opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

1 - 10 September 2022

1 September: Q & As: Glynne Walley - Ken Kalfus
2 September: National Translation Awards longlists | Abbas Maroufi (1957-2022) | Bayerischer Buchpreis finalists | Freezing Down review
3 September: Joseph Roth | Zadie Smith on Rushdie | Coming Japanese works
4 September: JCB Prize longlist | Ian McEwan profile
5 September: Sunday Times Literary Awards shortlists | Hungarian children's literature | Mr. Wilder and Me review
6 September: Hugo Awards | Jhumpa Lahiri profile
7 September: Premio FIL de Literatura | Booker Prize shortlist | Prix Goncourt longlist | Giller Prize longlist | The English Understand Wool review
8 September: ALTA Book Awards shortlists | Park Kyung-ni Prize | Prix Renaudot longlists | Literature in ... Afghanistan | The Shehnai Virtuoso review
9 September: Griffin Poetry Prize consolidation | Guyana Prize for Literature relaunched | Kirkus Prize finalists
10 September: Premio José Donoso | 'Five Ukrainian authors you should read' | Hotlist 2022

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       Premio José Donoso

       They've announced the winner of this year's Premio Iberoamericano de las Letras José Donoso, a US$50,000 Spanish-language author prize, and it is Samanta Schweblin, several of whose works have been translated into English.
       They've been handing this out since 2001, and while the list of winners does include Isabel Allende (2003), it is more hit than miss, with Ricardo Piglia (2005), António Lobo Antunes (2006), Javier Marías (2008), Diamela Eltit (2010), and Rodrigo Rey Rosa (2015) among the winners.

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

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       'Five Ukrainian authors you should read'

       At Deutsche Welle Elizabeth Grenier suggests Five Ukrainian authors you should read.
       Titles by three of them are under review at the complete review: Yurii Andrukhovych (e.g. Perverzion), Oksana Zabuzhko (Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex), and Serhiy Zhadan (e.g. Mesopotamia),

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       Hotlist 2022

       They've announced the ten finalists for the Hotlist 2022, an award for which each German independent publisher can nominate one title for consideration
       Always interesting to see what foreign independent publishers are bringing out.

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

       Griffin Poetry Prize consolidation

       They've announced that the Griffin Poetry Prize will no longer award two prizes -- one for a collection by a Canadian author, one by a foreign author -- but rather combine the two into one prize, combining the generous prize money as well -- making for: "the world's largest international prize for a single book of poetry written in, or translated into English"
       Among the interesting features of the prize:

In the event a winning book is a translation into English, and to recognize the important and often underrepresented work of translators, the Griffin Poetry Prize will allocate 60% of the prize to the translator and 40% to the original poet.

       I don't know of any literary prize that is not primarily a prize for translation that gives the translator a bigger cut than the original author. (The DUBLIN Literary Award divvies up the money 75/25 if the winning title is a translation, the International Booker Prize -- which is for a work in translation -- goes 50/50.)
       The longlist for this new iteration of the prize will be announced in March 2023.

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

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       Guyana Prize for Literature relaunched

       They've announced that Guyana Prize for Literature relaunched with newer categories, features..
       As the Stabroek News report Guyana Prize for Literature returns after six-year hiatus also notes, the top prize will be -- $1,000,000 !
       Oh, right -- that's a million Guyanese dollars (which, I'm afraid, trade at (considerably) less than a penny to the (US) dollar ...).
       Still, good to see !

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       Kirkus Prize finalists

       They've announced the finalists for the Kirkus Prize in its three categories -- fiction, non, and 'Young Readers' Literature'
       The only title under review at the complete review is fiction finalist The Books of Jacob, by Olga Tokarczuk.
       The winners will be announced 27 October.

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

       ALTA Book Awards shortlists

       The American Literary Translators Association has announced the shortlists for their book awards: the Italian Prose in Translation Award, the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize, the Spain-USA Foundation Translation Award, and the National Translation Awards.
       A few of the variously longlisted titles are under review at the complete review:

• Italian Prose in Translation Award:
  • Clarissa Botsford's translation of Sacha Naspini's Nives
  
  
• Spain-USA Foundation Translation Award:
  • Mara Faye Lethem's translation of Max Besora's The Adventures and Misadventures of the Extraordinary and Admirable Joan Orpí, Conquistador and Founder of New Catalonia
  • Megan McDowell's translation of Sara Mesa's Among the Hedges
  • Valerie Miles' translation of Rafael Chirbes' Cremation
  
  
• National Translation Awards - Prose:
  • Martin Aitken's translation of Karl Ove Knausgaard's The Morning Star
  • Jeremy Tiang's translation of Liu Xinwu's The Wedding Party

       The winners will be announced 6 October.

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       Park Kyung-ni Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Park Kyung-ni Prize, an international author prize, and it is Amin Maalouf; see, for example, Park Han-sol's report in The Korea Times, Lebanese-born French author to be awarded Park Kyung-ni prize.

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       Prix Renaudot longlists

       They've announced the longlists for the prix Renaudot in its two categories, fiction and non, with fifteen titles left in the running for the fiction prize; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.

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       Literature in ... Afghanistan

       At the Los Angeles Review of Books Homeira Qaderi writes about Literature in Afghanistan: A Dream Gone to Ruins.

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

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       The Shehnai Virtuoso review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Dhumketu's The Shehnai Virtuoso and Other Stories.

       This is a translation from the Gujarati -- a language woefully under-represented in English translation.
       How many books translated from Gujarati have been published/distributed in the US ? The Translation Database at Publishers Weekly finds that between 2008 to 2022 there have been all of ... two -- this one and Ila Arab Mehta's Fence; see the Zubaan publicity page.

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

       Premio FIL de Literatura

       They've announced the winner of this year's Premio FIL de Literatura en Lengua Romances, the leading Romance-language author prize (which pays out US$150,000 to the winner), and it is Mircea Cărtărescu, selected from the 67 authors from 18 countries that were nominated.

       The English translation of Cărtărescu's Solenoid, coming from Deep Vellum -- see their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org or Amazon.co.uk --, is one of this fall's most eagerly anticipated translations.

       The list of winners of this prize is very impressive; it's dominated by Spanish-writing authors, but another Romanian-writing author, Norman Manea, picked it up in 2016.

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

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       Booker Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Booker Prize, the leading English-language novel prize, with six titles left in the running.
       Only one title is under review at the complete review: Shehan Karunatilaka's The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida.
       In The Guardian one of the judges, Shahidha Bari, writes ‘I’ve no idea how we’ll pick a winner’: the challenge of a spectacular Booker shortlist.
       The winner will be announced 17 October.

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

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       Prix Goncourt longlist

       They've announced the longlist (well, the 'première sélection'; this prize goes through four rather than the usual three rounds) for this year's prix Goncourt, the leading French-language novel prize; see the official press release (warning ! dreaded pdf format !).
       Some of these authors have had books previously published in English, including Muriel Barbery (e.g. The Elegance of the Hedgehog), Grégoire Bouillier (e.g. The Mystery Guest), and Anne Serre (e.g. The Governesses),
       The shorter longlist will be announced 4 October, the shortlist on 25 October; the winner will be announced 3 November.

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

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       Giller Prize longlist

       They've announced the longlist for this year's Scotiabank Giller Prize, a leading Canadian fiction prize, with fourteen titles selected from 138 submitted titles; a dozen are novels and two are short story collections
       The shortlist will be announced 27 September, and the winner on 7 November.

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

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       The English Understand Wool review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Helen DeWitt's new novella, The English Understand Wool.

       This is one of six titles coming out at the end of the month in a new series from New Directions, Storybook ND -- curated by Gini Alhadeff, and aiming: "to deliver the pleasure one felt as a child reading a marvelous book from cover to cover in an afternoon".
       New Directions have done such short-read series before, with their Pearls (which includes several gems, including local favorite Because She Never Asked by Enrique Vila-Matas), and obviously the Pearls have, to my mind, a great size advantage -- they're all pocket-sized (as, of course, all books -- or at least all works of fiction -- should be), but this is an appealing silver-spined set as well.
       The other titles all look very promising too -- and this one certainly impresses.

       I should be tackling DeWitt's The Last Samurai later this year, too: I want to go for a re-read (this time of the new(er) New Directions edition, rather than the *original* Talk Miramax (!) one), to go with Lee Konstantinou's The Last Samurai Reread, which I am looking forward to seeing (see the Columbia University Press publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org or Amazon.co.uk).

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

       Hugo Awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's Hugo Awards, "science fiction's most prestigious award".
       Lots of categories, with A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine named best novel.

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

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       Jhumpa Lahiri profile

       At Varsity Taneesha Datta profiles the Translating Myself and Others-author, in ‘If you’ve never translated seriously, you don’t really understand what language is’: Pulitzer prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri.

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

       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.
       Not surprisingly, Damon Galgut's Booker Prize-winning The Promise has made the fiction shortlist; I haven't seen that or any of the other of these titles.

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

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       Hungarian children's literature

       At hlo Anna Bentley "presents some leading writers, publishers, and trends of Hungarian children's literature" in her overview of Hungarian Children's Literature: Zany, Philosophical, and Innovative.

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

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       Mr. Wilder and Me review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Jonathan Coe's Mr. Wilder and Me.

       Yes, this came out in the UK in 2020, and in numerous translations since then, and, yes, Jonathan Coe already has a new title coming out this fall (in the UK), Bournville (see the Viking publicity page), but the US edition of this one is only, finally coming out later this month ......
       (A movie version is in development, too, with a screenplay by Stephen Frears and Christopher Hampton, to be directed by Stephen Frears, and starring Christoph Waltz (as Mr. Wilder, not 'me)').

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

       JCB Prize longlist

       They've announced the longlist for this year's JCB Prize longlist, a leading Indian fiction prize, with an impressive six of the ten titles works in translation; see also, for example, the report at Scroll.in.
       Among the longlisted titles is Geetanjali Shree's International Booker Prize-winning Tomb of Sand, in Daisy Rockwell's translation.

       (Updated - 6 September): See now also Sadaf Shaikh in Vogue (India) on how The 2022 JCB Prize longlist celebrates the India of many languages.

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

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       Ian McEwan profile

       Ian McEwan has a new novel coming out, Lessons, and so he's making the rounds; in The Guardian Lisa Allardice profiles him, in Ian McEwan on ageing, legacy and the attack on his friend Salman Rushdie: ‘It’s beyond the edge of human .
       I haven't seen Lessons yet but I hope to -- eight of his novels are under review at the complete review, most recently Machines Like Me --; see also the publicity pages at Jonathan Cape and Knopf, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org or Amazon.co.uk.

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

       Joseph Roth

       At Tablet David Mikics writes about The Curse of Joseph Roth -- presented as: "The story of the greatest, and maybe the drunkest, Jewish novelist you've never heard of" (sigh).

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       Zadie Smith on Rushdie

       PEN Transmissions now has Zadie Smith on Salman the Wordsmith, first published a few days ago in La Stampa.

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

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       Coming Japanese works

       At Metropolis Gary Dexter suggests Five Translated Japanese Works to Read Autumn 2022.
       I hope to get to several of these, but there are, of course, also others to look forward to -- not least the second part of Lady Joker; see the Soho Press publicity page.

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

       National Translation Awards longlists

       The American Literary Translators Association has announced the longlists for this year's National Translation Awards -- twelve titles in the Prose category and seven in Poetry.
       Three of the Prose titles are under review at the complete review:

• The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgaard, translated by Martin Aitken
  
  
• The Tale of Princess Fatima, Warrior Woman, translated by Melanie Magidow
  
  
• The Wedding Party by Liu Xinwu, translated by Jeremy Tiang

       The winners will be announced 6 October.

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

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       Abbas Maroufi (1957-2022)

       Iranian author Abbas Maroufi has passed away; see, for example, the (German) Deutsche Welle report.

       The only Maroufi title under review at the complete review is his Symphony of the Dead.

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

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       Bayerischer Buchpreis finalists

       They've announced the finalists for this year's Bavarian Book Prize, three each in the two categories, fiction and non.
       The winners will be announced 10 November.

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

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       Freezing Down review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Anders Bodelsen's 1969 novel Freezing Down (published in the UK as Freezing Point).

       Bodelsen is perhaps better known (in the English-speaking world) for his Think of a Number -- made into the 1978 film The Silent Partner, starring Elliot Gould, Christopher Plummer, and Susannah York --, but this one is more impressive. And the third of the novel's three parts is set in ... 2022 ! (Bodelsen didn't quite make it that far; he died last year.)

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

       Q & A: Glynne Walley

       Last year the first volume of a translation of Kyokutei Bakin's Eight Dogs, or "Hakkenden" came out, and at the Asympotote blog Katarzyna Bartoszyńska now has a Q & A with the translator, in Texts in Context: Glynne Walley on Kyokutei Bakin.
       As Walley notes:

I hope it’s not just an obscure thing that only specialists/academics are into ! But reaching beyond that audience is definitely a challenge. I see Hakkenden as one of the most entertaining (and thought-provoking) adventure novels I’ve ever encountered, and I think people who enjoy things like The Three Musketeers or Lord of the Rings would find a lot to love in it.

       Agreed ! But, yes, -- as is the case with so many books -- it's hard to reach that audience.
       (Meanwhile, I look forward to the next volumes of the translation.)

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

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       Q & A: Ken Kalfus

       Ken Kalfus new novel -- 2 A.M. in Little America; see the Milkweed Editions publicity page -- is due out shortly, and in Forward Irene Katz Connelly has a Q & A with the author, Ken Kalfus’ new novel will keep you up at night.

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

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