NYTBR watch
As I've repeatedly mentioned (the last time: here), The New York Times Book Review is under new leadership (Sam Tanenhaus is out, Pamela Paul is in), and I've been nervously wondering what...
View ArticleM. Lynx Qualey Q & A
At Moby Lives Sal Robinson has a Q & A with leading Arabic-lit blogger M. Lynx Qualey about her site Arabic Literature (in English) (and about Arabic literature more generally).
View ArticleIslamabad Literature Festival reports
The first Islamabad Literature Festival was held 30 April and 1 May, and it's great to hear that it seems to have been quite a success: Thousands throng Islamabad Literature Festival reported...
View ArticleBooks from Iran abroad
IBNA reports that Foreign Ministry to introduce Iranian novels to the world, as Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has said: All Iranian novels will soon be supported by...
View ArticlePremio Planeta winner in English
The Premio Planeta de novela, awarded to a Spanish novel since 1952, doesn't have a stellar record of the prizewinner getting translated into English (see this convenient list of winners), but...
View ArticleBookselling in ... the US
In Publishers Weekly Jim Milliot reports that Online Retailers, E-books Gained in 2012 in the US, as, for example: Online retailers, led by Amazon, accounted for 44% of sales in 2012, up from...
View ArticleThe Pity of Partition review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Ayesha Jalal on Manto's Life, Times, and Work across the India-Pakistan Divide, in The Pity of Partition, just out from Princeton...
View Article(Not really) bestselling in ... South Korea
Usually every couple of months in the US you hear of some case where a publisher or author tries to game the bestseller lists through bulk sales (and purchases) of a title, artificlally...
View ArticleBestselling in ... Finland
Books from Finland looks at what were the local Favourites in April: what Finland read, but the official (Finnish) site has the full April bestseller list -- and, yes, it is kind of...
View ArticleGoethe in translation
Via I find Raymond Sokolov's On Goethe in Translation at the Best American Poetry weblog. As he suggests: Goethe in translation is a radically diminished author. And, yes, the...
View ArticleBNU's International Writing Center
At Beijing Normal University they've officially opened an International Writing Center (国际写作中心); see the official press release (sorry, Chinese); I haven't been able to find a departmental...
View ArticlePrizes: American undergraduate writers' prizes
They'll be announcing the "largest undergraduate literary prize in the nation" (the US, that is -- though in fact it seems to be the biggest in the world) -- worth a cool $61,192 this year (up...
View ArticlePrize: 'The Ottaway' (for Promotion of International Literature)
Words without Borders has announced that Drenka Willen to receive first James H. Ottaway Jr. Award for the Promotion of International Literature (which they're apparently hoping (?) will become...
View ArticleThe Lairds of Cromarty review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Jean-Pierre Ohl's The Lairds of Cromarty -- apparently now out in the US, too. This is yet another Dedalus title that...
View ArticleQ & As: Man Booker International Prize finalists
The winner of the 2013 Man Booker International Prize will be announced 22 May, and in The Guardian they are running brief Q & As with the finalists -- five yesterday, with the other five...
View ArticleQ & A: Alain Mabanckou
At AfricanBookClub.com Hadrien Diez has a Q & A with Franco-Congolese Novelist Alain Mabanckou On African identity and the Difficulty of Defining an "African literature". His...
View ArticleLiterary Miniatures review
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Florence Noiville's collection of Literary Miniatures, just out from Seagull Books.
View ArticlePrize: Caine Prize shortlist
The shortlist for the Caine Prize for African Writing -- another short story prize -- has been announced; all the finalist-stories can be read on the site (albeit only in the dreaded pdf...
View ArticlePrizes: Commonwealth Prize regional winners
They've announced the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Prize regional winners. Disappointingly, the book prize has become solely a first book prize;...
View ArticleEnglish PEN awards for translation
English PEN has announced its 2013 awards for promotion (of five translated titles) and for translation (sixteen titles). Some promising-looking stuff here -- and, of course, I'm...
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