Pak Kyung-ni's Land
In The Japan Times David Cozy reviews A quintessential Korean epic to rival the very best of Tolstoy -- Land by Pak Kyung-ni; see also the Brill publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com...
View ArticlePublishing in ... the US
In The New York Times Julie Bosman reports that Book Is Judged by the Name on Its Cover, another sad example of how American publishing 'works', as Patricia O'Brien -- author of five novels --...
View ArticleFive A.M. review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Jean Dutourd's Five A.M.. Hey, back in the day it was Saul Bellow that reviewed this for The New York Times Book Review...
View ArticleShohbaa De profile
In the Express Tribune's Sunday Magazine Mohsin Sayeed profiles A cat called Shohbaa -- i.e. Shohbaa De. I actually have a pile of her books, and hope to get to them at some point; I do...
View ArticleBest Translated Book Award longlist announced
The 25-title strong longlist for the Best Translated Book Award has now been announced, and the finalists are: Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion ? by Johan Harstad...
View ArticleSwiss book-pricing referendum
The Swiss are still conflicted about legally mandating fixed book prices, and so it's one of five questions that will be up for popular vote in the upcoming 11 March referendum. Martin...
View ArticleWriting in ... the Philippines
In the Philippine Daily Inquirer Amadís Ma. Guerrero reports on the recent 2012 Taboan writers fest: Is literature alive and well ? Among the participants: F. Sionil José -- who stirred...
View ArticleThe Crimes of Elagabalus review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Martijn Icks on The Life and Legacy of Rome's Decadent Boy Emperor, The Crimes of Elagabalus. This is actually one of two...
View ArticleRossica Prize longlist
I missed this when they announced it a couple of weeks ago, but the 37-title strong longlist for the Rossica Prize for the best translated work from Russian (2009 through 2011) is out -- and...
View ArticleThe Mystery of Dr.Fu-Manchu review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Sax Rohmer's The Mystery of Dr.Fu-Manchu.
View ArticleEthiopian PEN
At Ezega.com Meron Tekleberhan reports on An International Organization Promoting Literature Opens Center in Ethiopia, as Ethiopia gets its own PEN Centre. Good to hear that: PEN will...
View ArticleIvry on Joseph Roth's Letters
In Tragic in Novels, Lucky in Friends in the Forward Benjamin Ivry raises some interesting questions about the new English translation (by Michael Hofmann) of Joseph Roth: A Life in Letters...
View ArticleThe Letter Killers Club review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky's The Letter Killers Club. (This book, too, was obviously in the running to make the longlist for...
View ArticleReview coverage by and of women
VIDA presents The 2011 Count, where they look at: "the rates of publication between women and men in many of our writing world's most prestigious literary outlets" -- i.e. the sex-ratio re....
View ArticleGerman critics' best list
The monthly SWR-Bestenliste, where thirty leading German literary critics vote on the recent titles they're most impressed by, is out for March -- with Nádas Péter's Parallel Stories (just out...
View ArticleBook digitization in ... Armenia
PanArmenian.net reports that Only 2% of Armenian literature available in digital format.
View ArticleAdelbert-von-Chamisso-Prize 2012
They've announced that the Adelbert-von-Chamisso-Prize 2012 -- "open to authors whose mother tongue and cultural background are non-German and whose works make an important contribution to...
View ArticleJosé Saramago's Claraboya
AFP reports that 'Lost' novel by dead Nobel laureate published, as José Saramago's early novel, Claraboya, has finally been published: Saramago sent the manuscript for Claraboya, which tells...
View ArticleOprah: not so good for books after all ?
So it turns out that Oprah's Book Club apparently wasn't much more for the book business than a fancy bait-'n'-switch scheme: as Brad Plumer sums up at The Washington Post's Wonkblog, Oprah:...
View ArticleKim Yong-ik profile
At Yonhap Charles Montgomery has an interesting profile of a Forgotten literary pioneer decades ahead of his time, Kim Yong-ik: Kim's career writing in English began in 1957 and spanned nearly...
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