opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

1 - 10 August 2022

1 August: Crime fiction favorites | David Ireland (1927-2022) | The Gate of Angels review
2 August: Wales Book of the Year | Lambda review
3 August: St. Louis Literary Award | Diary of a Void review
4 August: Gordon Burn Prize shortlist | The Galton Case review
5 August: PEN Translates winners | Max Lawton Q & A
6 August: SAGE India | New The Washington Post books editor
7 August: David Hare Q & A
8 August: Furukawa Hideo Q & A | Mass Market Paperbacks | Nigeria Prize for Literature
9 August: David McCullough (1933-2022) | The Book and the Sword review
10 August: Georg-Büchner-Preis | Biyi Bandele (1967-2022) | Reading in ... Kenya

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       Georg-Büchner-Preis

       They've announced the winner of this year's Georg Büchner Prize, the leading German-language author prize, and it is Emine Sevgi Özadmar.
       Not much of her work is available in English, but see, for example, The Bridge of the Golden Horn; get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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

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       Biyi Bandele (1967-2022)

       Biyi Bandele has passed away; see, for example, the Premium Times report, Nigerian novelist Biyi Bandele is dead.
       Several of his novels are under review at the complete review:

• Burma Boy (US title: The King's Rifle)
• The Man Who Came in from the Back of Beyond
• The Sympathetic Undertaker

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

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       Reading in ... Kenya

       In The East African Tony Mochama finds Kenyans are reading, who is writing ?

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

       David McCullough (1933-2022)

       Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author David McCullough has passed away; see, for example, the obituaries in The New York Times and The Washington Post..

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

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       The Book and the Sword review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Louis Cha's -- also known as Jin Yong -- 1955 novel, The Book and the Sword -- a martial arts novel published by ... Oxford University Press.

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

       Furukawa Hideo Q & A

       At Japan Forward Stefania Viti has a Q & A with Furukawa Hideo -- see parts one and two.
       Several Furukawa titles are available in English, including Slow Boat and Horses, Horses, in the End the Light Remains Pure, but not, alas, the one discussed at greatest length here, サウンドトラック ('Soundtrack').

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

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       Mass Market Paperbacks

       At Publishers Weekly Jim Milliot considers Where Are Mass Market Paperbacks Headed ?
       The format has been faring poorly in the US, with sales collapsing, down 31.5 per cent in terms of units sold between 2017 and 2021.
       Among the interesting points:

All mass market publishers are aware of the price sensitivity around the format, and even as a few publishers have increased the trim size of mass market paperbacks, they are reluctant to go beyond the $9.99 price point.

       And:

To keep retailers carrying mass market paperbacks, HC conducted extensive research on the format. [CEO of HarperCollins’s Harlequin subsidiary and CEO of HC Canada] Swinwood said it found that 74% of print book buyers prefer mass market and that it’s the cornerstone of any retailers’ book offering.

       Also of interest: at the end of the article they list the top-selling mass market paperback titles this year, to date (according to NPD Bookscan) -- with actual sales numbers !

       As longtime readers know, mass-market paperback-sized is -- by far -- my favorite book format; if it were possible, I would want to read practically everything in that format. I do not understand why it isn't more popular.

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

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       Nigeria Prize for Literature

       In The Guardian (Nigeria) Gregory Austin Nwakunor looks at the Nigeria Prize for Literature and makes the case that 18 years after, writers declare literature prize generative, transformative, economic-saver.

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

       David Hare Q & A

       At The Guardian Matthew Reisz has a Q & A with David Hare: ‘There is an awful lot of pious theatre at the moment’.

       I haven't reviewed any of Hare's work in quite a while, but several of his plays are under review at the complete review; see, for example, Stuff Happens.

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

       SAGE India

       As The Wire reports As SAGE India Shuts Books Publishing Wing, Cloud Over Future of Laid-Off Staff, Volumes on Anvil, as the Indian books arm of SAGE is being shut down.
       Disappointing.

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

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       New The Washington Post books editor

       Just a week after The New York Times announced the appointment of a new books editor, The Washington Post has followed suit, naming John Williams -- most recently of The New York Times ... - as their new books editor.

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

       PEN Translates winners

       English PEN has announced the most recent batch of their awards (which are actually grants ...) -- 21 titles from 19 countries and 18 languages.
       The mix includes several familiar authors -- Yan Lianke, Juan Gabriel Vasquez, and Hassan Blasim, among others -- and a nice variety of promising-sounding titles.

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

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       Max Lawton Q & A

       Biblioklept has An interview with Max Lawton about translating Vladimir Sorokin's brilliant novel Telluria.
       Telluria is due out from New York Review Books shortly -- see their publicity page --; I have my copy and should be getting to it soon.
       Lawton is very ambitious, and has both promising translations forthcoming -- a pile of more Sorokin; Jonathan Littell's An Old Story -- and hopes to get to much more (not least; "the three insanely fucked volumes" of Régis Jauffret's Microfictions).

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

       Gordon Burn Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Gordon Burn Prize, for which works of both fiction and non are eligible.
       The winner will be announced 13 October .

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

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       The Galton Case review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Ross Macdonald's 1959 novel, The Galton Case.

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

       St. Louis Literary Award

       They've announced that Neil Gaiman will receive the 2023 St. Louis Literary Award, a leading American author prize that: "recognizes a living writer with a substantial body of work that has enriched our literary heritage by deepening our insight into the human condition and by expanding the scope of our compassion".
       It's been awarded since 1967 -- as the Messing Award through 1981 -- and has a solid list of previous winners.
       Gaiman gets to pick up the prize on 13 April 2023.

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

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       Diary of a Void review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Yagi Emi's Diary of a Void, just (about) out in English (from Viking in the US and Harvill Secker in the UK).

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

       Wales Book of the Year

       They've announced the Wales Book of the Year, and it is Nadifa Mohamed's The Fortune Men.
       They announced the Welsh-language category and book of the year winners over a week ago, with the fiction category winner, Mori by Ffion Dafis, winning the book of the year prize.

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

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       Lambda review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of David Musgrave's Lambda, recently from Europa Editions.

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

       Crime fiction favorites

       The Observer has The joy of crime fiction: authors from Lee Child to Paula Hawkins pick their favourite books, asking each: What makes a great thriller/crime novel ? What's your favourite thriller of all time ? and: What's the best one you've read recently ?

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

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       David Ireland (1927-2022)

       Australian author David Ireland -- a three-time Miles Franklin Award-winner in the 1970s -- has passed away; see, for example, Jason Steger's obituary in The Age.
       Text Publishing has four of his titles in print, but you don't see much by him outside Australia.

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

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       The Gate of Angels review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Penelope Fitzgerald's 1990 novel, The Gate of Angels -- shortlisted for the Booker Prize, back in the day.

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

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