opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

1 - 10 February 2024

1 February: Stanley Crawford (1937-2024) | The Rainbow review
2 February: Icelandic Literary Prize | Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | Ockham NZ Book Awards longlists
3 February: Bangla Academy Literary Awards | Belle de Jour review
4 February: Christopher Priest (1943-2024) | Lars Iyer Q & A
5 February: Korean literature abroad
6 February: Republic of Consciousness Prize longlist | Prix Sade longlist | Why Surrealism Matters review
7 February: Parliamentary Book Awards | Writing in ... Belarus | Writing in ... Rwanda | Comics success in France | Plutarch Award longlist
8 February: Translation Prizes | Story Prize longlist
9 February: Geetanjali Shree Q & A | Katerina Clark (1941-2024) | Lionel Gelber Prize shortlist
10 February: PEN/Faulkner Award longlist | Blue Lard review

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       PEN/Faulkner Award longlist

       They've announced the longlist for this year's PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction -- ten titles selected from 445 (unfortunately not revealed) eligible novels and short story collections, from 205 publishing houses.
       The only one of the titles I've seen is Catherine Lacey's Biography of X.

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

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       Blue Lard review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Vladimir Sorokin's notorious 1999 novel, Blue Lard, finally out in English, from New York Review Books, in Max Lawton's translation.

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

       Geetanjali Shree Q & A

       In the Indian Express Saumya Rastogi has a Q & A with the Tomb of Sand author, in ‘We should not agonise about what is lost in translation’: Geetanjali Shree.

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

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       Katerina Clark (1941-2024)

       Katerina Clark -- best-known for her classic work on The Soviet Novel; see the Indiana University Press publicity page -- has passed away; see, for example, the Yale University Department of Comparative Literature report, In Memory of Katerina Clark.

       I have, and have been fascinated, by her recent Eurasia without Borders: The Dream of a Leftist Literary Commons, 1919-1943 -- see the Harvard University Press publicity page -- and hope to get a review up sooner or later.

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

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       Lionel Gelber Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Lionel Gelber Prize -- awarded: "for the world's best non-fiction book on international affairs published in English" --; see also the official press release (warning ! dreaded pdf format !).
       The winner will be announced on 6 March.

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

       Translation Prizes

       The Society of Authors has announced the winners of this year's Translation Prizes.

       None of the winning titles are under review at the complete review, but several (co-)runners-up are:

• Sam Bett and David Boyd's translation of All The Lovers In The Night by Mieko Kawakami
• Lucy Jones' translation of Siblings by Brigitte Reimann
• Adriana Hunter's translation of The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier

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

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       Story Prize longlist

       The Story Prize announced its three-title shortlist a month ago -- but only now reveals the full longlist, twenty books selected from the 113 (unfortunately not revealed) books by 84 different publishers or imprints they considered.
       The winner will be announced 26 March.

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

       Parliamentary Book Awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's (British) Parliamentary Book Awards -- voted for by parliamentarians ! -- with MP Jesse Norman winning the award for Best Non-Fiction/Fiction by a Parliamentarian, for his novel, The Winding Stair. (Norman had already won a Parliamentary Book Award in 2018.)

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

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       Writing in ... Belarus

       At Eurozine Andrej Chadanovič considers, among other questions: "Why are books being banned and their authors not permitted to meet with readers in today’s Belarus ?" in Belarus and the ghosts of the wild hunt.

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

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       Writing in ... Rwanda

       At GlobalVoices Zita Zage writes about How Rwanda's literary giants promoted their country's rich culture through their work.

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

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       Comics success in France

       In The Guardian Phil Hoad reports ‘We didn’t expect this phenomenon to last’: France’s comic-book tradition is hitting new heights, as the 'BD' market has: "almost doubled in size from 48.4m sales a year to 87.2m"
       See also the site of the recently concluded Angoulême International Comics Festival.

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

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       Plutarch Award longlist

       The Biographers International Organization has announced the longlist for this year's Plutarch Award, a best biography award, ten titles selected from some 200 (unfortunately unidentified) books.

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

       Republic of Consciousness Prize longlist

       The Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses, which: "rewards the best fiction by small presses publishing 12 or fewer titles a year and are wholly independent of any other commercial financial entity" has announced its latest longlist -- though not yet at the official site, last I checked. But see one of the judges, Declan O'Driscoll, writing on Choosing the Republic of Consciousness Prize 2024 longlist at the Irish Times.
       I've only seen one of these ten titles -- Barcode.

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

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       Prix Sade longlist

       They've announced the longlist for this year's prix Sade -- a French prize awarded for an erotic work of literature; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.
       Two of the titles are translations: the French editions of Arch Brown's A Pornographer and Jose Ando's ジャクソンひとり; the latter is due out in English from Soho Press; see also the New River Literary information page.
       The winner will be announced 28 September.

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

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       Why Surrealism Matters review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Mark Polizzotti's Why Surrealism Matters, recently out from Yale University Press.

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

       Korean literature abroad

       Literary agent Barbara J. Zitwer makes the case that ... 'Korea needs to do more for foreign literary agents', in Future for Korean books globally in The Korea Times -- noting, for example, that: "The Literature Translation Institute of Korea offers grants for publishers and translators but nothing for agents" .....

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

       Christopher Priest (1943-2024)

       English author Christopher Priest has passed away; see, for example, James Moules's obituary from The Telegraph (here at Yahoo!).
       He is best-known for The Prestige -- made into a film by Christopher Nolan --; his most recent novel is Airside; see the Gollancz publicity page.

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

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       Lars Iyer Q & A

       At 3:AM Markku Nivalainen has A British Distance: Lars Iyer Interviewed.
       Iyer wonders:

Is literature alive or dead ? Or is it dead in its life — a phantom, a ghost, something of interest only to hauntology ? What is, or was literature ?

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

       Bangla Academy Literary Awards

       The Bangla Academy has announced the winners of its Literary Awards (scroll down for latest winners); see also the report Winners of Bangla Academy Literary Award announced in the Dhaka Tribune.
       Nuruddin Jahangir and Salma Bani shared the award for best writers of fiction.

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

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       Belle de Jour review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Joseph Kessel's 1928 novel, Belle de Jour -- the basis for the Luis Buñuel film.

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

       Icelandic Literary Prize

       They've announced the winners of this year's Icelandic Literary Prize; see also the Reykjavík Literary Agency report.
       The fiction prize went to Ból, by Steinunn Sigurðardóttir; see also the RLA information page.

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

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       Victorian Premier's Literary Awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's Victorian Premier's Literary Awards
       Grace Yee's Chinese Fish won both the Poetry category as well as the top prize, the Victorian Prize for Literature; Melissa Lucashenko's Edenglassie won the Fiction prize.

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

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       Ockham NZ Book Awards longlists

       They've announced the longlists for this year's Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, 44 titles in the four categories.
       Several of the fiction titles have already been published in the US -- including Pet and Birnam Wood.
       And, wow, Te Herenga Waka University Press is a local fiction and poetry powerhouse.

       The shortlists will be announced 6 March, and the winners on 15 May.

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

       Stanley Crawford (1937-2024)

       American author Stanley Crawford has passed away; see, for example, the reports Dixon Garlic Farmer, Revered Author Stanley Crawford Dies at 86 by Julia Goldberg in the Santa Fe Reporter and New Mexico author and garlic farmer Stanley Crawford dies at 86 by Ollie Reed Jr. in the Albuquerque Journal.
       Dalkey Archive Press brought out his Log of the S.S. The Mrs. Unguentine, among other works; see their publicity page.

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

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       The Rainbow review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Nobel laureate Kawabata Yasunari's The Rainbow -- published in Japanese more than seventy years ago, but only now available in English.,

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

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