Günter Grass packs it in ?
Another day, another old geezer Nobel laureate calls it quits -- at least as far as the long-form (novels) go ? Yes, this week it's octogenarian Günter Grass who gives the Passauer Neue...
View ArticleSpanish-language books in the US
One of the things that has always baffled me about the US book market was how poorly Spanish-language fiction did, given the huge Spanish-speaking readership (not to mention the many...
View ArticleThe Rabbit Back Literature Society review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Finnish author Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen's The Rabbit Back Literature Society.
View ArticleVanity Bagh wins The Hindu Prize for Best Fiction
They've announced that Vanity Bagh by Anees Salim has won The Hindu Prize for Best Fiction 2013 -- beating out, among others, Manu Joseph's The Illicit Happiness of Other People. See...
View ArticleNBCC awards finalists
The National Book Critics Circle Awards finalists (in six categories) have been announced, with the winners to be announced 13 March. Two of the finalists -- predictably: from the...
View ArticleDrug of Choice review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of another of Michael Crichton's early novels (published under the pseudonym 'John Lange' in 1970), Drug of Choice. Gotta...
View ArticleIrrawaddy Literary Festival boycotts
The second Irrawaddy Literary Festival is the biggest Burmese literary show of the year -- but not everyone is on board: as Kyaw Phyo Tha reports in The Irrawaddy: Burmese Bards to Boycott...
View ArticleAnita Desai Q & A
At Sampsonia Way Joshua Barnes has a Q & A with Anita Desai, covering a lot of the basics.
View ArticleHatchet Job of the Year shortlist
The Omnivore's Hatchet Job of the Year Award -- "for the writer of the angriest, funniest, most trenchant book review of the past twelve months" -- has announced the shortlist for this year's...
View ArticleA Living Soul review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of P.C.Jersild's 1980 disembodied-brain novel, A Living Soul , which Norvik Press brought out in Rika Lesser's translation in 1988....
View ArticleNew Asymptote
The January issue of Asymptote -- the impressive "international journal dedicated to literary translation and bringing together in one place the best in contemporary writing" -- is now up, with...
View ArticleJuan Gelman (1930-2014)
Argentine poet Juan Gelman has passed away; see, for example, obituaries in The Telegraph and The Los Angeles Times. Open Letter brought out a selected works volume, Dark Times Filled...
View ArticleBest-selling French novelists, 2013
Le Figaro offers that annual favorite, Les dix best-sellers français de l'année 2013, tallying up the French sales (for all their books) of the ten best-selling French authors in 2013....
View ArticleTranslating from ... Russian
At Russia beyond the Headlines Phoebe Taplin reports that Translation challenges the brightest minds, as 'Top translators of Tolstoy and Pelevin talk to RBTH about misunderstandings, cultural...
View ArticleAkutagawa and Naoki awards
As reported, for example, at at Mainichi, Oyamada wins Akutagawa award, Asai, Himeno win Naoki Prize, as the winners of two of the top Japanese literary awards have been announced.
View ArticleArno Schmidt at 100
There are some good author centenaries coming up in 2014 -- Tove Jansson: 9 August ! -- but tomorrow's is hard to top: yes, Arno Schmidt was born 18 January 1914. Among the handful of...
View Article"DSK" v. Régis Jauffret
Régis Jauffret has done pretty well by basing some of his works of fiction closely on notorious events -- see my mention of his recent Claustria (based on the Josef Fritzl case), or his Severe,...
View ArticleApostoloff review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Sibylle Lewitscharoff's Apostoloff, just out from Seagull Books -- who continue to bring out translations of significant...
View ArticleOlga Tokarczuk on (the Polish) language
Eurozine prints Olga Tokarczuk's nice piece on Polish and writing in Polish, A finger pointing at the moon. Tokarczuk considers: I wonder how far my own sensitivity, my perception and...
View ArticlePrize: Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding
They've announced that Pankaj Mishra has won the Leipziger Buchpreis zur Europäischen Verständigung ('Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding'), which he gets to pick up at the Leipzig...
View Article