opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

1 - 10 July 2025

1 July: Writing Australia
2 July: Österreichischer Staatspreis für Europäische Literatur | David R. Slavitt (1935-2025) | Speaking in Tongues review
3 July: (Revised) Dutch canon | BRICS Literary Prize
4 July: Korean literature abroad | Blowfish review
5 July: Premio Strega | CWA Daggers
6 July: Philippe Jaccottet profile | Guyana Prize for Literature
7 July: Amitava Kumar Q & A | American Psycho review
8 July: Preserving the homes of Black literary figures | CARICON Prizes
9 July: Upcoming books
10 July: PEN Pinter Prize | Serge review

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       PEN Pinter Prize

       English PEN has announced that Leila Aboulela has been awarded this year's PEN Pinter Prize, awarded: "to a writer resident in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Commonwealth or former Commonwealth who, in the words of Harold Pinter’s Nobel speech, casts an ‘unflinching, unswerving’ gaze upon the world, and shows a ‘fierce intellectual determination … to define the real truth of our lives and our societies’"

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

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       Serge review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Yasmina Reza's novel Serge, due out in English next month, from Restless Books.

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

       Upcoming books

       The Literary Hub recently published their Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2025, Part Two, and now The Millions has their Great Summer 2025 Book Preview, with: "just over 100 titles".

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

       Preserving the homes of Black literary figures

       At The Guardian Nneka M Okona look in some detail at Who preserves the homes of Black literary giants (in the United States).

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

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       CARICON Prize

       They've announced the winners of the first CARICON Prize, a new prize for Caribbean literature awarded by the Caribbean Literature Conference.
       Prizes were awarded in four categories; A House for Miss Pauline, by Diana McCaulay, took the fictipn prize; see the publicity pages from Algonquin Books and Dialogue.
       The Lifetime Achievement Award for Caribbean Literature went to Earl Lovelace.

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

       Amitava Kumar Q & A

       At Frontline Majid Maqbool has a Q & A with the author, in Reading is good when it disturbs you: Amitava Kumar.

       Among Kumar's responses, the somewhat surprising:

Your go-to Indian classic ? One that you would recommend everyone should read ?

I have always liked Pankaj Mishra's Butter Chicken in Ludhiana.

       The only Kumar title under review at the complete review is A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of his Arm a Tiny Bomb.

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

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       American Psycho review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Bret Easton Ellis' notorious 1991 novel, American Psycho.

       With books that got this much review (and other) coverage, it can sometimes be a real chore going through that for quotes, etc., but I rather enjoyed looking back on all the outrage about this one from back in the day.

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

       Philippe Jaccottet profile

       At swissinfo Mariella Radaelli reports how Literary world celebrates centenary of Swiss poet Philippe Jaccottet. (Jaccottet came close to celebrating himself, only passing away in 2021.)
       Seagull has brought out several of his books; see their author page for him.

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

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       Guyana Prize for Literature

       They've announced the winners of the 2024 Guyana Prize for Literature -- though there doesn't seem to be an (active) official site for the prize, and the only report I could find -- at Stabroek News -- is largely paywalled, revealing the name of the author who took the fiction prize -- Oonya Kempadoo -- but not the work ..... But an older article on the shortlist-announcement reveals it must be Naniki; see also the Dundurn Press publicity page.

       (Updated - 8 July): See now the report at Fondas Kréyol, which lists all the winners.

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

       Premio Strega

       They've announced the winner of this year's Premio Strega, the leading Italian novel prize, and it is L'anniversario, by Andrea Bajani; see also the Feltrinelli publicity page.
       Almost a third of voters voted for this -- 194 out of 646 --, but three other titles got over 100 votes each, and the fifth got 99.
       See also the Rice News profile, At Rice, novelist Andrea Bajani finds himself in translation.
       The only Bajani title under review at the complete review is If You Kept a Record of Sins, while The Book of Homes is forthcoming from Deep Vellum in August; see their publicity page. This one should be out in English soon, too.

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

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       CWA Daggers

       The Crime Writers' Association has announced the winners of this year's CWA Daggers -- though not in one convenient press release; but see, for exmple the run-down at The Arts Shelf.
       The only winning title under review at the complete review is the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger-winner -- Sam Bett's translation of Otani Akira's The Night of Baba Yaga.

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

       Korean literature abroad

       They recently held a forum on Strategies for fostering the Global Expansion of Korean Literature, and in The Korea Times Kim Se-jeong reports that Despite Han Kang’s Nobel win, Korean literature still struggles for global recognition, experts say.
       In his keynote speech Kwon Young-min pointed out:

Korean literature remains on the margins of global literary discourse, with international readers still lacking a deep understanding of its essence.

       While I'm no huge fan of this kind of status-seeking, at least they do put considerable effort into spreading the literary word -- would that more countries and languages did that .....

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

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       Blowfish review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Jo Kyung-Ran's 2010 novel Blowfish, now out in English.

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

       (Revised) Dutch canon

       Via, I'm pointed to the fact that, for the third time after 2015 and 2020, the (Flemish) Royal Academy for Dutch Language and Literature has released its Dutch literary canon-list of 50 (+1) essentiële werken uit de Nederlandstalige literatuur.
       Re-considering such a list every five years seems like a good idea; it's also interesting to compare to the lists from 2015 and 2020.
       The most recent title on the list dates back more than three decades -- Harry Mulisch's 1992 The Discovery of Heaven.

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

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       BRICS Literary Prize

       Though it was established last fall, they've apparently now 'launched' the new BRICS Literature Award, which: "targets authors of the BRICS countries" -- currently: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia.
       At Realnoe Vremya Ekaterina Petrova reports on it, in ‘Between the Prix Goncourt and the Nobel’: BRICS Literary Prize makes an ambitious claim -- though it turns out that this claim is that:

neither publishers nor authors will submit applications; instead, the jury will nominate candidates from each country. Furthermore, the nominations will be for authors themselves, not specific works.

       Each of the ten national juries will apparently nominate three writers (the longlist), with one writer from each country then making the shortlist. Translating the works for the jurors from the different countries to judge them would seem to be a problem .....

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

       Österreichischer Staatspreis für Europäische Literatur

       They've announced the winner of this year's Austrian State Prize for European Literature, a leading author-prize for ... European authors, with an excellent list of previous winners, and it is Serhiy Zhadan.
       Several works by Zhadan 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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       David R. Slavitt (1935-2025)

       Poet and translator David R. Slavitt -- who also wrote fiction as, among others, 'Henry Sutton' -- passed away in May, and Clay Risen's obituary (presumably paywalled) of him is now up at The New York Times.
       I am only familiar with his translations -- with only his translation of Jean de Sponde's Sonnets of Love & Death under review at the complete review -- but he had ... considerable success with the novel The Exhibitionist, published under the pseudonym Henry Sutton; it apparently sold four million copies .....

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

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       Speaking in Tongues review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Nobel laureate J.M.Coetzee and Mariana Dimópulos' exchanges on language and translation, in Speaking in Tongues.

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

       Writing Australia

       Creative Australia has launched a new body today, Writing Australia, to support and promote "the Australian literature sector" and "the development of markets and audiences for Australian literature" -- with A$26 million to spend over the next three years
       See also Esther Anatolitis wondering in The Guardian, Writing Australia: can the new national literature body make a real difference for authors ?

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

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