American book sales by category, 2014
In Publishers Weekly Jim Milliot reports on The Hot and Cold Categories of 2014 in the US, looking at the "print book unit sales among adult segments in 2014" ("at outlets that report to...
View ArticleKvachi review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Mikheil Javakhishvili's early Soviet-era classic, Kvachi, a nice addition to Dalkey Archive Press' Georgian Literature Series...
View ArticleLibris Literatuur Prijs longlist
They've announced the longlist for this year's Libris Literatuur Prijs, one of the leading Dutch literary prizes. The eighteen-title strong list was selected from the groslijst of...
View ArticleBestselling paperbacks in Germany, 2014
At boersenblatt.net they look at the top-25 bestselling paperbacks in Germany in 2014 in both fiction and non -- alas only ranked, not with actual sales numbers....
View ArticleMalice review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Higashino Keigo's Malice. Higashino is phenomenally successful in eastern Asia -- his native Japan as well as China and...
View ArticlePublishing in ... Africa
In The Herald Beaven Tapureta offers A tale of two book industries, comparing the situations in Kenya and Zimbabwe. High book prices, lack of media coverage, and the failure of schools...
View ArticleWhitbread Costa Book of the Year
They've announced (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) this year's Whitbread Costa Book of the Year, selected from the five category winners -- and it is the Biography-winner, H is for Hawk, by...
View ArticleSapir Prize
They've announced that הבית אשר נחרב ('The Ruined House') by Reuven "Ruby" Namdar has won this year's Sapir Prize (פרס ספי), one of the leading Israeli literary prizes. It's apparently...
View ArticleNo Tomorrow review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Vivant Denon's small eighteenth century classic (in Lydia Davis' translation), No Tomorrow, which New York Review Books brought...
View ArticleVictorian Premier's Literary Awards
They've announced the winners of the (Australian) Victorian Premier's Literary Awards: Alan Atkinson's The Europeans in Australia: Volume Three: Nation was both the non-fiction category winner,...
View Article'Revisiting Raja Rao's fiction'
Kanishk Tharoor's piece on 'Revisiting Raja Rao's fiction', India As Metaphysic ?, is now finally freely accessible at The Caravan. The focus is on the recently republished by Penguin...
View Article'Why translate ?'
It's an old piece ("first published in Books from Finland 1/1982") but now available online -- and always an interesting question: translator Herbert Lomas (e.g. Arto Paasilinna's The Year of...
View ArticleMirror Gazing review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Warren Motte's study of Mirror Gazing in literature.
View ArticleLaureate for Irish Fiction
They've announced that Anne Enright has been named the inaugural 'Laureate for Irish Fiction' -- selected from 34 nominees (including William Trevor, Edna O'Brien, and John Banville, among some...
View ArticleChinese literary philately
At China Daily they have a slideshow (yeah, sorry ..) of examples of how Stamps celebrate masterpieces of Chinese literature -- some pretty nice pieces. And, of course, anything...
View ArticleAlina Bronsky on writing in German
At PEN Atlas Broken Glass Park-author Alina Bronsky writes about belonging to: "the subset of authors who write books in a language that is not their native tongue", in You speak such good...
View Article'Emerging Voices'
The Financial Times tries to pay some attention to 'Emerging Vocies' with a couple of pieces, including Literature has liberated Africa's authors by Maya Jaggi and Arab writers begin to make...
View ArticleJanuary issue of Asymptote
Just in time for the weekend -- though really stretching it, as far as the issue date goes -- the January issue of Asymptote is now available online: wall-to-wall international literature...
View ArticleUniversal Bureau of Copyrights review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Bertrand Laverdure's unusual little novel, Universal Bureau of Copyrights.
View ArticleCarl Djerassi (1923-2015)
Carl Djerassi has passed away; see, for example, The New York Times' obituary. Best-known for his impressive work as a scientist, he also tried to write fiction (and drama) dealing with...
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