New Quarterly Conversation
The Winter 2015 issue of the Quarterly Conversation is now available online -- lots of good material to keep you busy for the rest of the week.
View ArticleForthcoming Houellebecq
The French literary year will start with a bang, as the new Michel Houellebecq novel is due out on 7 Janaury -- Soumission (yes, 'Submission'); pre-order your (French) copy at Amazon.fr....
View ArticleWalker on Water review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Estonian author Kristiina Ehin's collection of stories, Walker on Water. (While there's much here that impresses --...
View ArticleThe literary scene 2014 in ... Zimbabwe
In The Herald Beaven Tapureta has a piece Reflecting on the 2014 literary scene in Zimbabwe.
View ArticleNew translation of Zorba the Greek
A new translation of one of the best-known works to come out of modern Greece, Nikos Kazantzakis' Zorba the Greek, is coming out -- at least in the US, from Simon & Schuster. Why a...
View ArticlePrivy Portrait review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Jean-Luc Benoziglio's 1980 novel, Privy Portrait, now available in English, from Seagull Books.
View ArticleNotable German-in-English books, 2014
At Deutsche Welle Jochen Kürten writes about The 10 must-read German books of 2014. (A note at the end of the piece claims: "All ten books listed were published in the US in the past 12...
View ArticleChad Post Q & A
At Sampsonia Way Caitlyn Christensen has a Q & A with Open Letter and Three Percent-man Chad W. Post -- a good overview of those two fine institutions, with lots of interesting titbits....
View ArticleJohn Dos Passos Prize for Literature
They've announced that the 2015 John Dos Passos Prize for Literature will go to Ruth Ozeki; she'll be the 33rd prize-winner. This Longwood University prize is: meant to honor one of the...
View Article'China's best books' (in English)
In Time Out (Shanghai) they offer their 'top ten picks for books that tackle new ground in China', in China's best books 2014. Despite these being titles available in English, it's...
View ArticleTranslation from ... Italian
Via I'm pointed to new publisher Acheron Books: the first publishing house that produces Italian fantasy, science fiction and horror fiction and distributes it worldwide in the English language...
View ArticleFrench foreign rights sales
At Publishing Perspectives Olivia Snaije reports on Strong Foreign Rights Sales for 2014 French Bestsellers, an interesting overview of the year. "All in all a positive year", she sums...
View ArticleFritz Rudolf Fries (1935-2014)
German author Fritz Rudolf Fries has passed away. Born in Spain, he came to Germany as a young child and he grew up and remained in East Germany. His first novel, The Road to Oobliadooh,...
View ArticleUK publishing hits and misses
In The Guardian they collect The publisher's year: hits and misses of 2014, asking publishers about the books that made their year, the ones they think deserved to do better, and the ones they...
View ArticleGerman authors' Christmas picks
In Die Zeit they asked twenty authors what book they plan on giving as a present this Christams, in Welches Buch verschenken Sie ? Lots of foreign/English-language offerings among them,...
View ArticleBooks of the year in ... Spain
Babelia at El País now offers its list of Los 10 mejores libros del año 2014, with Javier Marías' Así empieza lo malo (see the Alfaguara publicity page) topping the list, followed by Javier...
View ArticleKadare favorites
Twilight of the Eastern Gods-author Ismail Kadare offers a list of his 6 favorite books at The Week. Mainly predictable classics, but with some interesting comments, such as that he...
View ArticleIdeology-tainted literature
Somehow I still find it heartening -- even as I cringe -- that there are authors and critics who maintain: 'Literature should have ideological base'. Profiling Central Sahitya Akademi...
View ArticleSwedish Academy news
Saturday they held the annual end-of-year bash at the Nobel Prize in Literature-deciding Swedish Academy, complete with royalty in attendance; see the whole overview (in Swedish ...) of the...
View ArticleM.T. Vasudevan Nair tributes
Almost better than the twelve days of Christmas: in The Hindu P.K.Ajith Kumar reports on A literary tribute, in letter and spirit, as eleven books on Bhima-author M.T. Vasudevan Nair are being...
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