Open Central Asia Book Forum and Literary Festival
As longtime readers know, I frequently complain that Central Asia remains one of the most ignored of literary areas -- but promisingly they just held the Open Central Asia Book Forum and...
View Article'Big Book' award !
No place has done worse than post-Soviet Russia in the naming of their literary prizes -- consider, for example, the Русский Букер (yes, really, the 'Russian Booker' -- but without the Man...
View ArticleBitter Drink review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of F.G. Haghenbeck's cocktail-noir, Bitter Drink. This is yet another translation from AmazonCrossing, and with its real-life...
View ArticleRichest Chinese writers 2012
As Mei Jia reports in China Daily, the Richest Chinese writers of 2012 revealed -- and: Mo Yan has reappeared on the Chinese Writers Rich List for the first time since 2006, snaring second...
View ArticlePremio Cervantes to José Manuel Caballero Bonald
The winner of the 2012 Premio Cervantes, the leading (and worth €125,000) Spanish-language author prize -- see the impressive list of previous winners -- has been announced, and it will go to...
View ArticleNordic Council Literature Prize finalists
They've announced the nominations for the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2013, the major pan-Scandinavian literary prize. There are few familiar/big names -- Rosa Liksom, Hallgrímur...
View ArticleMashinka and Velik
In the Central European Forum's Salon Viktor Erofeyev writes about A suicidal novel, as in Russia: The most controversial and unexpected bestseller of the current publishing season is a novel...
View ArticleFinancial Times 'Best books of 2012'
The Financial Times now have their: 'writers and guests pick their favourite books of 2012', in Best books of 2012 -- always worth a slight special mention because they have a separate category...
View ArticleHerta Müller profile
In The Guardian Maya Jaggi profiles Nobel laureate Herta Müller: a life in books.
View ArticleDecember issues
Among the online journals with December issues now available are: - Open Letters Monthly, who offer 'The Burgess Issue', devoted largely to the work of Anthony Burgess; among the...
View ArticleScience writing
A decent roundtable at The Observer, led by Ian Tucker and with Steven Pinker, James Gleick, Brian Greene, Lone Frank, and Joshua Foer considers Science writing: how do you make complex issues...
View ArticleAn Australian view of the Penguin-Random House merger
In The Age Jason Steger gives a down-under perspective of the Penguin-Random House merger, in Surviving publishing's perfect storm. Among the bizarre reactions: Hachette Australia's...
View ArticleKnut Ahnlund's resignation from Swedish Academy now official
The Swedish Academy selects the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature each year, and after the 2004 award to Elfriede Jelinek one of the members of that august body, Knut Ahnlund, infamously...
View ArticleJames Kelman's (paucity of) royalties
In The Scotsman David Robinson reveals that James Kelman 'made only £15,000 from writing in 2011', as: James Kelman, the only Scottish writer to have won the Man Booker Prize or to have been...
View ArticleTruth or Beauty review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of David Orrell's look at Science and the Quest for Order, Truth or Beauty. Sometimes a book will come out from different US...
View ArticleChoose Books gift guide
At her Isak weblog Anna Clark introduces the third edition of her Choose Books: A Gift Guide for People Who Care About Stories -- and it's also available online, for free; it's in the...
View ArticleQuarterly Conversation - Winter issue
The Winter 2012 issue of the Quarterly Conversation is now available online, which should keep you busy for a while; there's coverage of lots of interesting titles and authors.
View ArticleBeirut International Arab Book Fair preview
In the Daily Star Wassim Mroueh previews the Beirut International Arab Book Fair, which runs through 16 December, in Fiction, politics set to top book fair. It's great to hear (even if...
View ArticleMe, Who Dove into the Heart of the World review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Sabina Berman's Me, Who Dove into the Heart of the World -- published in the UK as The Woman Who Dived into the Heart of the...
View ArticleUsed bookstores
In The Telegraph Theodore Dalrymple explains Why second-hand bookshops are just my type. Unfortunately, the business model of the old-style second-hand bookstore is hard to sustain:...
View Article