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The Literary Saloon Archive

21 - 31 October 2022

21 October: Cundill History Prize finalists | Jean Teulé (1953-2022) | Kazuo Ishiguro Q & A | New Asymptote
22 October: Shortlists: JCB Prize - Irish Book Awards | Best of the year lists ...
23 October: Nádas Péter Q & A | Translation in ... India | The Last Chairlift review
24 October: Serhiy Zhadan's Peace Prize speech | Ajit Baral Q & A | The Impersonal Adventure review
25 October: Ukrainian translation | Prix de la langue française | The last 100 reviews
26 October: Prix Goncourt finalists | Murakami Q & A | Bookselling in ... Japan | Launch Something ! review
27 October: Prémio Camões | British Academy Book Prize | MÄRZ Verlag
28 October: Grand prix du Roman | Sunday Times Literary Awards | Bahaa Taher (1935-2022) | Will Evans Q & A
29 October: New World Literature Today | Czech Museum of Literature | The Backstreets background | Crimson review
30 October: Anasoft litera | Q & A on Nádas Péter
31 October: Try Not to be Strange review

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       Try Not to be Strange review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Michael Hingston on The Curious History of the Kingdom of Redonda, in Try Not to be Strange, recently out from Biblioasis.

       Javier Marías was, of course, the reigning King of Redonda -- or at least one of them -- and his recent death makes for yet another succession drama .....

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

       Anasoft litera

       They've announced the winner of this year's Anasoft Literary Prize, the leading Slovak prize for a work of prose, and it is Ľútostivosť by Stanislav Rakús -- who is only the second two-time winner of this prize. See also the KK Bagala publicity page.

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       Q & A on Nádas Péter

       At hlo: "Károly Tardos speaks to critic and literary historian Sándor Bazsányi, about Péter Nádas, his influences, and his intentions", in Sándor Bazsányi: Breathing Prose

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       New World Literature Today

       The November/December issue of World Literature Today is now available, so there's your weekend reading sorted.
       Don't forget the extensive book review section.

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       Czech Museum of Literature

       What used to be -- for almost seven decades -- the National Literature Memorial has now moved and recently re-opened as the Czech Muzeum literatury, and at Radio Prague International Ruth Fraňková reports on it, in Museum of Literature opens in Prague.

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       The Backstreets background

       Perhat Tursun's The Backstreets recently came out, and at Columbia News Eve Glasberg offers some background about it and its publication, in The Uyghur Novel Published by Columbia University Press That Everyone Is Talking About.

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       Crimson review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Greenlandic author Niviaq Korneliussen's Crimson, published in the US as Last Night in Nuuk.

       This is, somewhat surprisingly (or not ...), not the first book originally written in Greenlandic reviewed at the site; alas, it too is a translation from the Danish translation rather than the original Greenlandic.

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       Grand prix du Roman

       Two days ago I mentioned that among the four finalists for this year's prix Goncourt the most interesting-sounding was Giuliano da Empoli's Le mage du Kremlin -- and the Académie française has now announced that this title has been awarded their Grand prix du Roman.
       (If you didn't at my previous mention, check out the Gallimard publicity page, or the review in Foreign Policy now.)

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       Sunday Times Literary Awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's (South African) Sunday Times Literary Awards, with Junx by Tshidiso Moletsane taking the fiction prize; see also the Umuzi publicity page.

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       Bahaa Taher (1935-2022)

       Egyptian author Bahaa Taher has passed away; see, for example, the See report.
       Only one of his books is under review at the complete review -- As Doha Said.

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       Will Evans Q & A

       At Publishers Weekly John Maher offers Question Time with Deep Vellum's Will Evans. -- certainly of interest.

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

       Prémio Camões

       They've announced the winner of this year's Prémio Camões, the leading Lusophone author prize, and it is Brazilian author Silviano Santiago.
       See also, for example, Christina Queiroz's 2020 Q & A with the author at Pesquisa, Silviano Santiago: The cosmopolitan literary.
       Several of his works have been published in English -- and SPLASH Editions has a short volume of Silviano Santiago in Conversation; see their publicity page. Duke University Press has published his 1985 novel Stella Manhattan; see their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org or Amazon.co.uk,

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       British Academy Book Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding, and it is When Women Kill by Alia Trabucco Zerán.
       See also the publicity pages from And Other Stories and Coffee House Press, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org or Amazon.co.uk.

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       MÄRZ Verlag

       In Publishers Weekly Richard Stoiber writes about The Rebirth of a Radical German Publisher, as he has revived the venerable MÄRZ Verlag.
       Stoiber's background -- editor at Matthes & Seitz Berlin, and in both editorial and foreign rights capacities at Suhrkamp -- certainly make for a good foundation, and the list looks quite impressive so far.

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       Prix Goncourt finalists

       The Academie Goncourt has announced (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) the four finalists for this year's prix Goncourt, the leading French literary prize; see also the AFP report, Finalists of France's Goncourt literary prize unveiled from Beirut, which also briefly describes the four remaining titles.
       Giuliano da Empoli's Le mage du Kremlin sounds particularly interesting; see also the Gallimard publicity page, or the review in Foreign Policy.
       The winner will be announced on 3 November.

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       Murakami Q & A

       At Interview they have a Q & A with Haruki Murakami on Cold Beer, Nothingness, and F. Scott Fitzgerald
       Among Murakami's responses:

Is there a subject you’d love to write on, but you don’t feel ready to yet ?

MURAKAMI: Since I was young, I’ve thought I’d like to write a hardboiled mystery someday, but it was too hard to figure out a plot, so I never did. I’m not good at working out a plotline. “Who was the criminal, again?” and all that. I think I’d get confused halfway through.

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       Bookselling in ... Japan

       The numbers don't sound good: as Chika Takada reports in The Japan Times, Bookstores vanish from Japan as population falls -- as:

According to the Japan Publishing Organization for Information Infrastructure Development, there are currently 11,952 bookstores in Japan, down about 30% from 16,722 in 2012.

       Not good at all.

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

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       Launch Something ! review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Bae Myung-hoon's Launch Something !, just out from Honford Star.

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

       Ukrainian translation

       Via I'm pointed to Shelby Vincent's A Conversation with Ukrainian Translators Kate Tsurkan and Daisy Gibbons on Translating and Creating Amid the Russian Invasion in Translation Review.

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       Prix de la langue française

       They've announced the winner of this year's prix de la langue française, a leading Francophone author prize, and it is Blue Bay Palace-author Nathacha Appanah..
       Previous winners of this prize include Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux (2008), Yoga-author Emmanuel Carrère (2011), and The Roving Shadows-author Pascal Quignard (1991).

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       The last 100 reviews

       So a few weeks ago the complete review hit 5000 books under review, so it's time for another overview of the past 100 reviewed titles (4901 through 5000).

       - The last 100 reviews were posted over 207 days, a few weeks less than the 228 the last 100 took -- due in no small part to the fact that the books were shorter: while the per-book average was still considerably above the historical average (of around 250), at nearly 280 (the 100 books had a total of 27,989 pages), that was considerably less than the 324-page-average of the last 100. One book was over 1000 pages (1098), but only a total of five were over 700; four books had fewer than 100 pages (including, of course, the 5000th reviewed title, which only has ... one).

       - The last 100 reviews were 128,222 words long, down quite a bit from the from the previous 148,912. The longest review was 3837 words long (one of two that was over 3000 words), while a total of 8 reviews were over 2000 words long.

       - Reviewed books were originally written in 28 different languages (including English), with English again by far the most popular language, with 37 titles, followed by French (12), and then Spanish and Japanese (7 each). Two new languages were added -- Gujarati and Uyghur -- bringing the total number of languages represented to 84. (See also the updated full breakdown of all the languages books under review were originally written in.)

       - Male-written books were, as always, in the (super-)majority, with 80 out of 100 written by men. The historic sexist average of written-by-women titles under review is now ... 16.98 per cent.

       - One book was rated 'A+' -- the 5000th title reviewed -- but none was rated 'A'; thirteen titles were rated 'A-'. The lowest-rated titles were three rated 'B-'.

       - Fiction, as always, dominated, with 74 novels reviewed, along with two story-collections and two novellas; only one title each was a drama and a poetry collection.

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

       Serhiy Zhadan's Peace Prize speech

       The Orphanage-author Serhiy Zhadan picked up this year's Peace Prize of the German Book Trade yesterday, and his speech is now available also in English translation, as: Let This Not Be About the War.

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

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       Ajit Baral Q & A

       Among the five finalists recently announced for this year's JCB Prize for Literature is Chuden Kabimo's Song of the Soil, translated from the Nepali by Ajit Baral, and in The Kathmandu Post Aarati Baral has a Q & A with the translator, Government should support translation of Nepali literature.

       Song of the Soil is just out in the UK from Balestier Press; see their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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

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       The Impersonal Adventure review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Marcel Béalu's The Impersonal Adventure, now out in English in a nice little volume from Wakefield Press.

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       Nádas Péter Q & A

       At hlo they have a two-part Q & A with Nádas Péter (originally published in Hungarian at Litera); see parts one and two. (Lots of pictures, too.)
       As he notes: "my whole life I’ve been striving towards not using a model language".

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       Translation in ... India

       At Scroll.in N. Kalyan Raman considers Are translated books the new ‘face’ of Indian literature in English ? A translator weighs in -- an interesting overview.

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       The Last Chairlift review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of John Irving's latest novel, The Last Chairlift.

       He apparently says it's his last long novel (with only shorter ones ahead), and it is certainly ... a long one to go out on .....
       Working titles for this apparently included: Darkness as a Bride and Rules for Ghosts

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

       Shortlists: JCB Prize

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's JCB Prize for Literature, the leading Indian novel prize -- and, impressively, all five titles are works in translation; see, for example, the report at Scroll.in.
       The only shortlisted title under review at the complete review is Geetanjali Shree's International Booker Prize-winning Tomb of Sand, in Daisy Rockwell's translation.
       The winner will be announced on 19 November.

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

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       Shortlists: Irish Book Award

       They've announced the shortlists for this year's An Post Irish Book Awards
       Lots of categories, including best Novel, Crime Fiction, Sports Book, and Cookbook -- and the Love Leabhar Gaeilge Irish Language Book of the Year.
       The winners will be announced on 23 November.

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       Best of the year lists ...

       It's October, so of course it's time for ... this year's best of the year lists, with Publishers Weekly now out with theirs..
       One of their overall top ten is under review at the complete review -- All the Lovers in the Night by Kawakami Mieko.

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

       Cundill History Prize finalists

       They've announced the finalists for this year's Cundill History Prize, a leading history book prize that pays out US$75,000 to the winner.
       There are three titles left in the running.
       The winner will be announced 1 December.

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

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       Jean Teulé (1953-2022)

       Jean Teulé has passed away -- apparently of cardiac arrest following food poisoning; see, for example, Marianne Payot's Mort de Jean Teulé : un merveilleux iconoclaste féru d'histoire et de poésie in L'Express..

       Only one of his books is under review at the complete review: The Suicide Shop.

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

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       Kazuo Ishiguro Q & A

       In the Washington Square News Abby Wilson had a Q&A: Kazuo Ishiguro on Joni Mitchell, ‘War and Peace’ and the future of storytelling a few weeks ago (which I just came across now).

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       New Asymptote

       The October issue of Asymptote is now up, with a ton of material for your weekend reading -- including quite a bit of Armenian literature and An Interview with Emma Ramadan by Claire Mullen.

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

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