opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

       OCM Bocas Prize category winners

       They've announced the three category winners -- in fiction, non, and poetry -- of the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. These three now compete for the overall prize that will be announced 3 May.
       The fiction category winner is Village Weavers by Miriam J.A. Chancy; see also the Tin House publicity page.

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       Vanishing World review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Murata Sayaka's 2015 novel Vanishing World, now out in English, from Grove Press in the US and Granta Books in the UK.

       Murata's 世界99 -- serialized over the past few years -- just came out in Japan, in two volumes, a much bigger work; see, for example, the Shueisha publicity page; I hope that makes into translation at some point as well, I'm curious to see what she does with (so much) more space at her disposal.

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       Shashi Deshpande on Jane Austen

       At Scroll.in they have Jane Austen at 250: Shashi Deshpande on the ‘perfect artist’ who reinvented the novel.

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       Narrative lesson of 1925

       At El País Eduardo Lago considers The American cultural boom a century on: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Dos Passos and Louis Armstrong -- finding that:

It is extremely interesting that three of the supposedly four “great American novels” of 1925 are of archeological interest today.

       Lago finds e.g. re. Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy:

Contemporary critics affirmed that it was the worst written American novel of all time, but the strength with which Dreiser narrates the nuances of the tragedy compensates for the stylistic defects, otherwise undeniable. The novel is unreadable today.

Even more unreadable, if possible, is The Making of Americans

       And, for good measure:

Manhattan Transfer, by John Dos Passos, who Jean Paul Sartre once said was the best American novelist of his time, has not aged well either

       Oh, Eduardo, Eduardo .....

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       26 years of the Complete Review

       With all the *excitement* this week, of the announcement of the American president's ridiculous new policy of ill-conceived so-called reciprocal tariffs and the world economies' and markets' reactions to it (on top of the seemingly endless litany of other nonsense this guy is 'executive ordering'), it completely slipped my mind that yesterday was the twenty-sixth anniversary of this site: yes, the first reviews were posted at the complete review on 5 April 1999.
       Not much to celebrate -- except, I guess, that the site does not and has never received or relied on any form of American federal support, and so should be able to limp on in some (well, basically: this) form regardless of whatever the American government does next.
       With near-omnipresent artificial intelligence programs now readily offering readers *reviews* and summaries of pretty much any book out there, I'm not sure the site serves much of a purpose any longer, either -- as suggested also by the fact that interest in (and discoverability of) it continues a long and no longer so slow decline; maybe I should just automate everything as well.
       Still, for now my intentions are to continue, pretty much the same as always; we'll see how it goes.

       Thanks, in any case, for reading -- or, for you AI bots, scraping -- and I hope you continue to get something out of my efforts.

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       Závada Pál Q & A

       At hlo Gabriella Nagy has a Q & A with Hungarian author Pál Závada: I have to turn to fiction.

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       HURI unsupported by the NEH

       As Kate Tsurkan reports in The Kyiv Independent Publishing house of Harvard's Ukrainian Research Institute latest target of Trump's federal budget cuts, as the American National Endowment for the Humanities has terminated its support for the excellent HURI publication program.
       Several HURI titles are under review at the complete review -- Cassandra and The Length of Days -- and I had hoped to be able to cover more .....

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       The books removed from the Naval Academy library

       I recently mentioned that American Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the Naval Academy to remove "books featuring 'gender ideology'" and the like from the Nimitz Library to protect impressionable young midship(wo)men from indoctrination .....
       They've now released the list (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) of the 381 books they wound up removing. Einstein stays on the shelves, but Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Mohsin Hamid's The Last White Man, and, for example, Everybody's America: Thomas Pynchon, Race, and the Cultures of Postmodernism (see the Routledge publicity page) made ... the cut.
       And obviously titles such as Managing Diversity in the Military: The value of inclusion in a culture of uniformity -- see the Routledge publicity page -- had to go.

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       Ondaatje Prize longlist

       The Royal Society of Literature has announced the longlist for its Ondaatje Prize, awarded: "for a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, evoking the spirit of a place".
       The shortlist will be announced 28 April.

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       New Simenon editions in the US

       Between 2013 and 2020 Penguin (UK) published new translations of the 75 Maigret-novels by Georges Simenon, as well as some of the romans durs; as The Bookseller reported in 2019 Nielsen BookScan reported that these Simenons sold 433,157 books. Many were also made available in the US market -- with a number of them under review at the complete review, starting with the first Maigret, Pietr the Latvian.
       Now Picador is bringing out the whole Maigret-set ou in US editions -- see the first batch -- as, as Sophia Stewart reports at Publishers Weekly, Picador to Reissue More than 100 Novels by Georges Simenon (sort of paywalled ?).
       Apparently: "Picador will largely use the translations published by Penguin, though some titles will receive new translations" -- it'll be interesting to see which ones .....
       Also of interest: "All titles in the series have announced print runs of 30,000".
       Much as I enjoy the Maigrets, the more exiting news is that:

Reissues of 30 of his standalone psychological noirs -- which Simenon himself called romans durs, or “hard novels” -- will follow beginning in winter 2026.

       Those are the ones I am really eager to see -- though several are already under review at the site.

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       Semishigure review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Fujisawa Shuhei's 1988 novel Semishigure, finally available in English, from Honford Star.
       This has apparently sold more than a million copies in Japan.

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       Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist

       They've announced the six-title shortlist for this year's Women's Prize for Fiction.
       The winner will be announced 12 June.

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       Prix Jean d'Ormesson shortlist

       They've announced the finalists for this year's prix Jean d'Ormesson -- an anything-goes prize for which the judges can nominate any books they want, old or new (though most of these are new); see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.
       The winner will be announced 26 May.

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       Manga's beginnings

       At nippon.com Nakano Haruyuki takes: 'A look at how Japan's western urban center informed and inspired the world of manga in the twentieth century', in Osaka: Where Japanese Manga Began Its Meteoric Rise.

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       Tim Mohr

       Translator-from-the-German Tim Mohr has passed away; see, for example, Europa Editions' Executive Publisher Michael Reynolds' note In Memory of Tim Mohr.
       Quite a few of his translations are under review at the complete review, including Charlotte Roche's Wetlands, Wolfgang Herrndorf's Sand, and several works by Alina Bronsky, including Baba Dunja's Last Love.

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       Barbara Frischmuth (1941-2025)

       Sad to hear that Austrian author Barbara Frischmuth has passed away; see, for example, the Residenz Verlag notice or the ORF report.
       Several of her works were published in translation by Ariadne Press -- and apparently are still in print; they look to be out of stock at Amazon (and Bookshop apparently can't be bothered to carry them), but should be available from the publisher directly; see, for example, the publicity page for her best-known work, The Convent School.

       (I only knew her slightly, but she had been a friend of the family since the earliest days of the Forum Stadtpark; apparently the first reading of her works -- some poems by the then-still teenager at a 'studio abend' at Forum Stadtpark -- were by my father and aunt in 1960 (see this Q & A); my dad and her (and Günter Peter Straschek) also founded and published the (hectographed) literary magazine reflexe in 1959/60.)

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       Tadeusz Bradecki Prize shortlist

       The new Tadeusz Bradecki Prize, awarded: "for an imaginative work published in English in the UK or in Europe, that crosses the borders between artistic disciplines, genres, subject matter and cultures", has announced (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) its six-title-strong shortlist
       Two of the titles are under review at the complete review: Tanja Maljartschuk's Forgottenness and Alejandro Zambra's Childish Literature.
       The winner will be announced 21 May.

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       Prix Émile Guimet finalists

       They've announced the finalists for this year's prix Émile Guimet de littérature asiatique -- though not yet at the official site, last I checked ....; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.
       The three finalists in the novel category are The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka and works by Yan Lianke and Sang Young Park.
       The winners will be announced 4 June.

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       Pramoedya Ananta Toer at 100

       It's the Pramoedya Ananta Toer centenary year and so, for example, Somak Mukherjee profiles Pramoedya Ananta Toer: Hundred years of a fearless Indonesian literary icon.
       Meanwhile, as Nur Janti reports in The Jakarta Post: Pramoedya Ananta Toer's encyclopedia website officially launched -- that would be SeaBadPram.

       (Updated - 6 April): See also The Making of the Buru Quartet by Joel Whitney at The Believer.

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       New issue of the Swedish Book Review

       The new issue of the Swedish Book Review is now available; as usual, a good variety of pieces of interest.

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       Vincenzo Latronico Q & A

       At The Guardian Anthony Cummins has a Q & A with Author Vincenzo Latronico: 'I left Italy out of sadness', mainly about his novel, Perfection.
       The most interesting observation:

Was the book as rapturously received in Italy ?

Within a month in the UK, it’s sold as many copies as in three years in Italy

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       'Ending Radical Indoctrination' at the (US) Naval Academy

       Among the seemingly countless congressional-action-dodging 'executive orders' the recently installed American president has issued is that of 29 January purporting to act on Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling -- leading to public school libraries removing titles that might be considered ... 'radical indoctrination', presumably. So also the Department of Defense Education Activity -- overseeing 161 schools -- recently went through its library holdings checking for books: "potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics" (and: "identified a small number of items for further review"); presumably, a number of titles have been or will be pulled from the shelves; see Patty Nieberg's report at Task & Purpose, ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ ‘Kite Runner’ among books being reviewed over ‘ideology’ concerns at on-base military schools; Brave New World is also among the titles that have apparently been pulled.....
       As recently as a few days ago it was reported -- for example, by James Matheson at the Baltimore Sun -- that, however, the Naval Academy will not remove DEI-related materials from library [link to the Fox news site because the BS's own version is paywalled], as:

The U.S. Naval Academy will not be forced to remove instructional materials and library books featuring “gender ideology” as it is not affected by orders to do so at schools overseen by the Department of Defense, the academy said in a statement.

       The thinking was that the 'executive order' clearly spelled out (in its title, inter alia, no less) that it (only) applied to K-12 (kindergarten through 12th grade) schools and that the Naval Academy is, after all, an institution of higher learning (with the overwhelming majority of its students having reached the age of majority -- i.e. adulthood).
       In the new America, however -- guess again !
       Yes, that apparently wasn't good enough for Pete 'Hey-buddy-can-I-share-some-war-plans-with-you-?' Hegseth, the (amazingly still in office, as I write this) American Secretary of Defense.
       In The New York Times John Ismay and Kate Selig now report that, for the guy running things, K-12 didn't go nearly far enough, and so the: Naval Academy Takes Steps to End Diversity Policies in Books and Admissions (presumably paywalled), as:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office has ordered the Naval Academy to identify books related to so-called diversity, equity and inclusion themes that are housed in the school’s Nimitz Library, and to remove them from circulation.

       Yes, Pete 'Never-mind-my-wife-sitting-in-on-these-classified-talks' Hegseth apparently read or was informed of the outrageous (in)action of the Naval Academy as reported in that Baltimore Sun story and so:

This week, according to a defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss policy decisions, Mr. Hegseth’s office became aware that the nation’s military service academies did not believe that President Trump’s Jan. 29 executive order to end “radical indoctrination” in kindergarten through 12th-grade classrooms applied to them, as they are colleges. The defense secretary’s office informed the Naval Academy that Mr. Hegseth’s intent was for the order to apply to the academies, and that the secretary expected compliance.

       It seems to be going well:

Thus far, the review of Nimitz Library’s holdings has identified 900 books that may run afoul of the defense secretary’s verbal order. According to a second defense official, they include “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.,” “Einstein on Race and Racism,” and a biography on Jackie Robinson.

       This is, I remind you, an institution of supposed higher learning, with pretensions to academic seriousness -- a (for the moment) very highly regarded one (ranking, for example, fourth among 'national liberal arts colleges' in the most recent US News & World Report rankings). But apparently its students are not mature enough to be able to handle ... well, possibly even Einstein on Race and Racism (see the Rutgers University Press publicity page for more on this threatening and presumably possibly soon-to-be-forbidden-at-Annapolis book).
       I note that the Nimitz Library has several copies of Hitler's Mein Kampf on its shelves -- as any academic library should. There are some twenty-eight books by Lenin, and thirty-six of the writings of Mao available -- as they should be in an academic library. Etc., etc. And yet, oddly (though in this case completely sensibly), Pete 'My-brother's-not-a-DEI-hire-so-that's-OK' Hegseth does not seem to be worried about the 'radical indoctrination'-dangers of these works .....
       It surely does not need saying that availability, or endorsement of availability, should not be equated with endorsement of the actual contents -- and that reading a book does not inevitably lead to mind- and action-altering 'radical indoctrination'.
       Surely, it is beyond obvious that a university library should -- indeed: must ! -- have a wide range of books even on 'controversial' topics, and that it is helpful (I would argue: essential) for students to be exposed to even 'bad' ideas and how those who espouse them argue for them (like Einstein and whatever shocking and untenable thoughts he had on race and racism ...).
       This administration's pathological obsession with wiping out all mention of and engagement with all questions of diversity, equity, and inclusion -- especially regarding race and gender -- is problematic and damaging for any number of reasons, but reaches Soviet levels of absurdity and preposterousness when taken to this (university) level, especially at a military institution with its civic obligations that go far beyond those of other public and private institutions. I think the attempts to 'protect' K-12 students are already deeply misguided and wrong (especially in the over-board way they quickly manifest themselves), but college students ? Come on !
       I would have hoped that the Naval Academy librarians and students protested these actions but I haven't heard of this happening; military culture presumably makes it difficult to voice criticism of and opposition to even the most appalling and foolish policies; hopefully there is at least some going on behind the scenes.

       [I rarely mention/discuss American library/book-banning stories, because they are ... well: so common; usually so similar; and generally well-covered (and properly criticized) elsewhere (e.g. by the American Library Association), but as with so many of the actions of this administration this situation seems to have been under-covered (so far) and also to be more significant in its implications than the usual case; the story also looks, in this case, to (understandably) be swamped by the focus on the Naval Academy's acknowledgement this week that it had also ended its use of so-called 'affirmative action' in admissions. (As readers may/should recall, the recent Supreme Court decision (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) ending the use of race as factor in college admissions quietly made an exception for the American military academies, noting in a footnote that: "No military academy is a party to these cases, however, and none of the courts below addressed the propriety of race-based admissions systems in that context. This opinion also does not address the issue, in light of the potentially distinct interests that military academies may present" -- though a case was making its way to the Supreme Court on the question; as far as the Naval Academy goes, the issue is now moot.)
       Presumably/unfortunately, the other military academies will likely dutifully follow suit, regarding both the book-culling and admissions policies; I hope there will be proper coverage if they do.]

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       African Language Literatures in Translation series

       In the most exciting publishing news so far this year, the University of Georgia Press has announced a new African Language Literatures in Translation series.
       As they explain:

The works chosen for the series are almost all already in circulation in their original versions, but not currently available to Anglophone readerships. The series is designed to address the current difficulties inherent in accessing African writing, especially works that are originally written in indigenous and underrepresented languages.

       It's been extremely frustrating trying to find African literature written in non-colonial languages in English translation, so this is most welcome -- I can't wait to see these !
       The first titles are expected in Spring 2026, with translations from the Shona, Kiswahili, and Sesotho -- with lots more hopefully to follow !

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       Cynthia Ozick Q & A

       At The Guardian the latest 'The books of my life'-column Q & A features Cynthia Ozick: ‘Alice in Wonderland seems calculatedly cruel’.
       Among her responses:

My comfort read

Jane Austen chick lit: Persuasion.

       Most of Ozick's work is under review at the complete review, but I haven't seen the new collection (of old pieces) In a Yellow Wood.

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       Mrs. Lilienblum's Cloud Factory review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Iddo Gefen's Mrs. Lilienblum's Cloud Factory, just (about) out in English from Astra House.

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       Preis(e) der Leipziger Buchmesse

       They've announced the winners of this year's Prize(s) of the Leipzig Book Fair in its three categories -- basically: fiction, non, and translation.
       The fiction prize went to Halbinsel, by Kristine Bilkau; see also the Luchterhand publicity page.
       The translation prize went to Thomas Weiler, for his translation from the Belorusian of the documentary volume, Feuerdörfer; see also the Aufbau publicity page.

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       EBRD Literature Prize shortlist

       The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has announced the shortlist (which sounds more like a longlist -- ten titles, with a shorter list of 'finalists' to be announced next month) for this year's EBRD Literature Prize, which is for translations into English of a work of literary fiction from a country where the Bank invests.
       Two of the titles are under review at the complete review: Tanja Maljartschuk's Forgottenness and Olga Tokarczuk's The Empusium.
       The winner will be announced 24 June.

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       Rana Seif profile

       At nippon.com Itakura Kimie profiles Rana Seif: The Translator Bringing Japanese Women's Lit, Manga, and More to Middle East Readers.
       Interestingly:

As Japanese manga publishers have little interest in having their manga published in the Middle East market, it is difficult for publishers in the Arab world to obtain translation rights and gain experience in this area. Right now, the only way to read some popular manga is through pirate editions, which are easy to get hold of. Seif wants to break this vicious circle.

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       Women's Prize for Non-Fiction shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Women's Prize for Non-Fiction.
       The winner will be announced 12 June.

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       AI and creative writing in ... China

       At the Global Times Wu Jie wonders Can AI-created literature touch people's hearts ? getting opinions from a variety of authors.
       See also a variety of pieces (in Chinese) on the subject at the Chinese Writers' Association site.

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       Dublin Literary Award shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Dublin Literary Award, with two of the six books works in translation.
       I assume that Percival Everett's James and Paul Lynch's Prophet Song are the favorites, but I haven't seen any of these.
       The winner will be announced on 22 May.

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       De Boon

       They've announced the winners of de Boon, a €50,000 Dutch (Flemish) prize, and the fiction/non-fiction prize went to Oroppa by Safae el Khannoussi; see also the Dutch Foundation for Literature information page.

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       Your Steps on the Stairs review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Antonio Muñoz Molina's Your Steps on the Stairs, just (about) out from Other Press.

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       The Aesthetics of Resistance, finally complete in English

       Peter Weiss' The Aesthetics of Resistance was originally published in German in three volumes between 1975 and 1981 (though all subsequent German editions have, appropriately, been one-volume ones -- most recently). An English translation, by Joachim Neugroschel, of the first volume came out from Duke University Press in 2005, but it took another fifteen years until the second volume (translated by Joel Scott) appeared; now, another five years later, the novel is finally available in a complete translation, as the third volume, again translated by Scott, is coming out today ! See the Duke University Press publicity page -- and get your copy ! Disappointingly, there's no one-volume, mass-market-paperback-sized edition (yet ...), but Duke University Press is offering the book as a three-volume set as well; see their publicity page.
       This is one the greatest -- and most important -- post-war/pre-unification German novels (along with The Tin Drum and The Life and Adventures of Trobadora Beatrice as Chronicled by her Minstrel Laura (and, yes, Bottom's Dream, though that's a different, hors catégorie beast)); its (complete) publication in English is a major event.

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       Windham-Campbell Prizes

       They've announced the winners of this year's Windham-Campbell Prizes, eight authors getting US$175,000 each: "to support their work and allow them to focus on their creative practice independent of financial concerns".
       The eight are: Sigrid Nunez and Anne Enright for prose; Patricia J. Williams and Rana Dasgupta for non-fiction; Roy Williams and Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini for drama; and Anthony V. Capildeo and Tongo Eisen-Martin for poetry.

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       Gert-Jonke-Preis

       They've now awarded the biennial Gert Jonke Prize -- named after the Homage to Czerny-author --, which rotates through awarding the prize for a writer of prose, poetry and drama; this was a drama-year and the prize went to Ferdinand Schmalz -- who has previously won the Ingeborg-Bachmann-Preis (2017) and had a book longlisted for the German Book Prize (2021; see also the S.Fischer foreign rights page).

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       The Amateur review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Robert Littell's The Amateur, out in a new edition, from Soho Press -- not least, to coïncide with the soon-upcoming release of a new film version, directed by James Hawes and starring Rami Malek and Laurence Fishburne (see e.g.).

       And, yes, Robert Littell is the father of The Kindly Ones-author Jonathan Littell; indeed, this book is co-dedicated to Jonathan (or rather: "jonATHaN octOber", as author Robert extends the novel's cryptographic games to here ...). Not the first father-son duo under review at site, but there aren't that many .....

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       Jnanpith Award

       They've announced the winner of this year's Jnanpith Award, 'India's highest literary honour' (though not yet at the official site), and it is Vinod Kumar Shukla; see, for example, the report at India Today.

       Several of his work have been translated into English; see, for example, the HarperCollins India author page.

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       Stefan Weidner Q & A

       At Qantara.de Gerrit Wustmann has a Q & A with 'Stefan Weidner on pre-Islamic poetry', in "Poetry in its true fullness".
       Among his responses:

Would you recommend reading several translations to get a better idea of the original ?

It depends on what you want. Reading various versions can cause confusion because you learn more about the translation preferences of earlier eras than about the original, especially as earlier translators often had a poorer textual basis than we do today. Of course, they also made mistakes.

If you want to get as close as possible to the original without knowing Arabic -- and want an idea of how difficult the original is to understand ! -- you can consult an interlinear translation (word-for-word translation, ed.), such as those produced by Arabists a hundred years ago. If you do this, you will find the relevant references in the detailed appendix of my book. But this is more for specialists than for a general readership.

       See also the Die Andere Bibliothek publicity page for the collection Der arabische Diwan.

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       PEN America Literary Awards longlists

       PEN America has announced the longlists for its Literary Awards, including nine for the US$75,000 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, for: "a book-length work of any genre for its originality, merit, and impact, which has broken new ground by reshaping the boundaries of its form and signaling strong potential for lasting influence".
       The only longlisted title under review at the complete review is one of the ten longlisted for the PEN Translation Prize, awarded for: "a book-length translation of prose from any language into English" -- Antonia Lloyd-Jones' translation of The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk.
       The winners will be announced on 8 May.

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       Whither the young white men in American letters

       At Compact Jacob Savage finds that: "Over the course of the 2010s, the literary pipeline for white men was effectively shut down" in the US, exploring The Vanishing White Male Writer.
       Apparently; "white male millennials are still unable to speak directly to their own condition" .....
       A lot of interesting numbers at least.

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       NBCC Awards

       The National Book Critics Circle has announced the winners of its 2024 awards, with Hisham Matar's My Friends taking the fiction awrd, and Gwendolyn Harper's translation of Pedro Lemebel's A Last Supper of Queer Apostles winning the Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize.

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       Prix des cinq continents de la Francophonie

       They've announced the winner of this year's prix des cinq continents de la Francophonie, and it is Le rêve du pêcheur by Hemley Boum; see also the Gallimard publicity page.

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       Dylan Thomas Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize, "Awarded for the best published literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39".
       The only one of the six finalists under review at the complete review is Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon.
       The winner will be announced 15 May.

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

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       Perfection review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Vincenzo Latronico's Perfection, recently out from New York Review Books (in the US) and Fitzcarraldo Editions (in the UK); it's also been longlisted for this year's International Booker Prize.

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

       Victorian Premier's Literary Awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's Victorian Premier's Literary Awards in its eight categories, with the Prize for Children's Literature-winner Three Dresses by also taking the overall Victorian Premier's Prize for Literature.

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

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       Climate Fiction Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for the inaugural Climate Fiction Prize.
       The winner will be announced 14 May.

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

       Wortmeldungen-Literaturpreis

       They've announced the winner of this year's Wortmeldungen-Literaturpreis, a German short-text (8 to 25 page) prize paying out €35,000, and it is the 6366-word-long text 'Klick Klack, der Bergfrau erwacht' by Josefine Soppa -- read it here.
       Yes, it involves AI/ChatGPT .....

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

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       Sons and Daughters review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Chaim Grade's Sons and Daughters.

       Serialized in the 1960s and 1970s, this took a while to get into book-form -- more than four decades after the author's death (not helped by his widow's behavior -- but even she pased away in 2010 ...); see also e.g. Joseph Berger's recent article in The New York Times, A Discovery of Lost Pages Brings to Light a ‘Last Great Yiddish Novel’ (presumably paywalled).
       Certainly the biggest translation-from-the-Yiddish of the year.

       (There are translations from 85 languages under review at the complete review, and many from which I feel I have reviewed far too few titles, but Yiddish is certainly one of the most under-represented, with this only the third translation from that language under review.)

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

       Peter Bichsel (1935-2025)

       Swiss author Peter Bichsel has passed away; see, for example, the swissinfo Obituary: Peter Bichsel, the master of short prose.
       Several of his books have been translatd into English, but they've been out of print for decades; for more information about his books see the Suhrkamp author and foreign rights page.
       See also the Büro Bichsel project that just recently opened.

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

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       OCM Bocas Prize shortlists

       They've announced the finalists for this year's OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature -- five titles in each of the three categories.
       The category winners will be announced 6 April, and the winner on 3 May.

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

       Holberg Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Holberg Prize, "awarded for outstanding contributions to research in the humanities, social sciences, law or theology", and it is Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, who: "receives the prize for her groundbreaking interdisciplinary research in comparative literature, translation, postcolonial studies, political philosophy, and feminist theory".

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

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       Fontane-Preis shortlist

       They've announced the five finalists for this year's Fontane-Prize, a biennial prize paying out €40,000 -- not yet at the official site, last I checked, but see, for example, the dpa report here.

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

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