Yan Lianke profile
In Chinese intellectuals avoid key issues amid censorship fears, says author in The Guardian Tania Branigan profiles Yan Lianke, whose Lenin's Kisses comes out in the UK shortly. It...
View ArticlePrize: The Hindu Literary Prize shortlist
They've announced that Five books shortlisted for The Hindu Literary Prize. I was a bit more excited about this prize last time around -- a time when the rules were more welcoming, as:...
View ArticlePrize: Íslensku bókmenntaverðlaunin
As, for example, Iceland Review reports, Icelandic Literature Awards Winners Announced. This being Iceland, where they take literature fairly seriously, the awards were presented by the...
View ArticleLa Boutique Obscure review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of 124 Dreams by Georges Perec, La Boutique Obscure, finally coming out in English, from Melville House.
View ArticleReview spoilers
As longtime readers know, one of the ways I differentiate between 'literary criticism' and 'book reviews' is that I figure in literary criticism you have to discuss -- to put it simply --...
View ArticlePreis der Leipziger Buchmesse shortlists
The Germans have two big book fairs -- Leipzig in the spring and Frankfurt in the fall -- and the two big German book prizes (as opposed to the many German author prizes ...) are announced at...
View ArticleMcSweeney's 42
The most recent issue of McSweeney's, "Multiples", is, as they describe it, "a monumental experiment in translated literature". I've begun to make my way and around this, and it is pretty...
View ArticleDavid Mitchell profile
In The Guardian Stuart Jeffries profiles Cloud Atlas-author David Mitchell: 'I don't want to project myself as this great experimenter'.
View ArticleUK library lending
The UK Public Lending Right sees to it that authors are compensated when their books are borrowed from public libraries (a small amount, and only up to a certain level, but still ...), and the...
View ArticleJerusalem International Book Fair
The Jerusalem International Book Fair runs from tomorrow through the 15th, and in The Jerusalem Post Hannah Brown previews it. A highlight is, of course, the awarding of the biennial...
View ArticleHarmony review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Project Itoh's dystopian Harmony.
View ArticleMark Linz
Sad to hear that Mark Linz, longtime guiding light at the American University in Cairo Press, has passed away; see, for example, Arabic Literature (in English)'s Remembering Long-time AUC Press...
View ArticleThe Voyage review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Murray Bail's The Voyage. First published in Australia last year, it is now out in the UK too, from MacLehose Press -- and...
View Article'The Tarantino of Russian literature'
At Russia Beyond the Headlines Alexander Genis and Nora FitzGerald make the case for Vladimir Sorokin -- arguing The Tarantino of Russian literature writes 'hard' novels. I note that The...
View ArticleWriting in ... the Philippines
In The Philippine Star Butch Dalisay writes about being At the literary table at this year's Taboan -- the Philippine Literary Festival. Among much else, he notes: Small as it is,...
View ArticleThe Kwani? debates ?
Apparently the debates surrounding Kwani? continue, as Stephen Derwent Partington now weighs in, arguing that the War on Kwani? marks the death of literary engagement and rise of spite in the...
View ArticleJournal d'Hirondelle review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Amélie Nothomb's Journal d'Hirondelle. I'm trying to fill in the gaps in the Nothomb-coverage at the complete review; this...
View ArticleE-books in ... Japan
An odd little piece at Fortune, where Michael Fitzpatrick tries to explain Why Japanese readers don't like e-books, as: Japanese consumers still seem dead set against adopting e-books, showing...
View ArticleBoris Akunin's Sebald Lecture
Boris Akunin gave the Sebald Lecture last week at the translation awards (see my previous mention), and a transcript is now available online, Paradise Lost: Confessions Of An Apostate...
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