Profile: Tan Twan Eng
In the Selangor Times Lin Zhen Yuan describes Tan's literary gift to Malaysia, profiling The Gift of Rain-author Tan Twan Eng.
View ArticleThe Thief review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Nakamura Fuminori's The Thief. A relatively recent Japanese work (2009 -- they usually take much longer to get...
View ArticleAmazon buying off critics ?
In a sure-to-be-much-discussed article at Salon, Alexander Zaitchik wonders whether: 'By quietly supporting small presses and literary nonprofits, is Amazon backing book culture or buying off...
View ArticleTamil storytelling
At the Wall Street Journal's Southeast Asia Real Time weblog Ramesh Chakrapani writes about Creating The Next Generation Of Tamil Storytellers, as: Singapore's Tamil community is stepping up...
View ArticlePhilosophical fictions
In the Financial Times Jennie Erdal wonders, 'is it still possible to write philosophical novels ?' in What's the big idea ? I'm a bit mystified by the premise -- sometimes it seems to...
View ArticlePublishing in ... Burma
More hopeful signs of actual change in Burma ? In The Myanmar Times Zon Pann Pwin reports that Political books will 'open people's eyes': publishers -- as, for example, Thant Myint-U's River of...
View ArticleHazai Attila (1967-2012)
Popular Hungarian author Hazai Attila -- best known for his local version of American Psycho, Budapesti skizo (1997) -- has died, apparently a suicide; see, for example, Meghalt Hazai Attila at...
View ArticleZAA Short Story Award finalists
The Zimbabwe Achievers Awards have announced finalists in all sorts of categories, as well as a separate ZAA Short Story Award, where they have now also announced the finalists, and also offer...
View ArticleRead crap ! (?)
At the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy weblog James W. Hall argues Beware Literary Snobbery: Why We Should Read Bestsellers. There doesn't actually seem to be all the much of an...
View ArticleMurakami translator Q and A
In the San Francisco Bay Guardian Soojin Chang has a Q & A with 1Q84-translators Jay Rubin and J.Philip Gabriel, as 'Haruki Murakami's interpreters discuss the art of building literature...
View ArticleGoogle search result numbers clarification
Okay, so in The New York Times today Dwight Garner reviews Tyler Cowen's An Economist Gets Lunch (and, incidentally, rips it to shreds -- "It's flat, padded with filler, flecked with factual...
View ArticleInternational IMPAC Dublin Literary Award shortlist
The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award shortlist is announced today; it's not up yet as I write this (but should be later in the day), but in the Irish Times Eileen Battersby reveals Ten...
View ArticleBest Translated Book Award finalists
The Best Translated Book Award finalists have been announced, for both the fiction and the poetry categories. I am one of the judges for the fiction prize, and the ten finalists are: I...
View ArticleDeath Sentences review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Kawamata Chiaki's killer-poem novel, Death Sentences -- featuring André Breton (as well as Duchamp, Arshile Gorky, and some other...
View ArticleChinese writing rates
In China Daily Yang Guang reports on how much (or rather little) Chinese writers get paid, in Writing for their suppers. Apparently: According to Regulations of Remuneration for...
View ArticleIranian Writers Uncensored review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Shiva Rahbaran's collection of interviews with contemporary Iranian authors talking about Freedom, Democracy, and the Word in...
View ArticleNadine Gordimer profile
In The Telegraph Justin Cartwright has a profile of Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer: 'I have failed at many things, but I have never been afraid'.
View ArticleJohn Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowships
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has announced its 181 Fellows for 2012. Quite a few literary fellows, but amazingly there are more of my high school classmates (one) among the...
View ArticlePublishing in ... Saudi Arabia
In Al-Arabiya Khaled Al-Shaei reports that Saudi writers publish abroad to escape censorship -- though there are also complaints that: Many writers are only after more sales and use the...
View ArticleIndependent Foreign Fiction Prize shortlist
Another day, another international fiction prize shortlist: they've now announced the shortlist for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012. The only title that is also a Best...
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