opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

21 - 30 June 2022

21 June: O Pioneers ! review
22 June: US fall books preview | Filter Vertaalprijs finalists | Translations from Indian languages
23 June: Internationaler Literaturpreis | Wolfson History Prize | Bad Eminence review
24 June: Europese Literatuurprijs shortlist | Miles Franklin shortlist | OED profile | Whitbread Costa book awards history
25 June: Seagull Books profile | Lysistrata review
26 June: Marie Darrieussecq Q & A | Authors' summer reading
27 June: Bachmannpreis | Frank Moorhouse (1938-2022) | Sunday Times Literary Awards longlists | The Very Last Interview review
28 June: Peace Prize of the German Book Trade | The Interpreter review
29 June: Q & As: Julia Sherwood - Arunava Sinha
30 June: CWA Dagger Awards | Gordon Burn Prize longlist | In Praise of Good Bookstores review

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       CWA Dagger Awards

       The Crime Writers' Association has announced the winners of this year's CWA Dagger Awards, honoring: "the very best in the crime writing genre".
       The CWA Gold Dagger, for the best crime novel, went to Sunset Swing, by Ray Celestin.
       The Dagger for Crime Fiction in Translation went to Hotel Cartagena, by Simone Buchholz, in Rachel Ward's translation.

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

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       Gordon Burn Prize longlist

       They've announced the longlist for this year's Gordon Burn Prize, a prize for which both fiction and non are eligible.
       The prize celebrates work: "which represents the spirit and sensibility of Gordon's literary methods". See also my reviews of three of Burn's works: Born Yesterday, Fullalove, and The North of England Home Service.

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

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       In Praise of Good Bookstores review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Jeff Deutsch's In Praise of Good Bookstores, recently out from Princeton University Press.

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

       Q & A: Julia Sherwood

       At Radio Prague International Ruth Fraňková has a Q & A with Julia Sherwood on discovering Czech comics and on translating in tandem.

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       Q & A: Arunava Sinha

       At Firstpost. Chintan Girish Modi has a Q & A with Arunava Sinha: ‘You have to stand by the persecuted in a minority-majority situation’.

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

       Peace Prize of the German Book Trade

       They've announced that Ukrainian author Serhiy Zhadan will receive this year's Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. He gets to pick it up on 24 October, at the end of the Frankfurt Book Fair.
       Several Zhadan titles are under review at the complete review:

• Anarchy in the UKR
• Depeche Mode
• Mesopotamia
• The Orphanage
• Voroshilovgrad
• What We Live For, What We Die For

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

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       The Interpreter review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Diego Marani's The Interpreter.

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

       Bachmannpreis

       Over the weekend they held the Tage der deutschsprachigen Literatur -- 'days of German-language literature' -- which features the (in)famous read-out-loud literary prize, the Bachmannpreis.
       This year's winner was Ana Marwan, with her text, Wechselkröte (warning ! dreaded pdf format !); see also how the judges reacted to her reading.
       Four other prizes were also handed out.

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

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       Frank Moorhouse (1938-2022)

       Australian author Frank Moorhouse has passed away; see, for example, obituaries in The Guardian and the Sydney Morning Herald.

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

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       Sunday Times Literary Awards longlists

       They've announced the longlists for this year's (South African) Sunday Times Literary Awards, in the two categories, fiction and non.
       These are very long lists; certainly, Damon Galgut's Booker-winning The Promise has to count among the fiction favorites.

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

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       The Very Last Interview review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of David Shields' The Very Last Interview, recently out from New York Review Books.

       (There's also a short-film adaptation of this !)

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

       Marie Darrieussecq Q & A

       In the Hindustan Times Arunima Mazumdar has a Q & A with the author, in ‘I was reborn as a writer’ - Marie Darrieussecq, author, Pig Tales.

       New to me re. Pig Tales: "Jean-Luc Godard bought the novel rights as soon as it came out, in September 1996". (But, yeah, it didn't work out.)

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

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       Authors' summer reading

       At The Guardian they have some picks for Summer books: Bernardine Evaristo, Hilary Mantel, David Nicholls and more pick their favourites

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

       Seagull Books profile

       At the Literary Hub Corinne Segal continues their series Interview with an Indie Press: Seagull Books, speaking with publisher Naveen Kishore.
       The wonderful Seagull Books is celebrating its fortieth anniversary, too; they continue to have a remarkable list (though I haven't seen any of their newer ttitles in quite a while ...).

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

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       Lysistrata review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Aristophanes' classic, Lysistrata, in Jeffrey Henderson's translation, in the Loeb Classical Library edition.

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

       Europese Literatuurprijs shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Europese Literatuurprijs, awarded for the best translation of a European work of fiction into Dutch; see, for example, the Dutch Foundation for Literature report.
       Only one of the five titles is a translation from English.
       The winner will be announced 5 November.

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

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       Miles Franklin shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Miles Franklin Literary Award, a leading Australian novel prize.
       The five finalists include a work by a previous winner of the prize, as well as a self-published work.
       The winner will be announced 20 July.

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

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       OED profile

       In the New Statesman Pippa Bailey goes From aardvark to woke: inside the Oxford English Dictionary -- always a fun exercise.

       (See also Simon Winchester's The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary (and, of course, his The Professor and the Madman), as well as Ammon Shea on Reading the OED.)

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

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       Whitbread Costa book awards history

       In The Guardian Claire Armitstead looks back at the prize, in Shock ending: how the Costa book awards changed reading -- and pitted husband against wife.
       Among the observations:

“It made a huge difference to my reputation and sales,” says Pullman. “After the Whitbread I was sort of known about, whereas I hadn’t been before. The Carnegie medal I won for Northern Lights was a big thing in the children’s book world, which is neither known or very much cared about by the rest of the reading public; but the nature of the Whitbread/Costa award guaranteed that the news pages as well as the book pages took notice.

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

       Internationaler Literaturpreis

       They've announced the winner of this year's Internationaler Literaturpreis, awarded for: "an outstanding work of contemporary international literature that has been translated into German for the first time", and it is the German translation, by Friederike von Criegern, of Cristina Morales' Easy Reading.
       This is apparently out in English already in the UK, but not yet in the US; see also the Jonathan Cape publicity page or get your copy at Amazon.co.uk.

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

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       Wolfson History Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Wolfson History Prize, the: "most valuable history-writing prize in the UK", and it is Devil-Land by Clare Jackson.
       See also the Allen Lane publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org or Amazon.co.uk.

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

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       Bad Eminence review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of James Greer's new novel, Bad Eminence, just (about) out from And Other Stories.

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

       US fall books preview

       Publishers Weekly has their fall 2022 US books preview -- Adult Books for Fall 2022; click on the various categories for their various run-downs.
       Only the tip of the iceberg here, but at least a fairly wide range of forthcoming titles.

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

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       Filter Vertaalprijs finalists

       They've announced the five finalists for this year's Filter Vertaalprijs, a leading prize for translations into Dutch.
       The finalists include the Dutch translation of Harold McGee's Nose Dive: A Field Guide to the World's Smells (see the Penguin Books publicity page), as well as the translations of the medieval Roman van Heinric en Margriete van Limborch (see the Athenaeum publicity page) and Cao Xueqin's The Story of the Stone (see also the Athenaeum publicity page).
       The winner will announced 28 September.

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

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       Translations from Indian languages

       Yet another piece wondering Will the Booker lead to a surge in translations ?, this one from Stanley Carvalho in the Deccan Herald.
       The situation in India is actually already not that bad -- quite a bit gets translated into English and published there -- but far too little is published in the US/UK.

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

       O Pioneers ! review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Willa Cather's 1913 novel, O Pioneers !

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

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