Sitti Nurbaya review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Marah Rusli's 1922 novel, Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized, yet another volume in Lontar's Modern Library of Indonesia, and a...
View ArticleCensorship in Russia
Headlines don't get much more depressing than this: in The Moscow Times Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber reports that More Than 80% of Russians Favor State Censorship of Literature, Film, Art. Yes,...
View ArticleHelen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize
They've announced that Catherine Schelbert will receive the 2015 Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize for her translation of Hugo Ball's Flametti, or The Dandyism of the Poor published by...
View ArticleDalkey Archive Press heads to Texas
Dalkey Archive Press settled at Illinois State University in 1992 and stuck it out there through 2006; for a while they intended to move on to the University of Rochester, but that fell through...
View ArticleShibata Motoyuki profile
In The Japan Times James Hadfield profiles The 'dwarf' architect of Japan's literary boom, Shibata Motoyuki (柴田元幸) Among the observations: he: "still finds it hard to convince American...
View ArticleNigeria International Book Fair
The Nigeria International Book Fair -- "NIBF, as abbreviatedly called", as they helpfully suggest at the official site -- runs from tomorrow through Saturday: "a well-packaged, well-organised,...
View ArticlePreserving oral literature
In The Standard Vivere Nandiemo and Barrack Oduor maintain We must save oral literature from extinction (in Kenya). I think maybe they get carried away in arguing, for example: (I)t is...
View ArticleSphinx review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Anne Garréta's 1986 novel, Sphinx -- the novel that got her into the Oulipo, and which is now available in Emma Ramadan's...
View ArticleGünter Grass memorial
They held a Günter Grass memorial service in Lübeck yesterday -- see, for example, the DeutscheWelle report German literary great Günter Grass farewelled -- and John Irving gave the eulogy....
View Article'The Future is Now'
A week ago today the opening night event at the PEN World Voices festival was a great line-up of authors (including Tom Stoppard, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, and Aminatta Forna) imagining The Future is...
View ArticleThe Last Chapter review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Leila Abouzeid's The Last Chapter.
View ArticleSophie Kerr Prize finalists
They've announced the six finalists for the Sophie Kerr Prize, the Washington College student literary prize worth (this year) US$62,900 (!); the winner will be announced this Friday.
View ArticleLibris Literatuur Prijs
They've announced that Libris Literatuur Prijs 2015 voor Ik kom terug van Adriaan van Dis, beating out books by Esther Gerritsen and Peter Terrin, among others, for this €50,000 Dutch literary...
View ArticleOff-site library storage
So here's one of the odder library-stories I've come across: the town of Westport, Connecticut, apparently shelled out $7 million for 'Golden Shadows' (now called 'Baron's South'), the 23-acre...
View Article(Not) the Zweig brothers
Eminent historian Peter Gay (né Fröhlich) passed away yesterday; see, for example The New York Times' obituary. While I've read a couple of his works -- long. long ago -- what came...
View ArticleKjell Westö Q & A
At hlo they have a Q & A with Swedish-writing Finnish author Kjell Westö. His Hägring 38 won the Nordic Council Literature Prize last year; see, for example the reviews in the...
View ArticleJoseph-Breitbach-Preis
At €50,000, the Joseph-Breitbach-Preis is one of the most remunerative German author-prizes, and they've announced that Thomas Lehr will get this year's prize (on 18 September -- they almost...
View ArticleMan Booker International Prize - finalists Q & As
The 2015 Man Booker International Prize will be announced less than a week from now (on 19 May), and in The Guardian they have a Q & A with all the finalists.
View ArticlePEN Literary Awards
They've announced the winners of the PEN Literary Awards -- including the PEN Translation Prize, which went to Denise Newman for her translation of Naja Marie Aidt's Baboon. See also the...
View ArticleApocalypse Baby review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Virginie Despentes' 2010 prix Renaudot-winning novel, Apocalypse Baby. Serpent's Tail brought this out in the UK in 2013,...
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