honoring books that: "have led readers to a better understanding of other cultures, peoples, religions, and political...
View ArticlePrize: Warwick Prize for Writing
They've announced that the Warwick Prize for Writing -- a biennial, all-genre writing prize that seems to be a bit unsure of what exactly it wants to be (currently rewarding: "an excellent and...
View ArticleThe last 100 reviews
Topping the 3200-review mark at the complete review, it's time for another look at the last 100 reviews (numbers 3101-3200): The reviews were written over a span of 184 days and total...
View Article'The Stella Count'
The Australian Stella Prize has released The Stella Count, compiling: "Australian statistics for 2012 showing how many books by men and women were reviewed in most of our major newspapers and...
View ArticleNobel Prize in Literature: Predictions and discussions
So where are all the Nobel predictions ? - Thomson Reuters boast of: "Having accurately forecast 27 Nobel Prize winners since its inception in 2002", but once again Thomson Reuters...
View ArticleNobel Prize in Literature: Nautilus Nobel Exchange
There was a German Nobel Prize 'stock exchange' a few years back, and now Nautilus have "an online fantasy contracts market", the Nautilus Nobel Exchange. For five Nobel categories --...
View ArticleNobel Prize in Literature: Odds on ...
So on the official Nobel Prize in Literature page they have a countdown clock that now reads: 2013 Literature Prize will be announced at the earliest in: 7 days 'At the earliest' are the...
View ArticleMurakami in South Korea
Via I'm pointed to Yoon Sang-In's piece in the Asahi Shimbun, which looks in some depth at how Haruki Murakami forms community of 'coolness' in South Korea, as the Japanese author enjoys...
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Marketing Jonathan Littell's new book
Jonathan Littell's prix Goncourt-winning monstrosity, The Kindly Ones, elicited a ... wide variety of critical responses when it appeared in the US, many of them (very) negative (deservedly so...
View ArticleOrange Prize for Fiction jury announced
The UK-based prize for fiction by a female author -- best known as the Orange Prize for Fiction, and after that the Women's Prize for Fiction, and for the moment (though who knows, by the time...
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French literary prizes: Odds and ends
With their meager payouts the top American book prizes are notoriously underfunded by most international standards: the (American) National Book Awards and Pulitzer Prizes each offer only...
View ArticleFrench literary prize: Prix Femina
The Goncourt is a pure novel play; the Renaudot has two categories, fiction and non; and the third of the major French literary prizes, the Prix Femina, announced yesterday, is actually a...
View ArticleLeg over Leg review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of the first (of four) volumes of Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq's seminal 1855 classic, Leg Over Leg. This is one of the first...
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