opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

21 - 31 January 2021

21 January: Japanese literary prizes | PEN America grants | Rathbones Folio Prize longlist | Tehran International Book Fair | Untraceable review
22 January: Dylan Thomas Prize longlist | 2020 translations from ... the Hungarian
23 January: Friedrich Dürrenmatt coin | 'The Top 10 'Latvian Literature' events of 2020' | The Loeb Classical Library and Its Progeny review
24 January: Prix Émile Guimet | Translation from the ... Tamil
25 January: National Book Critics Circle Awards finalists | To Cook a Bear review
26 January: Arno Schmidt and Dalkey Archive Press | Edgar Allan Poe Award nominations | ALA Youth Media Awards | Coming from independent publishers
27 January: Women writers of Laos | Whitbread Costa Book of the Year | Lars Norén (1944-2021) | 'Night of Ideas'
28 January: Icelandic Literary Prizes | New Zealand Book Awards longlists | DAVE review
29 January: Abolhassan Najafi Award | Japan Booksellers Award longlist | Chantal Thomas elected to Académie française | New Asymptote
30 January: Leipzig Book Fair called off | Changes at the LRB | Book rentals in Burma | The Way Out review
31 January: Black Britain: Writing Back | Indian Francophone Literature | Tehran Virtual Book Fair

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       Black Britain: Writing Back

       Penguin is launching a new series of Black Britain: Writing Back books, curated by Booker-winning author Bernardine Evaristo; in The Guardian she writes about the first six titles to be launched and: 'why they deserve a new readership', in Bernardine Evaristo: the forgotten black British novels everyone should read.
       See also the earlier article in The Observer, where Dalya Alberge writes about this Booker winner's mission to put UK's forgotten black writers back in print.

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

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       Indian Francophone Literature

       At Scroll.in 'Franco-Tamilian writer Ari Gautier traces the history and future of French writing out of India', in Locked down, born again: Covid-19 and the search for Indian Francophone Literature.

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       Tehran Virtual Book Fair

       The Tehran Virtual Book Fair - this year's version of the Tehran International Book Fair -- seems to have been a success. IBNA reports that:

The online book event had been scheduled for January 20 to 25 but was extended twice to January 29, due to the massive welcome of the visitors

       And they did well, too: "selling 1,254,599 books and earning over $2.7 million (640 billion rials) in nine days"; all the books ordered by (online) visitors are delivered for free by Iranian mail. (That average price of the books is pretty low, too.)

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

       Leipzig Book Fair called off

       With things returning back to normal at a slower rate than hoped for, they've announced that they won't be holding the Leipzig Book Fair this year either; it was scheduled to run 27 to 30 May.
       They'll still try to do some things -- including awarding the Prize of the Leipzig Book Fair (for which they've received 389 submissions in the three prize-categories: fiction, non, and translation).

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

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       Changes at the LRB

       Mary-Kay Wilmers was a co-founder of the London Review of Books and has been editor since 1992, but she is now stepping down; see, for example, Mark Chandler's report in The Bookseller, Wilmers steps down as London Review of Books editor.
       Jean McNicol and Alice Spawls will succeed her.

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       Book rentals in Burma

       In the Myanmar Times Phoe Wa reports on how Book rental shops barely survive the pandemic, with some interesting background information about the business.

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       The Way Out review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Ricardo Piglia's The Way Out.

       This came out a couple of months ago, from Restless Books, but seems to have sunk largely unnoticed -- a shame, because it's a good (and relevant) novel.
       (I kind of respect and appreciate that Restless Books didn't push this as a Unabomber-book -- though what is essentially the Unabomber, just given a different name, figures very prominently here -- but that might have helped grab more attention for it .....)

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

       Abolhassan Najafi Award

       They've announced the winner of a leading Iranian translation prize, as, as the Tehran Times reports, “The Master of Petersburg” translator Mohammadreza Torktataari wins Abolhassan Najafi Award -- yes, a translation of the Coetzee novel.

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       Japan Booksellers Award longlist

       They've announced the ten-title strong longlist for this year's Japan Booksellers Award -- selected by vote by 546 bookstore staff -- and, as usual, Tsundoko Reader has the useful English-language run-down of the finalists.
       Interesting to see what booksellers recommend to local audiences; certainly, the selection seems to tend very much to the popular over the 'literary' (meaning also that we're less likely to see a lot of these in translation -- though I figure Usami Rin, whose book also just won the Akutagawa prize, is a sure bet to appear in English).

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       Chantal Thomas elected to Académie française

       Farewell, My Queen-author Chantal Thomas has been elected to fill fauteuil 12 at the Académie française, a seat last held by Jean d'Ormesson, getting 12 votes (to 3 and 1 for the other two aspirants to the position).

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       New Asymptote

       The January issue of Asymptote is now out -- the tenth anniversary issue, no less, of this impressive publication.
       As always, a ton of great material -- enough to get you through the weekend.

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

       Icelandic Literary Prizes

       As Gréta Sigríður Einarsdóttir reports in the Iceland Review, Icelandic Literary Prize Awarded.
       The Icelandic president handed out the prizes, with the fiction prize going to Aprílsólarkuldi by Elísabet Jökulsdóttir.
       In his preview article in The Reykjavík Grapevine from ten days ago Valur Grettisson described the author as: "Iceland's fusion of Bukowski and Sylvia Plath".
       Aprílsólarkuldi beat out titles by the better-known-in-the-US/UK Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir and Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson.

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       New Zealand Book Awards longlists

       They've announced the longlists for this year's Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, 40 titles selected from 179 entries.
       The shortlists of 16 titles -- presumably four in each of the four categories -- will be announced on 3 March, and the winners on 12 May.
       Hopefully some of these titles will also make it to the US/UK markets; despite being written in English, relatively little New Zealand literature reaches here.

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       DAVE review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Raphaela Edelbauer's DAVE, just out in German.
       Her debut novel was shortlisted for both the Austrian and German Book Prizes, and will be appearing in an English translation by Jen Calleja as The Liquid Land in August from Scribe -- see their publicity page -- and I suspect we'll eventually see this one English too.

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

       Women writers of Laos

       Literature from Southeast Asia is among the least-visible in the US/UK, and among the countries/languages from the region, Laos/Lao is perhaps the one the least is known about and from, so it's great to see the now complete two-part series at the Asian and African studies blog by Jana Igunma on: 'Inspiring women writers of Laos', Dara Viravong Kanlagna and Douangdeuane Bounyavong and Kongdeuane Nettavong and Phiulavanh Luangvanna.

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       Whitbread Costa Book of the Year

       They've now announced the Whitbread Costa Book of the Year, selected from the five category winners, and it is The Mermaid Of Black Conch by Monique Roffey.
       See also the Peepal Tree Press publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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

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       Lars Norén (1944-2021)

       Leading Swedish playwright Lars Norén has passed away; see, for example, the Sverige Radio report.
       Several of his plays have been translated into English, including the collection Blood War; see the Chaucer Press Books publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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

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       'Night of Ideas'

       If you need something to keep you busy tomorrow, this year's Night of Ideas -- "a 24-hour virtual marathon event featuring philosophical debate and artistic performances produced in 75 countries around the world" --, with a theme of: 'Closing the Distance', looks fairly promising.

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

       Arno Schmidt and Dalkey Archive Press

       In the latest installment of Mining the Dalkey Archive, Chad W. Post looks at: How Does This Get Read ? Bottom's Dream, the Arno Schmidt Project, and Philanthropy -- well worth a read.
       As he notes, Dalkey published several volumes of Arno Schmidt's fiction in the late 1990s -- and then, in 2016, the incredible, in every respect, Bottom's Dream. (Green Integer has also published several Schmidt titles in the past two decades: two volumes of his Radio Dialogs, as well as the novel, The School for Atheists; both these and the Dalkey titles were all translated by the great John E. Woods.) There are some fun background titbits and back-of-the-envelope sums regarding Bottom's Dream here -- and a neat, dizzying video
       (And, of course, I appreciate the closing suggestion that: "If you want to know more about Arno Schmidt, please please please buy Michael Orthofer's Arno Schmidt: A Centennial Colloquy".)

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

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       Edgar Allan Poe Award nominations

       The Mystery Writers of America has announced the nominations (finalists) for this year's Edgar Allan Poe Awards, "honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2020".
       The winners will be announced 29 April.

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

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       ALA Youth Media Awards

       The American Library Association has announced its 2021 Youth Media Awards -- a lot of prizes, including some of the leading American children's and teen books prizes such as the Newbery Medal and the Caldecott Medal.

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

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       Coming from independent publishers

       In the Irish Times Martin Doyle lists 85 books to watch out for in 2021 -- all from independent publishers.
       These are books coming from: "independent and specialist Irish and British publishers" (a few of whom also publish/distribute in the US), but certainly of interest.

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

       National Book Critics Circle Awards finalists

       They've announced the finalists for the six categories of the National Book Critics Circle Awards for books published in 2020.
       Although books in translation are eligible for these prizes, none seems to have made the cut this year. The only title I have is fiction finalist Martin Amis' Inside Story -- though I only have an e-copy, which has certainly contributed to my not yet covering it ... but maybe now .....
       The winners will be announced on 25 March.

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

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       To Cook a Bear review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Mikael Niemi's To Cook a Bear, now also out in a US edition.

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

       Prix Émile Guimet

       They've announced the winner of this year's Prix Émile Guimet de littérature asiatique; not yet at the official site, last I checked, but see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.
       This Asian-literature prize went to the French translation of Fang Fang's 软埋 ('Soft Burial'), Funérailles molles; see also the L'Asiathèque publicity page; it does not appear to be available in English yet.

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

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       Translation from the ... Tamil

       In Frontline Abhirami Girija Sriram reports on how Co-publishing venture opens up new vistas for Tamil literature in translation -- with brief descriptions of the first six books selected as part of the programme, which is certainly of interest.

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       Friedrich Dürrenmatt coin

       They're celebrating Friedrich Dürrenmatt's centenary this year -- and now the Swissmint has gotten in on the action, issuing a commemorative CHF20 coin; see, for example, their official press release.
       A nice idea, but they're only minting 15,000 units and it's obviously meant for collectors rather than circulation.

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

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       'The Top 10 'Latvian Literature' events of 2020'

       Latvian Literature collects their 'The Top 10 'Latvian Literature' events of 2020'.
       Nice to see Alberts Bels' Insomnia featured in one of the cartoons.

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

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       The Loeb Classical Library and Its Progeny review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of The Loeb Classical Library and Its Progeny: Proceedings of the First James Loeb Biennial Conference, Munich and Murnau 18-20 May 2017, edited by Jeffrey Henderson and Richard Thomas.

       As longtime readers know, I'm a fan of bilingual editions, and the Loeb Classical Library, and its progeny, are obviously of great interest, so I was very pleased to see this. There's a good amount of good background information here about the series, as well as quite a few interesting pieces on translating classical literature.
       A bonus: though it is an 'academic'-type volume, it's actually quite reasonably priced -- barely more than a Loeb volume.

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

       Dylan Thomas Prize longlist

       They've announced the longlist for this year's Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize, awarded: "for the best published literary work in the English language written by an author aged 39 or under".
       Nine of the twelve longlisted titles are novels; there are also two poetry collections and one story collection.
       The shortlist will be announced 25 March, and the winner on 13 May.
       (And no, I haven't seen any of these .....)

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

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       2020 translations from ... the Hungarian

       At hlo they list the Hungarian Books in Translation in 2020.
       The only one I've gotten to is Abigail -- though a previous translation of Temptation is also under review at the complete review. I also have the Szentkuthy and Földényi, and do hope to get to both of those.

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

       Japanese literary prizes

       They've announced the latest round of the big Japanese literary prizes, the Akutagawa and the Naoki -- and, as The Mainichi reports, Two women win Japan's Akutagawa, Naoki literary awards.
       The Akutagawa went to 推し、燃ゆ, by Usami Rin (宇佐見りん); see also the Kawade publicity page. Usami is only twenty-one but looks to be a fast-rising star: her first novel, the 2019 かか, already won a major prize last year.
       Meanwhile, the Naoki went to 心淋し川, a six-story collection by Saijo Naka (西條奈加); see also the Shueisha publicity page.

       (Quite a few previous Akutagawa winners are under review at the complete review.)

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

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       PEN America grants

       PEN America has announced its 2021 grant winners, which include ten PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants and one PEN Grant for the English Translation of Italian Literature.
       Quite a few promising-sounding works here, including I, Caustic by Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine -- a: "multigenre avant-garde work, which alternates between poetry, drama, fiction, memoir, manifesto, and reportage" --, a novel by Bulgarian author Iana Boukova, and 24 Hours with Gaspar by Sabda Armandio -- "A wicked blend of noir, science fiction, and satire".
       I look forward to seeing some of these when they are published (as they hopefully will be).

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

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       Rathbones Folio Prize longlist

       They've announced the twenty-title strong longlist for this year's Rathbones Folio Prize, where: "The sole criterion for judgment [is] excellence: to identify works of literature in which the subjects being explored achieve their most perfect and thrilling expression"
       There are works of fiction, non, and poetry in the running; I have seen none of these (though, as a UK-based prize, there are a number of titles here that are not (yet, readily) US available).
       The shortlist will be announced 10 February, and the winner on 24 March.

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

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       Tehran International Book Fair

       The Tehran International Book Fair is on now -- and they have also gone virtual; see, for example, The Tehran Times report, Tehran virtual book fair kicks off.

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

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       Untraceable review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Sergei Lebedev's Untraceable, almost out (in the US), from New Vessel Press; a UK edition, from Head of Zeus, will be out in the fall.
       It has a ripped-from-the-headlines premise, with the poisoning of former citizens abroad by Russian agents at the heart of the novel .....

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

previous entries (11 - 20 January 2021)

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