opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

       Prix Médicis longlists

       The jury presided over by Sphinx-author Anne Garréta has announced the longlists for this year's prix Médicis -- interesting because they award a prize for the best French novel as well as one for the best foreign novel; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.
       With sixteen French novels and fourteen foreign ones listed, these are still pretty long lists .....
       The shortlists will be announced 9 October, and the winners on 6 November.

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       LLMs and literature

       At udem nouvelles Virginie Soffer profiles Université de Montréal professor Marcello Vitali-Rosatim whose work: "considers whether LLMs can transform the very idea of literature and examines the social, economic and cultural issues they raise", in Are algorithms and LLMs changing our conception of literature ? (Spoiler: "“I don’t think LLMs will have a real impact on literature," Vitali-Rosati concluded".)
       He notes:

Programmed to efficiently meet user expectations, LLMs can produce texts that are pleasing and well-structured but lack what literature often seeks to explore: the dysfunctional, the unknown, the peculiar. “Literature looks for such points of friction,” said Vitali-Rosati, “and the difference between texts of literary merit and texts of less aesthetic interest is precisely the ability to find these shadowlands.”

       But he also points out that: "Any technical tool we use to write has a major impact on what we can write and what we can think".

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       Reading in ... Paraguay

       In Plough Santiago Ramos offers a personal take on the situation in the country where he was born, Paraguayans Don’t Read.

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       Literary emission-reductions

       At the BBC Christine Ro reports on how Publishers try skinnier books to save money and emissions.
       She looks at a number of ways publishers are trying to reduce the carbon emissions of printed books, including reducing the thickness of paper -- and changing typefaces, discussed here at some length.
       (I would certainly love to see a move away from hardcovers -- certainly for fiction. Mass-market-paperback originals for all !)

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       Deutscher Buchpreis shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's German Book Prize.
       Clemens Meyer's behemoth, Die Projektoren, is one of the six titles left in the running; I have a(n e-)copy, and it's the title I am most curious about; see also the S.Fischer foreign rights page. (Fitzcarraldo Editions is bringing it out in English -- though given its length, that'll probably be a while .....)

       The winner will be announced 14 October.

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       FT Business Book of the Year Award shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award.
       Six titles are left in the running; the winner will be announced 9 December.

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       Caine Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Caine Prize for African Writing, a leading African story prize, and it is 'Bridling' (warning ! dreaded pdf format !), by Nadia Davids.
       There were 320 entries for this prize this year.

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       Reading in ... South Korea

       In The Korea Times Baek Byung-yeul profiles Kim Ho-woon, president of the Korean Writers' Association, in Writers' clan chief pushes for digital shift to revitalize Koreans' reading habits, as:

According to the national reading survey conducted every two years by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Korean adults read an average of 3.9 books from September 2022 to August 2023, a drop from the 4.5 books recorded in the previous survey conducted from September 2020 to August 2021

       Not sure he's on the right track here:

"The reason people read less today is because we haven't properly taught the importance of reading," Kim said, pointing out that many people, including writers themselves, have strayed from books.

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       Booker Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Booker Prize, with six titles left in the running:

• Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
• Held by Anne Michaels
• James by Percival Everett
• Orbital by Samantha Harvey
• The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
• Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

       I haven't seen any of these.
       The winner will be announced 12 November.

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       Overstaying review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Ariane Koch's Overstaying.
       This came out in the UK, for Pushkin Press, in the spring, and is out ... today in the US, from Dorothy.

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       Elias Khoury (1948-2024)

       Lebanese author Elias Khoury has passed away; see, for example, the AP report.
       Much of his work has been translated into English, with Archipelago Books publishing a good selection.

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       Contemporary Hindi literature

       In The Print Krishan Murari considers, at some length, Is Hindi literature adapting to survive ? It has more Chetan Bhagats than Omprakash Valmikis, as apparently:

Fresh voices are injecting energy, but there are currently more Chetan Bhagats of new Hindi writing than Premchands or Nirmal Vermas. A substantial contemporary literary canon seems absent -- one that truly captures the zeitgeist through imagination and craft.

       And: "The qualitative drift in Hindi literature is closely tied to the slow decay of the pillars that once supported it. Cultural institutions [...] which bolstered Hindi writers from the 1950s onwards, are now flailing" -- so also:

Up until the 1980s or so, Hindi departments were epicentres of the literary scene. [...] But today, the influence of Hindi departments has faded. They’ve become largely powerless within the campus, clinging to old practices and modes of thinking.

       So now:

Two very different streams are shaping contemporary Hindi literature. On one side are fierce new Dalit, Bahujan, and Adivasi voices who are breaking ground with stories and poems that challenge the status quo. On the other is a steady pulp invasion, advancing from footpath stalls to reputed publishers and even university syllabi, once the domain of serious, weighty prose.

       Far too little is translated from Hindi -- much less published/distributed beyond India -- and I'd certainly love to see more -- including more of that "pulp invasion".

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       Virginie Despentes Q & A

       In The Observer Anthony Cummins has a Q & A with Virginie Despentes: ‘I wasn’t writing Baise-Moi from a very good place’.
       Despentes has a new novel out -- Dear Dickhead; see also the publicity pages from Farrar, Straus and Giroux and MacLehose Press, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, or Amazon.co.uk.

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       Dagger of the Mind review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Kenneth Fearing's 1941 novel, Dagger of the Mind.

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       (American) National Book Award for Fiction longlist

       The (American) National Book Foundation has now announced all the longlist for its 2024 prizes, including that for fiction.
       Ten titles -- and I haven't seen any of them .....

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       Grand prix de littérature américaine longlist

       They've announced the ten-title longlist for this year's Grand prix de littérature américaine, a French prize for the best ... American novel (that's been translated into French); see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.
       The winner will be announced 12 November.

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       Prix Jean Monnet

       They've announced the winner of this year's Prix Jean Monnet de littérature européenne, and it is Lessons by Ian McEwan -- beating out finalists Pascal Quignard and Olga Tokarczuk, among others .....
       Quite a few McEwan titles are under review at the complete review, but I haven't seen this one yet.

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       Prime Minister's Literary Awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards, "the most substantial literary prize in the nation, with a tax-free prize pool of [A]$600,000".
       Anam, by André Dao, won the fiction category.

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       Schweizer Buchpreis finalists

       After the longlists for the German and Austrian Book Prizes, they've now announced (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) the five finalists for the (German-language) Swiss Book Prize.
       The winner will be announced 17 November.

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       ALTA shortlists

       The American Literary Translators Association has announced a slew of shortlists -- for: the Italian Prose in Translation Award, the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize, the Spain-USA Foundation Translation Award, and the ALTA First Translation Prize.
       The winners wil be announced 26 October.

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       Guillaume Musso Q & A

       At The Connexion Theophile Larcher has an Interview: Guillaume Musso, the top-selling French author inspired by Agatha Christie.
       Who would have guessed that: "In England and the United States mainly, it’s the sophistication of the novels that comes through" ? Not I .....
       And I did have to laugh when Larcher notes that, despite Musso selling so much and so well: "It took me a week to find one of your readers".

       The only Musso title under review at the complete review is The Reunion.

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       Singapore Literature Prize

       They've announced the (many) winners of this year's Singapore Literature Prize -- impressive, because books in several languages are honored, with fiction winners in English, Chinese, Tamil, and Malay, for example.
       Some interesting-looking titles here, which will hopefully also find distribution abroad ..... And I am particularly curious about Shubigi Rao's Pulp-series, the third volume of which (out of a planned five) won the Creative Nonfiction in English prize.

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       Prix Sade finalists

       They've announced the finalists for this year's prix Sade, awarded for a book: "déjoue l'ordre moral et se veut hors des carcans de la littérature et de la société" (which: 'thwarts the moral order and aims to break free from the shackles of literature and society') -- surely something we can all get on board with. (Alas, they don't have a dedicated website, just a ... F*c*book page ?!??)
       What's most noteworthy about this year's selection process is that they've gone through three rounds but have eschewed the usual progression from long- to short- to finalists list:

• In May they announced their 'first selection' (see) -- selecting nine titles
• In June they announced their second cut (see) -- which did not so much cut as add titles, bringing the total under consideration to thirteen
• So what about the just-announced list of finalists (see) ? Yes, there are now nineteen titles in the final running .....

       It's good to see they're ... open-minded, willing to add titles they overlooked before, and this is not entirely unheard of with French literary prizes, where titles are occasionally added to the mix after the original longlist -- but I've never come across it at anywhere near this scale.

       I'm pleased to see more books -- some intriguing-sounding titles here, not least the French tranlsation of Undinė Radzevičiūtė's Grožio ir blogio biblioteka, which sounds fun (see also the publicity pages at Les Éditions Viviane Hamy (French) and Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla (Lithuanian)).
       I'm not sure about David Muhlmann's Urophilie (see the Éditions In Press publicity page), however. Or Grégoire Ming's Une histoire érotique de l'Angleterre (see the Payot publicity page), for that matter .....

       The winner will be announced 28 September.

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       Prize-winning historical fiction

       In The Nation Alexander Manshel explores How Historical Fiction Redefined the Literary Canon, noting that: 'In contemporary publishing, novels fixated on the past rather than the present have garnered the most attention and prestige', as:

The novels recognized by major literary prizes have largely abandoned the present in favor of the past. Contemporary fiction has never been less contemporary.

       (It hasn't garnered much attention or prestige, but, yes, my recent novel Salome in Graz is also steeped in the historical .....)

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       Russian publishing abroad

       At npr Michele Kelemen reports on how Russian publishers in exile release books the Kremlin would ban.

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       (American) National Book Award for Translated Literature longlist

       The (American) National Book Foundation has announced the longlist for its Award for Translated Literature -- ten titles selected from 141 (unfortunately not revealed) submissions.

       I will be getting to the Solvej Balle soon(est), but three of the titles are already under review at the complete review:

• Saskia Vogel's translation of Linnea Axelsson's Ædnan
  
  
• Ranya Abdelrahman and Sawad Hussain's translation of Bothayna Al-Essa's The Book Censor's Library
  
  
• Roland Glasser's translation of Fiston Mwanza Mujila's The Villain's Dance

       The finalists in this and all the NBA categories will be announced 1 October, and the winners on 20 November.

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       Wilhelm Raabe-Literaturpreis

       The Wilhelm Raabe Literary Prize pays out €30,000 -- €5000 more than the German Book Prize -- and they've now announced this year's winner, Saša Stanišić's possibly too long-titled Möchte die Witwe angesprochen werden, platziert sie auf dem Grab die Gießkanne mit dem Ausguss nach vorne; see also the Luchterhand foreign rights page.

       Several Stanišić-titles have been translated into English -- e.g. Where You Come From -- but apparently foreign rights for this one have only been sold to ... Poland.

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       Hawthornden Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Hawthornden Prize for Literature, "one of Britain's oldest literary awards" and paying out £15,000, and it is Orbital by Samantha Harvey.

       I haven't seen this one but am curious about it; it's also been longlisted for this year's Booker Prize.

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       A Muzzle for Witches review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Merima Omeragić in conversation with Dubravka Ugrešić, A Muzzle for Witches -- Ugrešić's final book, just (about) out in English, from Open Letter.

       A couple of weeks ago, Open Letter's Chad Post tweeted that: "our distributor advanced a grand total of 143 units of Dubravka Ugresic's MUZZLE FOR WITCHES to ALL indie bookstores across the country", and also that: "They project sales of 175 TOTAL through indie stores, and 840 units across all sales channels" -- which is both shocking and depressing.
       Surely, Ugrešić has more of a following, and it's hard to imagine this, her final word, not shifting more copies. But perhaps such really is the contemporary literary (ha !) marketplace (as she was all too well aware of ...) .....

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       British Academy Book Prize shortlist

       The British Academy has announced the shortlist for their Book Prize, celebrating: "ground-breaking works of non-fiction that have made an outstanding contribution to the public understanding of world cultures and their interactions, and are grounded in rigorous and high-quality research".
       Six titles are in the running; the winner will be announced 22 October.

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       Václav Havel Library

       New director Milan Babík acknowledges that, like American presidential libraries, the Václav Havel Library isn't a 'typical library' -- "We are civil society actors. We certainly do more than ordinary libraries do" --, and at Radio Prague International Ian Willoughby has a Q & A with him, Milan Babík: Heading Havel Library after 30 years in US.

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       Prix Wepler longlist

       The prix Wepler - Fondation la Poste, promisingly awarded to: "une œuvre littéraire contemporaine inclassable", has announced its twelve-title longlist; Thomas Clerc's Goncourt-longlisted Paris Musée du XXIe siècle is on it.
       The list of previous winners looks pretty interesting; among titles translated into English are Pierre Senges' Ahab (Sequels) (2015), Éric Chevillard's The Valiant Little Tailor (2003), and Antoine Volodine's Minor Angels (1999).
       The winner will be announced 11 November.

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       Mysterious Setting review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Abe Kazushige's Mysterious Setting, recently out from Pushkin Press.

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       Sunday Times Literary Awards shortlists

       They've announced the shortlists for this year's (South African) Sunday Times Literary Awards, five titles each in the two categories, fiction and non.

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       JCB Prize longlist

       They've announced (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) the longlist for this year's JCB Prize for Literature, a leading Indian fiction prize -- ten titles, five of which are translations; see also the Scroll.in overview, with more information about the longlisted titles.
       The shortlist will be announced 23 October, and the winner on 23 November.

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       Ehrenpreis des Österreichischen Buchhandels

       They've announced the winner of this year's Honorary Prize of the Austrian Book Trade for Tolerance in Thought and Action, and it is David Grossman.
       They've awarded this since 1990; it has an ... interesting list of previous winners: Philippe Sands got it last year; other winners range from Simon Wiesenthal to Peter Ustinov to H.C.Artmann.

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       Longlist: National Translation Awards

       The American Literary Translators Association has announced the longlists for this year's National Translation Awards in Poetry and Prose.
       I have several of the prose titles, but embarrassingly have only reviewed one to date -- Robin Moger's translation of Iman Mersal's Traces of Enayat.

       The shortlists will be announced 10 October, and the winner on the 26th.

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       Longlist: Österreichischer Buchpreis

       They've announced the ten titles longlisted for the Austrian Book Prize (and the three finalists for the debut prize) -- selected from 110 submissions.
       Unlike the German Book Prize, this one is not limited to novels -- anything goes.
       The longlist for the German Book Prize was also recently announced --- see my previous mention -- and three titles by Austrian authors were on it; only one of them -- Michael Köhlmeier's Das Philosophenschiff -- also made the longlist of the Austrian prize.
       Previous works by several of the authors has been translated into English -- including Köhlmeier, as well as Arno Geiger.
       The shortlist will be announced 9 October, and the winner on 18 November.

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       Longlist: Baillie Gifford Prize

       They've announced the longlist for this year's Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, 12 titles selected from 349 (unfortunately not revealed) books.
       The shortlist will be announced 10 October, and the winner on 19 November.

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       Cundill History Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Cundill History Prize, awarded for a: "book that embodies historical scholarship, originality, literary quality and diverse appeal"
       Although this is the 'shortlist', a shorter list -- that of the (three) 'finalists' -- will be announced 3 October, and the winner on 30 October.

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       Europese Literatuurprijs

       They've announced the winner of this year's Europese Literatuurprijs, the leading Dutch award for a work in translation from a language from one of the member countries of the Council of Europe, and it is the Dutch translation (by Karol Lesman) of Olga Tokarczuk's Empuzjon.

       This is coming out -- as The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story -- in English at the end of this month -- see also the publicity pages from Riverhead Books and Fitzcarraldo Editions, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, or Amazon.co.uk. I look forward to seeing it; I expect it will pick up quite a few US/UK prizes as well.

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       Halldór Laxness International Literary Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Halldór Laxness International Literary Prize, a biennial prize awarded to an author for their: "contribution to the renewal of narrative art" and it is Salman Rushdie, who gets to pick up the prize on the 13th.

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       Prix Goncourt longlist

       The Académie Goncourt has announced (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) its 'première sélection' -- the first longlist, consisting of sixteen titles; see also, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.
       Quite a few authors who have had previous titles translated into English are represented, including Kamel Daoud, Maylis de Kerangal, and ... Olivier Norek. I am most intrigued by Interior-author Thomas Clerc's Paris Musée du XXIe siècle.
       This is a four-round prize, with a shorter longlist (or longer shortlist) to be announced 1 October, followed by a shortlist of four titles on 22 October, and then the winner on 4 November.

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       Reconstruction of the Poet review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of the new volume of Uncollected Works of Zbigniew Herbert, Reconstruction of the Poet, recently out, from Ecco.

       (The very first review copies I ever received at the complete review were two Herbert volumes I had requested from Ecco, copies of Elegy for the Departure and The King of the Ants that I received in April, 1999.)

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       Daniela Hodrová (1946-2024)

       Czech author Daniela Hodrová has passed away; see, for example, the Novinky.cz report.
       The only one of her books under review at the complete review is her A Kingdom of Souls, but I have the full City of Torment (and Prague. I see a city ...) and expect to get to them.

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       Premio FIL de Literatura

       They've announced the winner of this year's Premio FIL de Literatura en Lenguas Romances, the leading Romance language author prize, paying out $150,000, and it is Mia Couto.
       Only one of his books is under review at the complete review -- The Tuner of Silences -- but I have, and have read, several others; a worthy choice (for a prize with a fine list of winners).

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       Literature in ... Ukraine

       In The Kyiv Independent Dinara Khalilova offers another look at how Ukrainians find solace, identity in books amid Russia's war.

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       AI and creative writing

       Yet more can/will Artificial Intelligence make art articles:

• Ted Chiang's piece arguing Why A.I. Isn't Going to Make Art has been getting a lot of attention (and is, of course, what people want to hear)
  
  
• At Big Think Tim Brinkhof wonders: ChatGPT is great at summarizing books. But will AI ever write a true work of literature ?
  
  
• In The New York Times Curtis Sittenfeld writes about "a contest between ChatGPT and me, to see who could write — or “write” — a better beach read", in An Experiment in Lust, Regret and Kissing (presumably paywalled) ; see also Susannah Meadows' Q & A with her Can You Tell Which Short Story ChatGPT Wrote ? (ditto) .

       I still think people underestimate how dominant AI will be in the 'creative' sector. Given its cost advantages -- and, yes, I know AI is not truly 'cheap', but, hey, how much are you paying out of pocket for it ? -- it's hard to see human creators competing. An infinite number of monkeys typing out stuff at random was always a fun thought experiment, but the time/cost factor meant it was just that, purely theoretical; AI can spit out stuff at (to you) essentially no cost, and it is going to overwhelm the market. (Soon, too, folks; it's nice that you worry and argue about the 'quality' of the product, but take a look at this (or any) week's bestseller list and remind yourself how much (i.e. little) quality has to do with literary success.)

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       Under the Eye of the Big Bird review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Kawakami Hiromi's Under the Eye of the Big Bird, just (well, tomorrow ...) out from Soft Skull in the US. (UK readers will have to wait until January -- though they did get The Third Love this summer (Granta), which doesn't seem to have US publisher yet.)

       This is the ninth Kawakami title under review at the site.

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       One Hundred Years of Solitude in Japan

       Shinchosha published a paperback edition of Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude earlier this summer and, as Gonzalo Robledo reports at El País in ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ sweeps Japan after a 50-year delay, it's been: 'the publishing phenomenon of the summer in Japan'.
       Apparently, it's sold: "some 290,000 copies in eight weeks ... almost the same as the total number of three hardcover versions printed in the past 52 years"

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       WhatsApp fiction

       At Al Jazeera Chris Muronzi reports that WhatsApp novelists use messaging app to write and sell books in Zimbabwe.
       Remember 'cell phone novels' -- 携帯小説 ? See my mention from ... 2007.
       This probably won't take off in too many markets, but, hey, whatever works, right ?

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       Thomas McGonigle Q & A

       At The Collidescope George Salis has Earthly Time: A Rare Interview with Thomas McGonigle.
       Among McGonigle's responses:

GS: What novel do you think deserves more readers ? Why ?

TM: The book Larva: A Midsummer Night’s Babel by Julián Ríos. It’s something to be read over and over again or to be read about over and over again as it never can really be read…it is to be constantly gone back to much in the way the Bible or the Koran are to be read by a believer.

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       Daisy Rockwell Q & A

       Geetanjali Shree's Our City That Year is now out in English -- see the India Hamish Hamilton publicity page, and this excerpt --, translated by Daisy Rockwell, who also translated Shree's International Booker Prize-winning Tomb of Sand, and in the Hindustan Times Chintan Girish Modi has a Q & A with Daisy Rockwell – “Do whatever you need to do, but do not remain silent”.
       US and UK editions will eventually be available -- the US edition from HarperVia; see their publicity page, or pre-order your copy at Amazon.com.

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       Naguib Mahfouz Medal shortlist

       The American University in Cairo Press has announced the shortlist for this year's Naguib Mahfouz Medal, a leading Arabic-language novel prize.
       There are six titles left in the running, selected from 181 submissions from 18 countries.
       The winner will be announced 11 December.

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       Fall previews

       New fall book previews include Time's The 32 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2024 and Hillel Italie at AP on how Fall is bringing fantasy (and romantasy), literary fiction, politics and Taylor-ed book offerings.

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       Harlequin Butterfly review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of EnJoe Toh's Akutagawa Prize-winning Harlequin Butterfly, another in Pushkin Press' Japanese novella series.

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

       Prix Transfuge

       It's 'rentrée littéraire'-time in France, the annual seasonal big flood of books unleashed on the market, and the prix Transfuge, awarded in nine categories, suggests some of the big titles; see this year's winners -- with Kamel Daoud's Houris winning for best French novel; see also the Gallimard publicity page.
       There's no general foreign fiction prize, but they do honor the best Latin American, 'Anglo-Saxon' (i.e. English-language), and Russian novels.

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

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       Literature in ... Taiwan

       In the Taipei Times Thomas Bird talks with Grayhawk literary agent and Books from Taiwan editor in chief Joshua Dyer about 'what's hot in contemporary Taiwanese literature', in Making literary waves.

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

       Weston International Award

       They've announced the winner of this year's Weston International Award -- a C$75,000 author prize administered by Writers' Trust of Canada, honoring: "career achievement in nonfiction writing" -- and it is Butter Chicken in Ludhiana-author Pankaj Mishra

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

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       Leonard Riggio (1941-2024)

       Longtime Barnes & Noble head Leonard Riggio has passed away; see, for example, Hillel Italie's AP report.

       I grew up near the 105 Fifth Avenue flagship store -- before B & N became a superstore empire -- and it was a favored haunt (along with the Sales Annex across the street ...) in my teen years. The 'superstores' were, over the years, of very uneven quality, but at their best at least some of them were pretty good.

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

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       Precipice review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Robert Harris' latest novel, his semi-documentary Precipice.

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

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