Michel Houellebecq Q & A
As I've noted, French author Michel Houellebecq has a new -- and, of course, already controversial -- novel coming out in France any day now, Soumission (pre-order your (French) copy at...
View ArticleMurty Classical Library of India
As longtime readers know, I've been very excited about the long-planned Murty Classical Library of India, which is coming out from Harvard University Press -- the first mention of the project...
View ArticleNobel Prize in Literature, 1964 - the contenders
The nomination and deliberations for the Nobel Prizes are kept secret for fifty years -- but then the archives are opened up, and so one of the enjoyable beginning-of-the-year news stories...
View ArticleBestselling titles of 2014 in ... the US
Publishers Weekly has the numbers on The Bestselling Books of 2014 in the US -- sort of. Annoyingly (lazily ? and bafflingly), they count separate editions separately, so, for example,...
View ArticleTranslation in ... India
At Scroll.in Arunava Sinha wonders Why aren't translations the big story of Indian publishing ?. [This apparently originally appeared in In Other Words but that's not freely accessible online.]...
View Article'100 books that can change your life'
The title story in this week's Outlook (India) is: '100 books that can change your life', as Mukul Kesavan, Mani Shankar Aiyar, David Davidar, Nilanjana Roy, and Sunil Sethi (not a bad line-up)...
View ArticleA century of literature in ... Nigeria
In The Sun J.O.J.Nwachukwu-Agbada wonders Literature, Languages and Diversities: How has Nigeria fared since 1914 ? a decent introductory overview of Nigerian literatures over the decades, with...
View ArticleIrène review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Pierre Lemaitre's literary-inspired thriller Irène.
View ArticlePreparing for Arno Schmidt's 101st
Last year I excitedly prepared you for the centenary of Arno Schmidt's birth, only to be grievously disappointed by the complete lack of English-language coverage of the occasion -- so...
View ArticleHusain Q & A
In the Indian Express Seema Chishti has a Q & A -- As extremists do not read literature, we are safe: Pakistani writer Intizar Husain. (I'm not really sure that's good advice, but .....)...
View ArticleChinese 'Writers Rich List' 2014
They actually announced this a couple of weeks ago: the Chinese 作家富豪榜, the writers who earned the most from their books in 2014; see also Mei Jia's China Daily report, List of richest Chinese...
View ArticleChrist's Entry into Brussels review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Dimitri Verhulst's Christ's Entry into Brussels. I profoundly disliked Verhulst's alcohol-soaked The Misfortunates -- I...
View ArticlePEN report on surveillance-consequences
PEN has announced the release of a report on 'Global Chilling: The Impact of Mass Surveillance on International Writers'; the report itself is also available in full (warning ! dreaded pdf...
View Article'New Ways of Publishing Translations'
At Publishing Perspectives Rebecca Carter looks at New Ways of Publishing Translations (yet aother article that originally appeared in In Other Words, where it's not freely accessible online...
View ArticleThe Millions 2015 Book Preview
The Millions has published their always useful Most Anticipated: The Great 2015 Book Preview -- "9,000 words strong and encompassing 91 titles" I do wish, however, they'd stop claiming...
View ArticleWhitbread Costa Book Award category winners
They've announced the category winners of the Whitbread Costa Book Award -- oddly, only in the dreaded pdf format at the official site (still, better than nothing ...); for more convenient...
View Article2014 in literature in ... Sri Lanka
In the Daily News Sunanda Mahendra reports on 2014's literary scene: in retrospect in Sri Lanka. All in all pretty positive-sounding -- including: "I observed that more and more...
View ArticleGarcía Márquez archive cost questions
It was widely reported last fall that García Márquez's archive was bought by the University of Texas at Austin's Harry Ransom Center -- see, for example, the official press release. Less...
View ArticleSubmitting to Soumission
As I've now repeatedly mentioned, Michel Houellebecq's new novel Soumission -- out today in France; get your copy at Amazon.fr -- is the big French book-release of the season. And it's turning...
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