A contemporary Don Quixote
An interesting AFP article by Roland Lloyd Parry (here at the Daily Star), Quixote-crazy -- rewriting Spain's comic bible, discussing the difficulty the (original) of Cervantes' classic poses...
View ArticleGuardian first book award longlist
They've announced the Guardian first book award longlist -- annoyingly not simply listing the titles on a page (with some commentary, if necessary) but rather either slipping in the titles in...
View ArticleViennese Romance review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of David Vogel's Viennese Romance -- posthumously published just a few years ago, decades after Vogel wrote it, and now available in...
View Article'The Modern Novel' moves
Most of the visitors to this site are presumably interested in international literature and so you have (or certainly should have) also bookmarked The Modern Novel, which offers some of the...
View ArticleRafael Chirbes (1949-2015)
Spanish author Rafael Chirbes (1949-2015) has passed away -- just a few months before the highly-praised On the Edge appears in English (see the New Directions publicity page, or get your copy...
View ArticleMia Couto profile
In The Guardian Maya Jaggi profiles Mia Couto -- the Neustadt International Prize for Literature-winning author of The Tuner of Silences and the just-released-in-translation Confession of the...
View Article100 greatest English-language novels ?
Robert McCrum's two-year-long project of listing The 100 best novels: from Bunyan's pilgrim to Carey's Ned Kelly -- which, as the small(er) print clarifies considers only 'the 100 greatest...
View ArticleSt. Francis College Literary Prize short list
They've announced the shortlist for the $50,000 St. Francis College Literary Prize -- awarded biennially 'for a 3rd to 5th published work of fiction'. I'm afraid none of the shortlisted...
View ArticleMao Dun Literature Prize
The Mao Dun Literature Prize (茅盾文学奖) -- awarded only every four years -- is one of the most prestigious (and controversial) Chinese literary prizes, and they've now announced this year's five...
View ArticleJames Tait Black Prizes
They've announced the winners of the James Tait Black Prizes, and In the Light of What We Know, by Zia Haider Rahman, has taken the fiction prize. (I can't help but note one of my pet...
View ArticleRock, Paper, Scissors review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Naja Marie Aidt's Rock, Paper, Scissors, just out from Open Letter.
View ArticleJames Wood Q & A
At Slate Isaac Chotiner has A Conversation With James Wood, The New Yorker book critic and author of The Book Against God. Wood's most recent book is The Nearest Thing to Life; get your...
View ArticleDrama in translation
The Three Percent Translation Databases are an invaluable resource -- but list only (previously untranslated) works of fiction and poetry, i.e. don't cover much else that appears in English...
View ArticleFriedrich-Hölderlin-Preis
As noted above, the Germans really go for author- over book-prizes, and they've now announced that Herta Müller -- yes, the one with the Nobel under her belt -- has won this year's...
View ArticleGerman Book Prize
Generally -- no, overwhelmingly -- the Germans prefer author- to book-prizes: they'd rather honor a life's work over specific works. But seeing the success of the Man Booker Prize they launched...
View ArticleTwenty-One Days of a Neurasthenic review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Octave Mirbeau's 1901 novel, Twenty-One Days of a Neurasthenic, now available in a translation from Dalkey Archive Press....
View ArticleVondel Translation Prize shortlist
They've announced the shortlist for the biennial Vondel Translation Prize, given: "for the best English translation of a Dutch literary novel or cultural-historical book". Two of the...
View ArticleEtgar Keret Q & A
At Guernica Meakin Armstrong has a Q & A with Etgar Keret, We Can Try to Be Human. Among his observations: In America, where writers are preoccupied with the craft of writing, I...
View ArticleMountain Echoes literary festival
Bhutan's literary festival, Mountain Echoes, runs through tomorrow -- sounds like a nice place to have a literary festival. See also the PTI report -- here in the Business Standard --...
View ArticleQ & A: K.E.Semmel
At the Asymptote blog Katrine Øgaard Jensen has a Q & A with translator-from-the-Danish K.E.Semmel -- whose translation of Naja Marie Aidt's Rock, Paper, Scissors, just out from Open...
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