Fixing the 'Muslim literary canon' ?
The National has a piece by Maryam Ismail on Muslim literary characters, in which she suggests: The crisis is really with the Muslim literary canon. I know there will be some who will say: "We...
View ArticleChinaman (The Legend of Pradeep Mathew) review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Shehan Karunatilaka's prize-winning Chinaman -- due out in the US in May from Graywolf, under the title The Legend of Pradeep...
View ArticleWieser Verlag bankruptcy
Sad to hear that Austrian publisher Wieser Verlag has had to declare bankruptcy; see, for example, the (German) report by Bernhard Fliehe in the Salzburger Nachrichten, Wieser Verlag ist...
View ArticleKevin Jackson on Poe
In Prospect Kevin Jackson makes the case that: 'Self-indulgent, vulgar, borderline insane -- Edgar Allan Poe was the most influential American author of the 19th century', in The great bad...
View ArticleRiyadh Book Fair
The Riyadh Book Fair is currently on -- and apparently quite successful: the Saudi Gazette reports that: 706,000 visitors, 2m book sales in 5 days at Book Fair. In other reports from the...
View ArticleMartin Walser Q and A
In The European Alexander Görlach has a Q & A with Martin Walser, in which they discuss 'the role of faith, the false promise of atheism, and the writings of Franz Kafka', "We Cannot...
View ArticleFinland prepares for 2014
Finland will be the 'guest of honour' at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2014, and they are already starting to prepare, as Jukka Petäjä reports in Helsingin Sanomat, in Finnish books to be...
View ArticleKim Chi-young on translation
Translator-from-the-Korean Kim Chi-young writes about her Journey to translated fiction -- including the amusing admission that: In all honesty, I turned to translation to make an extra buck....
View ArticleAmsterdam Stories review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Dutch author Nescio's Amsterdam Stories, a slim volume from New York Review Books that introduces the author to English-speaking...
View ArticlePremio Formentor de las Letras to Juan Goytisolo
Juan Goytisolo has apparently been awarded the resurrected Premio Formentor de las Letras; see, for example, the Latin American Herald Tribune report, Goytisolo Wins Formentor Literature Prize....
View ArticlePublishing Hungary
hlo reports that: Publishing Hungary, a government programme aimed at popularizing Hungarian literature and publishing works in foreign languages, has been launched. They also note that...
View ArticleRushdie at India Today Conclave
So they're holding the India Today Conclave 16 - 17 March -- theme: 'Ideate Debate Celebrate The Asian Century' ('ideate' ? seriously ?) -- and among those invited is Salman Rushdie, whose talk...
View ArticleReticence review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Jean-Philippe Toussaint's Reticence, his 1991 novel that's now finally available in English, from Dalkey Archive Press....
View ArticleLiterary prize: Man Asian Literary Prize
They've announced that Shin Kyung-sook's Please Look After Mom (UK title, sigh: Please Look After Mother) has won the Man Asian Literary Prize. It wouldn't have been my choice, but at...
View ArticleLiterary prize: Preis der Leipziger Buchmesse
They've announced the winners of the Preis der Leipziger Buchmesse 2012 -- the prize(s) of the Leipzig Book Fair, the second most important German book-prize, after the German Book Prize...
View Article50 bestselling classical authors in France
In Le Figaro Mohammed Aissaoui lists Le top 50 des auteurs classiques les plus vendus -- the fifty bestselling classical authors in France between January 2004 and January 2012 (with actual...
View ArticlePEN World Voices Festival schedule
They've now released the full schedule of the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature (click on each day for that day's events). Among the highlights: TimesTalks: Martin...
View ArticleAmélie Nothomb
The Daily PEN American prints Where We Belong: A Conversation with Buket Uzuner and Amélie Nothomb (from the 2011 PEN World Voices Festival). Meanwhile, in Le Monde Nothomb reports that...
View ArticleKiran Nagarkar on intolerance
At Teheleka Kiran Nagarkar warns that in India: "National and regional political parties have exploited and honed the business of intolerance into a fine art", in The fine art of Intolerance....
View ArticleCensorship in Australia
In the Sydney Morning Herald Craig Munro reviews Nicole Moore's The Censor's Library: Uncovering the Lost History of Australia's Banned Books, which sounds pretty interesting. See also...
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