opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

       Stella Prize

       They have announced the winner of this year's Stella Prize, an Australian prize awarded: "to one outstanding book deemed to be original, excellent, and engaging" and written by a woman or non-binary author, and it is Praiseworthy, by Alexis Wright.
       See also the publicity pages from Giramondo, New Directions, and And Other Stories, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, or Amazon.co.uk.
       I do have a copy of this and am looking forward to getting to it.

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       Prix Jean d'Ormesson finalists

       They've announced the finalists for the prix Jean d'Ormesson, a French prize where the jurors get to select whatever books they want -- old or new -- to be considered; somewhat disappointingly, this year's finalists are all more or less new publications; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.
       The winner will be announced 29 May.

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       John Guillory Q & A

       At Public Books John Plotz and Nicholas Dames have a Q & A with the Professing Criticism-author, Interpret or Judge ?: John Guillory on the Future of Literary Criticism.

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       'Faith and Russian Literature'

       At First Things Gary Saul Morson writes about Faith and Russian Literature.
       I'm not sure about sweeping generalizations such as: "Russians dwell in abstractions and aren’t very good at producing actual things (apart from weapons), which is one reason their economy always lags behind", so .....

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       Paul Auster (1947-2024)

       American author Paul Auster has passed away; see, for example, Paul Auster, American author of The New York Trilogy, dies aged 77 in The Guardian and Paul Auster, the Patron Saint of Literary Brooklyn, Dies at 77 in The New York Times (presumably paywalled).
       I've enjoyed some of his work, but haven't read any of his mroe recent work; none of his books are under review at the complete review.

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       Peter Demetz (1922-2024)

       Czech-born author Peter Demetz has passed away; see, for example, Benjamin Ivry on How a Jewish son of Prague became a 101-year-old historian of human ideals in Forward and Andreas Platthaus on this Jahrhundertfigur der Literaturwissenschaft in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung .
       A longtime professor at Yale, Demetz was also a judge for the annual Franz Kafka Prize, which had a very nice run for a while. The only one of his works I've read is his useful look at (then-) 'Recent Writing in the Germanies, Austria, and Switzerland', After the Fires; get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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       New World Literature Today

       The May-June issue of World Literature Today is now available, with a spotlight as The City Issue: Buenos Aires -- and of course the always interesting and extensive book review section.

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       Walter Scott Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.
       One of the six titles is under review at the complete review: Tan Twan Eng's The House of Doors.
       The winner will be announced 13 June.

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       Dominican literature

       In Evangelical Focus Tomás Gómez Bueno complains about there being No Dominican evangelical literature.
       I don't know about the 'evangelical' part -- who needs or wants that ? -- but striking that: "over 95% of the titles on offer here are by foreign authors", so there's certainly some room for some local literature in the Dominican Republic. (I do think they might fare better gaining market share by decidedly not focusing on or worrying about: "Dominican evangelical reality".)

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       Ottaway Award

       Words without Borders has announced the winner of this year's Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature, and it is Marcia Lynx Qualey, of the essential ArabLit -- certainly a deserving winner !
       She will receive the prize on 4 June.

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       Writers and AI

       At npr Chloe Veltman reports that AI is contentious among authors. So why are some feeding it their own writing ?
       Among them: Ken Liu, who:

attempted to train an AI model solely on his own output. He says he fed all of his short stories and novels into the system — and nothing else.

Liu says he knew this approach was doomed to fail.

That's because the entire life's work of any single writer simply doesn't contain enough words to produce a viable so-called large language model.

"I don't care how prolific you are," Liu says. "It's just not going to work."

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       Censorship in ... Russia

       At France 24 Sébastian Seibt reports that Russia’s book police: literature, once exempt, gets censor’s chop.

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       VCU Cabell Award shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's VCU Cabell First Novelist Award -- "a tribute to debut novelists who have navigated their way through the complex worlds of imagination to arrive at a moving contribution to the literary arts" -- not yet at the official site, last I checked, but see, for example, their tweet.

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       Red Side Story review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Jasper Fforde's latest, Red Side Story, the second in his Shades of Grey-series.

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       International Prize for Arabic Fiction

       They've announced the winner of this year's International Prize for Arabic Fiction, the leading Arabic-language novel prize, and it is قناع بلون السماء ('A Mask, the Colour of the Sky') by Basim Khandaqji, selected from 133 submitted titles.
       For those who want to read more into the selection: Palestinian author Khandaqji has been in jail since 2004, serving a life sentence for his involvement in a bombing.

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       OCM Bocas Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, selected from the three category winners, with non-fiction winner Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair taking the prize; no word yet at the official site, last I checked, but see, for example, the Newsday report.
       See also the publicity pages for Say Babylon at 37 Ink and 4th Estate.

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       Bookselling in ... Japan

       In The Japan Times Alex K.T.Martin reports that The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores -- even though, as he notes: "it's not a vocation for entrepreneurs looking to earn quick cash".
       The story doesn't sound great, as: "The number of bookstores nationwide [...] had plunged to 10,918 by March this year" -- and: "Over one-fourth of Japan's 1,741 municipalities no longer have any bookstores". But, hey, sure, maybe renting out shelves is the way of the future .....

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       Kazakhstan's literary industry

       At the Times of Central Asia they offer The Art of Words: Writer Andrei Orlov Discusses the Development of Kazakhstan’s Literary Industry.
       Gotta like the ... attitude ?

What are the main challenges facing Kazakhstani writers today ?

The challenge is not to die ! But jesting aside, there are many difficulties faced by contemporary authors.

       Among the other issues: "People in Kazakhstan are still unused to reading their writers" .....
       So, yes, hoping to see more Kazakh literature in translation seems like a really tall order. Maybe someday .....

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       Salome in Tehran

       My new novel Salome in Graz explores, among other things, the evolution of the Salome-story and the many variations on it, and while in the novel the 1906 performance of Strauss' opera in Graz is presented as the *definitive* performance -- the be-all, end-all -- the play and the opera and other variations on the story continue to appear (see, for example, my recent mention of Atom Egoyan's latest film, Seven Veils).
       The opera is regularly performed worldwide -- catch it next at the Opéra Bastille in Paris, where it's on 9 through 28 May -- but Wilde's play is staged much less frequently (never mind the many other stage-versions, very few of which are revived). There was a rare production of a stage Salome just a few months ago, however -- in Tehran, of all places, directed by Babak Parham; see, for example, the Tehran Times preview-report from November, Adaptation of “Salome” to go on stage at Tehran theater; there's also basic cast and production information, as well as photographs, -- and lots of comments -- at the Tiwall page; see also a trailer of sorts on Instagram, with Salome-actor Nakisa Oqbai getting made up, plus some stills.


       The Tehran Times describes it as an "an adaptation of Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde's play", but Parham's note about the play (studiously ?) avoids mention of that source-material -- while the summary of the 'review-session' of the play had the first speaker describe it as 'a new reading of Oscar Wilde's work', and obviously Wilde's play influenced Parham's version -- though other participants also mention other source material.
       Most interesting is what was presumably the biggest change: Parham's سالومه is a one-woman play. This obviously allowed him to avoid the overt ... passions that are so prominent in Wilde's play and the opera-version (and which would presumably not fly in Iran ...) -- as well as doing without Herodias --, but also allows/makes for a focus entirely on the figure of Salome.
       It seems unlikely this will be produced or published outside Iran anytime soon; a shame, I'm very curious about it.

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       PEN World Voices Festival cancelled

       Things are not going well at PEN America: after cancelling their literary awards (see my recent mention), they have now also announced that they have cancelled this year's PEN World Voices Festival, which was to run 8 through 11 May in New York City (and 8 through 18 May in Los Angeles).
       What next ?

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       RSL Ondaatje Prize shortlist

       The Royal Society of Literature has announced the shortlist for this year's RSL Ondaatje Prize, awarded: "for a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, evoking the spirit of a place" -- not yet at the official site, last I checked, but see for example the report in The Bookseller.
       Six titles are left in the running, selected from 194 entries.
       The winner will be announced on 14 May.

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       'Chronicles'

       Via I'm pointed to the announcement that The Ashoka Centre for Translation partners with Penguin Random House India to unveil ‘Chronicles’ (also at PRH India).
       It's a new: "non-fiction translation series aimed at bringing creative-critical textual narratives from various Indian languages into English". That sounds promising, and is certainly welcome; the inaugural lineup shows a nice range in both languages and subjects.
       Let's hope these titles also make it into markets beyond just India; I certainly would love to see them.

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       Nicholas Royle Q & A

       At Bookmunch Richard Clegg has “Not part of the mainstream” – an interview with Nicholas Royle, author of Shadow Lines.
       He certainly collects a lot .....
       Royle's White Spines and Shadow Lines (Salt publicity pages here and here) certainly sound like they're right up my alley; I look forward to checking them out at some point. (Meanwhile, two of his novels are under review at the complete review: First Novel and Antwerp.)

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       EBRD Literature Prize finalists

       The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development has announced the three finalists for its Literature Prize, "awarded to the year's best work of literary fiction translated into English, originally written in any language of the regions in which the Bank currently invests and published for the first time by a European (including UK) or North American publisher in the period in question".
       The finalists are:

• Barcode, by Tóth Krisztina (tr. Peter Sherwood)
• The End, by Bartis Attila (tr. Judith Sollosy)
• The Wounded Age, by Ferit Edgü (tr. Aron Aji)

       The winner will be announced 13 June.

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       Surrealism

       At Art in America Ara H. Merjian offers a list of Eight Essential Books About Surrealism -- including André Breton's Nadja and Mark Polizzotti's recent Why Surrealism Matters.
       I'd make a case for Gérard Durozoi's History of the Surrealist Movement, too .....

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       Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist

       They've announced the six-title-strong shortlist for this year's Women's Prize for Fiction, "awarded annually to the author of the best full-length novel of the year written in English and published in the UK".
       I haven't seen any of these.
       The winner will be announced 13 June.

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       Helen Vendler (1933-2024)

       Poetry critic and scholar Helen Vendler has passed away; see, for example, The New York Times' obituary (presumably paywalled).

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       How Nietzsche Came in From the Cold review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of a Tale of a Redemption, as Philipp Felsch writes about How Nietzsche Came in From the Cold.

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       Deutscher Sachbuchpreis shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for the German Non-Fiction Prize -- eight titles, selected from 225 (unfortunately not revealed) submissions.
       The winner will be announced 11 June.

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       Cullman fellows

       The New York Public Library has announced the latest batch of fellows at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers who will now receive: "a stipend of up to $85,000, the use of an office with a computer, and full access to the Library’s physical and electronic resources" for the term of the fellowship, which runs September through May.
       The fifteen fellows were selected from 620 applicants, from 66 countries. They include Traces of Enayat-author Iman Mersal and My Fathers' Ghost is Climbing in the Rain-author Patricio Pron.

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       Sudhir Kakar (1938-2024)

       Psychoanalyst and author Sudhir Kakar has passed away; see, for example, Rishika Singh's report in the Indian Express
       Two of his books are under review at the complete review: The Ascetic of Desire and Ecstasy.

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       PEN America Literary Awards

       PEN America has announced the cancellation of its Literary Awards ceremony -- and, with 28 authors and translators of 61 nominated for the book awards having withdrawn their books from consideration, several of the prizes are going without winners being named.
       With nine of the ten authors nominated for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award withdrawing their work from consideration, "the Estate of Jean Stein has directed PEN America to donate the $75,000 award to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund"
       One author who didn't have a chance to withdraw her name will get her prize: Maryse Condé is getting this year's PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature posthumously.

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       Merve Emre Q & A

       In the Hindustan Times Simar Bhasin has a Q & A with Merve Emre - "Things should be read in as many different ways as possible".
       Among her responses:

Any other contemporary writers who, in your opinion, deserve more literary attention ?

I think the next Nobel Prize winner should be Gerald Murnane, who is an Australian novelist and is utterly, utterly brilliant. There is a fantastic English writer named Lars Iyer who is a genius, I think, and writes these fantastic academic satires. Brilliant. Very, very, very funny.

       (Two Iyer novels are under review at the complete review -- Spurious and Wittgenstein Jr. -- as are several works by Murnane, e.g. Barley Patch.)

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       The Answer to Lord Chandos review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Pascal Quignard's The Answer to Lord Chandos, coming out from Wakefield Press.

       This is Quignard's response to Hugo von Hofmannsthal's classic 'Lord Chandos Letter' -- see, for example, the recent Joel Rotenberg translation from New York Review Books. Quignard dates his letter to Chandos 23 April 1605 -- and today, 23 April, happens also to be Quignard's birthday !

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       CWA Daggers longlists

       The Crime Writers' Association has announced the longlists for their Daggers awards -- unfortunately not in one convenient list; annoyingly, you have to click on each category to see the longlisted titles. (The Bookseller has an (incomplete) overview.)
       One of the titles longlisted for the Gold Dagger for best crime novel is under review at the complete review -- The Secret Hours, by Mick Herron.
       Disappointingly, I haven't seen any of the titles longlisted for the Dagger for Crime Fiction in Translation.
       The shortlists will be announced 10 May, and the winners on 4 July.

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       The Novices of Lerna review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of a collection of stories by Ángel Bonomini, The Novices of Lerna, coming out from Transit Books.

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       L.A. Times Book Prizes

       They've announced the winners of this year's L.A. Times Book Prizes -- twelve categories, with Ed Park's Same Bed Different Dreams taking the fiction prize.

       I not only have not reviewed any of the winning titles, I haven't seen a single one of the sixty (!) finalists. I am apparently really not keeping up with the latest titles .....

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       The Sleepwalkers review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of the latest Scarlett Thomas, The Sleepwalkers.

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       Daniel Dennett (1942-2024)

       Philosopher Daniel Dennett has passed away; see, for example, the obituary in The New York Times.

       The only one of his books under review at the complete review is his Breaking the Spell.

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       China's hottest genre ?

       At Sixth Tone Zhou Min reports on How 'Farming Literature' Became China's Hottest Genre:

This genre centers around a female protagonist’s efforts to get rich while battling various villains -- mainly in the guise of demanding relatives -- and has become widely popular with Chinese web novel readers and film and TV viewers,

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       Salome in Dublin

       The title of my novel Salome in Graz refers to a 1906 performance of the Richard Strauss opera, but if you want to get in the mood for reading it there's now another recent perfomance available for free viewing online: via I'm pointed to the recent Irish National Opera production that's now viewable at Operavision; you can watch it there through 19 October.

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       New Asymptote

       The April issue of Asymptote is now up -- a ton of content, enough to keep you covered for the weekend.
       And just a few days ago I mentioned that Faroese Literature was getting some good attention -- and there's a good dose of Literature from the Faroe Islands in this issue as well.

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       Republic of Consciousness Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Republic of Consciousness Prize -- rewarding: "the best fiction by small presses [in the UK/Ireland] publishing 12 or fewer titles a year and are wholly independent of any other commercial financial entity" -- and it is Charco Press, for Of Cattle and Men, by Ana Paula Maia, translated by Zoë Perry; see, for example, the report at The Guardian.

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       Griffin Poetry Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Griffin Poetry Prize -- "the world's largest international prize for a single book of poetry written in, or translated into English" --, selected from 592 entries (including 49 translations, from 22 languages), with Don McKay getting the Lifetime Recognition Award.

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       Les aérostats review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Amélie Nothomb 2020 novel, Les aérostats -- the 28th work by Nothomb under review at the site.
       I'm still a few behind -- but getting there .....

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       Sami Rohr Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's (US$100,000) Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, which alternates from year to year in honoring a work of fiction and of non; this year was a non year, and the prize went to Palestine 1936, by Oren Kessler.

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       Walking books

       At Outside Peter Moore lists The 50 Best Hiking, Trekking, and Walking Books of All Time -- which I'd normally ignore, but ... props for the inclusion of The Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en.

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       Max Lawton profile

       At Prospect Josiah Gogarty profiles The translator bringing Vladimir Sorokin to English readers -- Max Lawton, translator of Blue Lard, among (many) other works.

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       Deep Vellum profile

       At The Mercury Paola Martinez reports on how Deep Vellum expands literary and translation options in North Texas -- that being publisher Deep Vellum, quite a few of whose books are under review at the complete review.
       Impressive to hear that: "Deep Vellum is now becoming international as they expand their administrative offices to New York and possibly London".

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       More Salome variations

       Many Salome-variations are covered in my new novel, Salome in Graz, but the focus is on the ones that appeared up to 1906 -- but there is some mention of a few of the ones that came after, including some cinematic adaptations (Ken Russell !). One that my protagonists didn't get to was screened at the Berlinale practically at the same time the book came out -- Atom Egoyan's Seven Veils, starring Amanda Seyfried; it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year.
       I haven't seen this yet, but hope to at some point; meanwhile, see some of the reviews, at:

• Deadline
• Far Out
• The Globe and Mail
• The Hollywood Reporter
• Indie Wire
• Screen Daily
• Toronto Star
• The Wrap

       And of course you can get my at Salome in Graz at Amazon, or here (where the promotional code LULUBOOKS15 at checkout gets you 15% off through 19 April).

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       Mater 2-10 Q & A

       Hwang Sok-yong's Mater 2-10 has been shortlisted for this year's International Booker Prize, and at Scroll.in Harshaneeyam has International Booker interview: How Sora Russell and Youngjae Bae translated ‘Mater 2-10’ from Korea

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       Gabriel review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of George Sand's 1839 Gabriel.
       I was a bit surprised that this hasn't gotten more attention recently, given it's subject matter -- issues of gender-identity -- but the literary quality is ... well, not great.

       This is published in the very impressive MLA Texts and Translations-series -- well worth working one's way through.

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       Faroese Literature

       In New York they're holding Faroe Islands Culture Days this week, including with the interesting-sounding Literature from the Faroe Islands event on 17 April.
       This gives me opportunity to point to the impressive FarLit-site -- a Faroese Literature promotion site. The Nordics are very good with their literary support -- check out Norwegian Literature Abroad, the Icelandic Literature Center, and the Finnish Literature Exchange, for example -- but it's also a reminder of how many languages/countries can't (or can't be bothered) to offer something similar. (Translation-support isn't cheap but, relatively speaking, it isn't expensive either; I think a lot of languages/countries would do well to at least invest in information-sites, if not outright financial support.)
       (A reminder: the Faroe Islands have little more than 50,000 inhabitants.)

       Meanwhile, with convenient timing, The Dedalus Book of Faroese Literature is coming out shortly -- see their publicity page --: twenty-seven texts ! Dedalus has shown an impressive commitment to Faroese literature -- notably in publishing the works of William Heinesen (The Black Cauldron, etc.).

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       John Braine profile

       At Quilette Brad Strotten profiles John Braine, in Desire and Ambition.
       I'm usually all for the book over the movie, but I have to admit seeing the Laurence Harvey/Simone Signoret Room at the Top before coming to the book, and it -- especially the conclusion -- making a big (and devastating) impression on me.

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       Wolfgang-Koeppen-Preis

       They've announced the winner of this year's Wolfgang Koeppen Prize, a biennial author prize awarded to someone whose work is in the spirit of Koeppen's, and it is Danish author Madame Nielsen; Open Letter published Nielsen's The Endless Summer a few years ago -- see their publicity page -- but much more is available n German.
       This prize has a solid list of winners, but it's of particular interest in how the winner is chosen: it's the previous winner who makes the selection -- in this case, 2022 winner Christian Kracht (The Dead, Imperium, etc.) chose Madame Nielsen.

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       The Red Handler review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Johan Harstad's The Red Handler -- the Collected Works of (fictional) author Frode Brandeggen, in an (extensively) annotated edition, just out in English, from Open Letter.

       (Two other Harstad titles have also been translated into English and are under review at the complete review, but I wonder if anyone will pick up his (1104-page) Max, Mischa & the Tet Offensive; see, for example, the Gyldendal Agency information page.)

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       AI and writers/translators

       The Society of Authors: "ran a survey of its 12,500 members and other authors, and received 787 responses" regarding 'experiences of generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems', and they summarize the findings here.
       Interesting to hear that: 37% of translators, 20% of fiction writers, and 25% of non-fiction writers "said they had used generative AI in their work".
       Also: 36% of translators say they have already lost work due to generative AI, while 43% say the income from their work has decreased in value because of generative AI.
       And 8% of translators said they have used generative AI in their work because their publisher or commissioning organisation asked them to (!).

       Yes, it seems pretty clear that the future is AI -- coming/taking over even more quickly than expected.

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       John McGlynn Q & A

       At the Asymptote blog Sarah Gear has Translating Indonesia's On-the-Ground Realities: An Interview with John McGlynn of the Lontar Foundation.
       Lontar have published a fantastic selection of books; several are under review at the complete review.

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       Whiting Awards

       The Whiting Foundation has announced its ten 2024 creative writing fellows -- four in fiction, three in poetry, two in drama, and one in non-fiction; they each receive US$50,000.

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       Guggenheim Fellowships

       The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has announced this year's batch of fellowships -- 188, selected from almost 3,000 applicants; see all the fellows listed here, for now, by subject (though, alas, not yet with information about the projects they were awarded the fellowships for ...).
       The only fellow with any works under review at the complete review appears to be James Wood (The Book Against God).
       Fiction fellows include Emma Cline, Laird Hunt, Julia Phillips, and Emma Straub; non-fiction fellows include Jonathan Alter and Adam Shatz. The only translation fellow is Ryan Bloom.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

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