Ma Thida (Suragamika) profile
In The Irrawaddy Kyaw Phyo Tha profiles the author who until recently published under the pseudonym Suragamika, in I Write Just to Be 'A Good Citizen,' Says Ma Thida. Also a doctor, she...
View ArticleMore 2013 previews
The Millions usually does a pretty decent job with their annual preview of the books appearing in the upcoming year, but their 2013 Book Preview leaves me rather underwhelmed -- despite...
View ArticleHatchet Job shortlist
They've announced the shortlist for the Hatchet Job of the Year Award -- awarded to: "the writer of the angriest, funniest, most trenchant book review of the past twelve months". You can...
View ArticleThe literary year 2012 in ... Zimbabwe
In The Herald Memory Chirere considers the past year in Zimbabwe and concludes: '2012 was not a bad year for our literature'.
View ArticlePremio Nadal
If not money -- at €18,000 it's chicken-feed by Spanish literary prize standards (though not, you'll note, by American ones ...) -- the Premio Nadal at least has history on its side: apparently...
View ArticleJerusalem Prize to Antonio Muñoz Molina
The Jerusalem Prize is the biennial prize of the Jerusalem International Book Fair, and they've announced that Antonio Muñoz Molina will get it this year. No announcement at the official page...
View ArticleMessage to Adolf review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of a new translation of Tezuka Osamu's Message to Adolf -- three Adolfs (including you-know-who) ! two volumes ! -- now out from...
View ArticleInternational Prize for Arabic Fiction shortlist
They announced the shortlist for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction yesterday. (In one of the oddest ways of proceeding I have ever heard of for a literary prize, the names of those on...
View ArticleMan Asian Literary Prize shortlist
They announced the shortlist for the Man Asian Literary Prize yesterday -- and three of the titles are under review at the complete review: The Briefcase by Kawakami Hiromi The Garden of...
View ArticleBiggest book of 2013 ?
So with all sorts of the-year-ahead-in-books previews out it looks like one of the -- and arguably the -- publishing event of the year has thus far been almost entirely overlooked. At 2672...
View ArticleThe literary year 2012 in ... India
Outlook India has two pieces looking back at the literary year 2012 in India: Zafri Mudasser Nofil offers A Look Back at the Literary Scene of 2012, while in Mint, Cracked, Dog-Eared ......
View Article'The age of the trade publisher is over'
At The Bookseller's Futurebook weblog they argue that The age of the trade publisher is over, as: The only way to make that work in the resource shy cottage industry that is publishing is to be...
View ArticleGenre in translation
The Kitschies are literary awards that: "reward the year's most progressive, intelligent and entertaining works that contain elements of the speculative or fantastic" -- and with prizes in...
View ArticleFrench bookstore in New York ?
The Rockefeller Center Librairie de France closed a few years back, but perhaps all is not lost ... they've announced that: The Cultural Services of the French Embassy is currently working on a...
View ArticleNele Neuhaus profile
In the Wall Street Journal Alexandra Alter profiles Nele Neuhaus, in Germany's Top Crime Writer Aims at the U.S.. (I don't know her definition of 'top', but as best I've heard Neuhaus neither...
View ArticleLiterary security in ... Pakistan
In Dawn Ikram Junaidi reports that Unlettered security irks literary figures, as 'Over 100 literary figures boycotted the inaugural ceremony of an international writers' conference after...
View ArticleGarden City Literary Festival panel
Vanguard has a transcript of a recent Garden City Literary Festival panel Kind of all over the place but with interesting titbits -- such as: Electricity is my biggest challenge in...
View ArticleSocialist realism ... lives ?
I'm not the biggest fan of socialist realism, but I have to say I do find it heartening that there are still flag-bearers somewhere out there: in Frontline S. Dorairaj has a Q & A with 'D....
View ArticleRamayana-variations
This sounds pretty interesting: Breaking the Bow: Speculative Fiction Inspired by the Ramayana; see the Zubaan publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk or Flipkart....
View ArticleSandalwood Death review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Nobel laureate Mo Yan's Sandalwood Death. Just out in English from the University of Oklahoma Press, this is a pretty damn...
View Article