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the Literary Saloon at the Complete Review
opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review


19 March 2024 - Tuesday

Premio Formentor | Hallucinated City review

       Premio Formentor

       They've announced the winer of this year's premio Formentor de las Letras -- the revived prix Formentor -- and it is Krasznahorkai László -- certainly a worthy choice.

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



       Hallucinated City review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Mário de Andrade's Hallucinated City, a translation recently re-issued by Sublunary Editions.

       This is a bilingual edition -- adding to quite a few bilingual editions under review at the complete review.

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



18 March 2024 - Monday

American Academy Awards in Literature | Vladivostok Circus review

       American Academy Awards in Literature

       The American Academy of Arts and Letters has announced its 2024 Awards in Literature, including its biennial Christopher Lightfoot Walker Award, which recognizes: "a writer who has made a significant contribution to American literature", which went to Darryl Pinckney.
       They also awarded two Thornton Wilder Prizes for Translation, to Charlotte Mandell and Michael F. Moore.

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



       Vladivostok Circus review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Elisa Shua Dusapin's Vladivostok Circus, already out in the UK, from Daunt Books, and coming out soon in the US from Open Letter.

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



17 March 2024 - Sunday

AI and literary translation (cont'd) | Prix Jean d'Ormesson longlist

       AI and literary translation (cont'd)

       With yesterday's posts on AI and translation and the posting of The Club of True Creators-review, I really should have put two and two together, since the latter more than touches upon the subject of the London Book Fair panel on AI and Literary Translation and the two articles I linked to, as the publisher of The Club of True Creators, the new Rossum Press, have explicitly embraced a publishing- and translation-model based on Artificial Intelligence.
       As they explain/maintain:
Using a system of AI-assisted team translation, our skilled editors are able to create high quality literary translations with a fraction of the resources which traditional methods require.

Every word of the AI-generated draft translation is carefully weighed by a professional stylist of the target language, and we work closely with our authors at every step along the way.
       Like it or not -- and many people (not just, but especially translators) really, really don't like it --, this is (at least a significant part of) the future, especially for popular and genre fiction (and, for example, manga), and, if nothing else, props to Rossum Press for making it very clear that this is how they operate. (Well, they might have mentioned it in the translator-creditless book itself as well .....)
       The 'machine translation + (human) editing' model seems likely to become the dominant one -- with the amount of editing varying widely (as it does already: one should never overlook that a lot of entirely human translations are terrible, not least because they are often published without much editorial oversight or involvement)).
       One of the reasons given for so little being published in translation is the cost involved. The use of machine-translation -- to whatever extent -- can reduce those costs drastically -- but will the final product justify those (reduced) costs, or are we possibly losing too much ?
       (I do note -- and I do think this isn't acknowledged nearly enough -- that, both historically and currently, a lot of (human) translation of literary work, both popular and 'literary', is really bad. (Admittedly, the main reason for this -- (many) publishers simply don't care about the (end-)product-- applies to any form of translation, i.e. won't be rectified by greater reliance on machine-aided translation.))

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



       Prix Jean d'Ormesson longlist

       They've announced the ten finalists for this year's prix Jean d'Ormesson -- one of my favorite prizes, because it's an anything-goes prize, with the judges selecting the books, old or new, that are in the running; this year's batch includes, for example, Réjean Ducharme's 1973 novel L'hiver de force and Fritz Zorn's Mars; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.
       The winner will be announced on 29 May.

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



16 March 2024 - Saturday

AI and translation | Simenon exhibit | The Club of True Creators review

       AI and translation

       At the London Book Fair they had a panel on AI and Literary Translation, and at Publishers Weekly John Maher reports on it, in How Will AI Change Life for Literary Translators ? -- and in The Guardian Anna Aslanyan looks at AI translation: how to train ‘the horses of enlightenment’

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



       Simenon exhibit

       At the Jan Michalski Foundation a Simenon exhibit opens today and runs through 29 September -- it looks promising.

       Quite a few works by Simenon are under review at the complete review, from When I was Old to quite a few Maigrets (e.g. Maigret and the Saturday Caller).

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



       The Club of True Creators review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Milan Tripković's The Club of True Creators, recently out in English from the new Rossum Press.

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



15 March 2024 - Friday

'The Great American Novels'-list | Nero Gold Prize
On the (unambitious) contemporary novel | Prix Orange shortlist
National Book Awards judges | Salome in Graz reading sample

       'The Great American Novels'-list

       Of literary list-making there can apparently never be enough, and among the bigger recent entries we find now The Atlantic's of The Great American Novels -- limited to those published in the last century for some reason, but at least not limiting titles to one-per-author (several authors rate two mentions; Toni Morrison has three), and not forcing some round number but rather listing ... 136 titles.
       If you click on the titles you get a brief bit about each book, too, so you can entertain yourself with this for a while.

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



       Nero Gold Prize

       The Costa-substitute Nero Gold Prize has announced its 2023 Book of the Year winner, and it is The Bee Sting, by Paul Murray.

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



       On the (unambitious) contemporary novel

       In the Winter issue of the Athenaeum Review James Elkins has Four Sour and Stringent Proposals for the Novel -- well worth a read.

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



       Prix Orange shortlist

       They've announced the five finalists for this year's prix Orange du livre en Afrique -- notable for being for a book not only written by a (Francophone) African author, but also published by an Africa-based publisher; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.

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



       National Book Awards judges

       The (American) National Book Foundation has revealed the twenty-five judges for this year's National Book Awards.
       The translation prize panel consists of: Aron Aji, Jennifer Croft, Jhumpa Lahiri, Gary Lovely, and Julia Sanches.

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



       Salome in Graz reading sample

       The page for Salome in Graz at the various Amazons now includes the "Read sample" possibility -- see, here, for example -- so you can get a bit better of an idea of the text proper.
       The sample on offer actually only presents a very small part of the narrative part of the novel: it includes the not really representative (but still essential to the novel ...) opening pages, while the bulk of the preview consists of the (extensive) Notes- and Bibliography-sections.
       I suppose you could actually piece together quite a bit of the text from the Notes, but that seems more trouble than its worth (i.e. actually reading the book itself is a whole lot easier (and, I would think, more entertaining)), but they and the Bibliography are quite informative, as to what went into the novel ..... (The Bibliography, especially the last part, is, I think, also fun, for those who like book-lists; it's arguably more intriguing than that The Atlantic-list .....)

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



14 March 2024 - Thursday

BookTok in ... China | Unpatriotic Mo Yan ? | The Writers' Prize
Wingate Literary Prize | Salome in Graz at Amazon

       BookTok in ... China

       'BookTok' -- TikTok videos about books -- is all the rage and apparently helps to sell lots of books. A truly international phenomenon, it apparently also works in China -- even if it isn't called BookTok there, since TikTok isn't TikTok there, but rather Douyin.
       As Fang Aiqing reports at China Daily, in Nobel literature laureate finds connection with Chinese readers:
After about one hour and a half on Tuesday night, the 2021 Nobel literature laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah sold around 100,000 copies of his novels at a Chinese livestream show on the short video platform Douyin, generating a profit of over 4 million yuan ($570,000). The number grew to 110,000 copies later that night.
       Impressive.

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



       Unpatriotic Mo Yan ?

       As Simina Mistreanu reports for AP, Nobel Literature laureate Mo Yan is accused in patriotism lawsuit of insulting China’s heroes.
       Yes, in China they have some nutty law that for example: "bans criticism or questioning of the folklore surrounding the 1949 formation of the People’s Republic by Communist revolutionaries, and also prohibits acts that glorify historical episodes considered unpatriotic, such as Japan’s 20th century invasion of China", and "patriotic" blogger Wu Wanzheng is trying to sue under it:
The lawsuit filed last month demands that the author apologize to all Chinese people, the country’s martyrs and Mao, and pay damages of 1.5 billion yuan ($209 million) — 1 yuan for each Chinese person. He also requested that Mo’s books be removed from circulation.
       Sounds perfectly reasonable and sensible, right ?
       See also Yuanyue Dang's report in the South China Morning Post, China’s Nobel winning novelist Mo Yan targeted by growing band of online nationalists -- quoting also, for example, from a post that argues abot Mo Yan:
The Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded because his work is in line with Western ‘political correctness’. His China is so in line with what the West thinks and expects of us
       Of course .....

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



       The Writers' Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's The Writers' Prize Book of the Year, and it is the novel in verse The Home Child, by Liz Berry.

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



       Wingate Literary Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Wingate Literary Prize, "given to the best book, fiction or non-fiction, to translate the idea of Jewishness to the general reader", and it is The Hero of this Book, by Elizabeth McCracken.

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



       Salome in Graz at Amazon

       My new novel, Salome in Graz, is making its way into the book distribution system, and is now Amazon-available. (Say what you will about the juggernaut and how it treats and flogs books, but they are efficient -- first on the block to list the book, with all the other retailers lagging.)
       So you can now also order it at:        It should be available at the other international Amazons soon (if not already).

       Meanwhile, you can also continue to purchase it here -- where the current promotional code (through 15 March) PUBLISHED10 at checkout gets you 10% off.

       Salome in Graz should be available at other retailers soon (and your local bookstore should be able to order it for you soon as well, though they may not be able to just yet).

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



13 March 2024 - Wednesday

FAF Translation Prize finalists | OCM Bocas Prize longlists
Posthumous publishing
What You are Looking For is in the Library review

       FAF Translation Prize finalists

       The French-American Foundation has announced the finalists for its Translation Prize in the two categories, fiction and non.
       Only one of the titles is under review at the complete review -- Daniel Levin Becker's translation of The Birthday Party by Laurent Mauvignier.

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



       OCM Bocas Prize longlists

       They've announced the longlists for this year's OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature in its three categories, fiction, non, and poetry.
       The category winners will be announced 7 April, and the overall winner on 27 April.

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



       Posthumous publishing

       Occasioned by the publication of Gabriel García Márquez's Until August Alex Belth goes: 'Inside the ethically thorny world of posthumous publishing', in Is It A Betrayal To Publish Dead Writers' Books ? at Esquire.

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



       What You are Looking For is in the Library review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Aoyama Michiko's popular What You are Looking For is in the Library.

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



12 March 2024 - Tuesday

International Booker Prize longlist

       International Booker Prize longlist

       They've announced the longlist for this year's International Booker Prize -- thirteen books originally written in ten languages (all but one European -- though: "A quarter of the list is written by South American authors,"), selected from 149 (unfortunately not revealed ...) entries.
       Interesting to see the break-down of the languages with the most-submitted titles:
  • 1. French (26 books)
  • 2. Spanish (21)
  • 3. Japanese (15)
  • 4. German (12)
  • 5. Arabic (8)
  • -. Italian (8)
       Somewhat embarrassingly and certainly disappointingly, I've only seen four of the longlisted titles -- and haven't (fully) read or reviewed a one. (Last year I had reviewed four of the titles when the list was announced.)
       The shortlist will be announced 9 April, and the winner on 21 May.

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



11 March 2024 - Monday

Aya translation | Until August review

       Aya translation

       At The Africa Report Olivia Snaije profiles Edwige-Renée Dro, in Ivorian literary activist, translator lends her skills to beloved graphic novel, ‘Aya de Yopougon’.
       Dro translated Aya: Claws Come Out (Drawn & Quarterly).

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



       Until August review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Gabriel García Márquez's just-published (in many, many languages) Until August.

       Much of the coverage of this 'event' -- and many of the reviews -- have focused on this being yet another posthumous work being published against an author's express wishes. (In their Preface, his two sons even admit that their father explicitly said: "This book doesn't work. It must be destroyed".)
       While, very strictly speaking, García Márquez's assessment is correct, I'd point out that the same ('This book doesn't work') can be said about a significant proportion of the novels I look at/read -- and that Until August is more satisfying than most of those.
       This case also differs from many authors' wishes to see one or all of their works destroyed after their deaths in that García Márquez was suffering from dementia at the time -- the 'memory loss', as his sons term it, that apparently hindered him from shaping it into the work he wanted it to be. As such -- because he was no longer in his right mind, as it were --, it seems to me a (morally) more difficult call than e.g. Brod's betrayal of Kafka

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



10 March 2024 - Sunday

Henry Chakava (1946-2024)

       Henry Chakava (1946-2024)

       As Godwin Siundu reports in Nation Henry Chakava's death marks the end of an era in Kenya's literary publishing.

       See also James Currey's publishing-chronicle Africa Writes Back.

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



9 March 2024 - Saturday

La collection Perec 53 | Carol Shields Prize longlist
The Book Censor's Library review

       La collection Perec 53

       What a great idea ! Inspired by Georges Perec's (unfinished) "53 Days" French publisher L'œil ébloui is publishing 53 53-page works by 53 different authors -- La collection Perec 53.
       Only four out so far -- but I want them all ! I hope eventually to see some .....

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



       Carol Shields Prize longlist

       They've announced the longlist for this year's Carol Shields Prize for Fiction -- a very well-endowed (US$150,000 !) prize rewarding: "creativity and excellence in fiction by women and non-binary writers in Canada and the United State".
       Only one of the fifteen titles is under review at the complete review -- I Have Some Questions for You, by Rebecca Makkai.
       The shortlist will be announced 9 April, and the winner on 13 May.

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



       The Book Censor's Library review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Bothayna Al-Essa's The Book Censor's Library, due out shortly, from Restless Books.

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



8 March 2024 - Friday

Gordon Burn Prize | Sheikh Zayed Book Award shortlists

       Gordon Burn Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Gordon Burn Prize -- rewarding: "literature that is forward-thinking and fearless in its ambition and execution, often playing with style, pushing boundaries, crossing genres or challenging readers' expectations" -- and it is Kick the Latch, by Kathryn Scanlan.
       See also the publicity pages from New Directions and Daunt Books, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, or Amazon.co.uk.

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



       Sheikh Zayed Book Award shortlists

       They've announced the shortlists for this year's Sheikh Zayed Book Awards -- selected from 4,240 (!) submissions.
       With category-winners receiving close to US$200,000, this is a very well-paying prize.

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



7 March 2024 - Thursday

Lionel Gelber Prize | Hindi Literature
New On the Seawall | The Lost Steps review

       Lionel Gelber Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Lionel Gelber Prize -- "a literary award for the world's best non-fiction book in English on foreign affairs that seeks to deepen public debate on significant international issues" -- and it is Timothy Garton Ash's Homelands; see also the official press release (warning ! dreaded pdf format !).
       See also the publicity pages from Yale University Press and Vintage, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, or Amazon.co.uk.
       (Yes, it's yet another book that is published by a university press in the US, and a 'commercial' publisher in the UK .....)

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



       Hindi Literature

       At The Wire Rashwita Ravy looks at What Contemporary Hindi Literature Tells Us About the Politics of Hate.

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



       New On the Seawall

       On the Seawall always has interesting material, but the new March/April 2024 Edition is truly packed -- a lot to keep you busy. Check it out !

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



       The Lost Steps review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of the new translation, by Adrian Nathan West, of Alejo Carpentier's 1953 classic, The Lost Steps, recently out in the Penguin Classics series.

       West also translated Explosion in a Cathedral, and I probably should have tackled that one first; I've read the previous translations of both (decades ago ...), but Explosion in a Cathedral was translated via the French translation, so the direct translation seems an obvious improvement. I'll get to it too, but The Lost Steps is an old favorite -- very much my kind of book -- so it was too hard to resist. (It didn't disappoint, as mt grading of it also makes clear .....)
       How much of an old favorite is it ? Well, as I've mentioned, my just-out novel, Salome in Graz, includes a three-tiered bibliography -- a reference list both to the novel as well as part of the fiction itself -- and this book (in its original version) was a natural fit and is included in the list of tertiary sources .....

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



6 March 2024 - Wednesday

Murty Classical Library of India | *New* Gabriel García Márquez novel
Shortlists: Ockham NZ Book Awards - Republic of Consciousness Prize
Women's Prize for Fiction longlist

       Murty Classical Library of India

       The Murty Classical Library of India, published by Harvard University Press, started publishing less than a decade ago and has brought out a very impressive collection of titles already -- several of which are under review at the complete review -- but apparently all is not well there.
       General Editor Sheldon Pollock was apparently pushed out of that position in 2022 already, and now comes the news that a little over a month ago five members of the Editorial Board were: "summarily dismissed [...] without cause, explanation, or documentation"; see the statement the five have now released.
       There doesn't seem to have been any more detailed press coverage of this yet, but hopefully some journalists are digging around here. It doesn't sound good -- a shame, since this really is such a remarkable undertaking.

       (Updated - 7 March): At The Wire Elisha Vermani has a bit more information, in Exits Rock Murty Classical Library, Once Feted for New Translations of Rare Manuscripts.

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



       *New* Gabriel García Márquez novel

       Apparently written some two decades ago, Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez's novel En agosto nos vemos is being published today (in Spanish), with the English translation, by Anne McLean, Until August, due out next week.
       Among the articles about the event, see Iker Seisdedos' piece at El País, on how Gabriel García Márquez’s archive in Austin reveals all the secrets about his unpublished novel, as well as the Reuters report.
       See also the Vintage Español publicity page for En agosto nos vemos, or get your copy at Amazon.com; or see the publicity pages for Until August from Alfred A. Knopf and Viking, or pre-order your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, or Amazon.co.uk.
       I guess I should have a look at this one .....

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



       Shortlists: Ockham NZ Book Awards

       They've announced the shortlists for this year's Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, sixteen finalists in four categories.
       The winners will be announced on 15 May.

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



       Shortlist: Republic of Consciousness Prize

       The US/Canada version of the Republic of Consciousness Prize just announced their shortlist, and now the original, UK/Ireland version, the Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses, has announced its shortlist.
       The winner will be announced on 17 April.

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



       Women's Prize for Fiction longlist

       They've announced the sixteen-title-strong longlist for this year's Women's Prize for Fiction.
       I haven't seen any of these.
       The shortlist will be announced 24 April, and the winner on 13 June.

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



5 March 2024 - Tuesday

Edwin Frank Q & A | Ludwig-Börne-Preis
Republic of Consciousness Prize shortlist | Stella Prize longlist
Salome in Graz - the cover

       Edwin Frank Q & A

       At The Point Scott Sherman has a fascinating lengthy Q & A with New York Review Books' Edwin Frank, How the Story Turns Out.
       Among Frank's comments:
But all this only underscores why I am so disturbed by the disappearance of daily book reviews and their replacement by the listicles of service journalism. Books are now deemed to be important the same way it is important to find the best lightbulb, which Wirecutter, which reviews consumer goods for Times readers, will help you to do, except that books can’t be rated as easily, so you’re just offered a plateful and invited to grab and bite.
       And re. approaches to translation -- "Augustine, who endorsed precise adherence to the original" v. "Jerome, who believed in adaptation and, to some extent, invention" -- he's team Jerome, maintaining: "The Augustinian view is entirely incoherent".
       As to our times:
     Well, it’s a stagnant period and so it goes, or perhaps you could say it’s a time that is rejecting the whole idea of art as an independent activity, replacing it with the concern for audience that is turning museums into shopping malls and theme parks. As to MFAs, perhaps they are above all sad because they leave so many writers with nothing but an audience of students.
       Also: always interesting to hear the numbers, and there's mention that Joshua Cohen's (Pulitzer Prize-winning) The Netanyahus -- submitted: "to fifteen publishers, all of whom passed on it" -- has: "sold around forty thousand copies".
       Finally, Frank has a book coming out later this year Stranger Than Fiction: Lives of the Twentieth-Century Novel (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 11/2024), which is certainly something to keep an eye out for.

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



       Ludwig-Börne-Preis

       The Ludwig-Börne-Stiftung has announced the 2024 winner of their €20,000 author-prize with a focus on writing essays, criticism, or reportage, and it is Daniel Kehlmann.
       This is an unusual prize in that the jury consists of a single person -- a different one each year; this year it was Felicitas von Lovenberg who made the selection.

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



       Republic of Consciousness Prize shortlist

       They've announced shortlist for this year's Republic of Consciousness Prize -- the UK/Ireland version.
       The winner will be announced 17 April.

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



       Stella Prize longlist

       They've announced the longlist for this year's Stella Prize, an A$60,000 prize for an: "original, excellent, and engaging" work by a woman or non-binary Australian writer; see also, for example, Nicola Heath's ABC report.
       The shortlist will be announced 4 April.

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



       Salome in Graz - the cover

       Longtime readers of this Literary Saloon will, of course, not be very surprised that the cover of my new novel, Salome in Graz is fairly ... plain:

Salome in Graz: A Novel

       You can now find some background and explanation/excuse-making about that cover design here.

       Also: as I've mentioned, currently Salome in Graz is only available here -- where they usually have a promotion/coupon code to enter at checkout that gets you a discount; the current one, effective through 8 March, is WOMENWRITE15, which gets you a tidy 15 per cent off ....
       (International readers should note that, aside from the US, they print and ship locally in Europe, Australia, and India, among others, so shipping costs should not be outrageous.)

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



4 March 2024 - Monday

Guyana Prize for Literature | Helen Oyeyemi Q & A | The Bell review

       Guyana Prize for Literature

       They've announced the winners of the Guyana Prize for Literature in its three categories, with Girl in the Pink Pleated Skirt by Michael Jordan winning the fiction category; see, for example, the report in Stabroek News.

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



       Helen Oyeyemi Q & A

       At The New Yorker Jennifer Wilson has a Q & A with the author, in Helen Oyeyemi Thinks We Should Read More and Stay in Touch Less.
       Among her responses:
It’s a great tragedy that we keep in touch so much. There are so many connections that shouldn’t last as long as they do. But, no, with books, I’m very much a rereader. I reread all the time. Books wait for you, and they blossom in the time between readings.

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



       The Bell review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Iris Murdoch's 1958 novel, The Bell -- the eleventh Murdoch novel under review.

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



3 March 2024 - Sunday

GSP Rao Translation Award shortlist | Japanese short story unveiling

       GSP Rao Translation Award shortlist

       They've announced the ten-title shortlist for this year's GSP Rao Translation Award, "given to an outstanding work of translation from any Indian language into English"; see the Scroll.in report.
       From quite a variety of languages -- Tamil, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Telugu, Malayalam, and Marathi.
       I hope some of these make it to the US/UK .....

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



       Japanese short story unveiling

       At the Waseda International House of Literature library they had an Authors Alive ! event, where, as the AP report has it, Haruki Murakami unveils his new short story at a Tokyo literary event -- though Kawakami Mieko also recited a new story .....

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



2 March 2024 - Saturday

Prix Émile Guimet | Prix du livre court | Salome in Graz FAQ

       Prix Émile Guimet

       They've announced the winner of this year's prix Émile Guimet de littérature asiatique -- though not yet at the official site, last I checked --, awarded in two categories: novel and graphic novel, with Han Kang's 작별하지 않는다 winning the novel prize; it does not seem to be available in English translation yet; see, for example, The Korea Times report.

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



       Prix du livre court

       The French have a new prize for a short book -- less than 150 pages -- and they've announced the inaugural winner, Dominique Fabre's 144-page Gare Saint-Lazare; see, for example, the ActuaLitté report.
       See also the Fayard publicity page for Gare Saint-Lazare.

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



       Salome in Graz FAQ

       Looking for more information about my just-released novel, Salome in Graz ? There's more at the new (what-I-think-might-eventually-be-)frequently asked questions page
       And of course if you have other questions, feel free to ask -- I may even add them to the FAQs.

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



1 March 2024 - Friday

Preise der Leipziger Buchmesse | EUPL finalists

       Preise der Leipziger Buchmesse

       The biggest German book prize -- yes, the German Book Prize -- is awarded in the fall, at the Frankfurt Book Fair, but the spring Leipzig Book Fair competes well with their trio of prizes, awarded for a work of a fiction, a work of non-fiction/essay, and a translation, and they've now announced the five finalists for each of those prizes -- selected from 486 submissions (which, sigh, are not revealed).
       A graphic novel is one of the fiction finalists -- Genossin Kuckuck, by Anke Feuchtenberger (Reprodukt) -- while Wolf Haas also has a book in the running. The one I'm most curious about is Barbi Marković's Minihorror -- see the Residenz Verlag foreign rights page --, which I was already very tempted to acquire when I was last in Austria; she's an interesting author (beginning with the Thomas Bernhard 'remix', Izlaženje).
       The translations up for that prize include a Lawrence Ferlinghetti-collection, and Bora Chung's Cursed Bunny.
       The winners will be announced 21 March.

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



       EUPL finalists

       They've announced the finalists for this year's European Union Prize for Literature, one work each chosen ("nominated by national entities knowledgeable about the literary scene in their countries and used to promoting their own literature abroad") from the thirteen countries vying for the prize this year. (The prize rotates through the: "41 countries participating in the Creative Europe programme of the European Union", with thirteen or fourteen up each third year.)
       So:
The seven members of the European jury will now read excerpts from all the nominated books and make their choice in the upcoming month to award one EUPL Prize winner for this edition, together with recognising five special mentions.
       Excerpts, sigh ..... But it's a well-meaning prize, and the language hurdle is obviously an enormous one. (I also can't help but note that for a prize meant to encourage: "greater interest in non-national literary works" there is an awful lot of national focus in the way the prize is set up .....)
       You can learn more about the nominated authors here (and, yes, their works, too ...).
       The winning title will be announced 4 April.

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



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