opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

21 - 30 April 2026

21 April: Sheikh Zayed Book Awards | Short Circuit
22 April: Shortlists: Carol Shields Prize - NSW Literary Awards | Deutscher Sachbuchpreis finalists | The Palm House review
23 April: Prix Mondial Cino Del Duca | Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist
24 April: David Malouf (1934-2026) | Baifang Schell Book Prizes
25 April: New Asymptote | Max Seeck profile
26 April: English-language publishing in ... India | Digitizing অসম
27 April: Best non-fiction books of the 21st century ? | 'Writing in the Age of AI' | Book covers in ... India
28 April: Valeria Luiselli Q & A | Labeling in ... Russia | Cullman Center fellows
29 April: Literary translation in ... South Korea | Colette Khoury profile
30 April: Ottaway Award | Writing in ... Nicaragua

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       Ottaway Award

       Words without Borders has announced the winner of this year's Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature, which: "recognizes an individual whose work and activism have advanced WWB's mission of promoting cultural understanding through the publication and promotion of international literature", and it is Laurence Laluyaux, head of RCW International at the RCW Literary Agency; see also the RCW press release.
       Among the authors she represents are Han Kang, Krasznahorkai László, Olga Tokarczuk, Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, Chris Kraus, Valeria Luiselli, Olga Ravn, Keith Ridgway, and Sara Stridsberg -- quite an impressive list.

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

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       Writing in ... Nicaragua

       At El País Wilfredo Miranda Aburto reports on Nicaragua, ‘the land of poets’ where reading its writers is forbidden
       Even books by Ernesto Cardenal "are becoming increasingly scarce. Booksellers say they prefer not to place any more orders, a form of self-censorship to protect themselves from cultural repression".

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

       Literary translation in ... South Korea

       As, for example, Lee Hae-rin reports in The Korea Times, South Korea to launch graduate school for literary translation by 2027, as the Literature Translation Institute Korea is upgrading its Translation Academy -- "the country’s only systematic program focused on Korean literature and cultural content translation, producing 1,694 graduates who now work around the world" -- into a degree-granting program.

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       Colette Khoury profile

       Syrian author Colette Khoury recently passed away -- see, for example, the report at ANHA -- and at Qantara.de Muhammed Nafih Wafy now considers The paradox of Colette Khoury.

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       Valeria Luiselli Q & A

       At El País Iker Seisdedos has a Q & A with the Faces in the Crowd (etc.)-author, in Valeria Luiselli, writer: ‘Not to succumb to the temptation of catastrophe is also a political stance’ -- mainly about her Beginning Middle End.
       Among her responses:

I’m not particularly interested in that distinction between fiction and non-fiction as such. The point is that fiction tends to be understood as untruth. And that isn’t true either. Fiction arrives at the truth by other means.

       And:

I don’t feel like a foreigner in New York. I do in the United States.

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       Labeling in ... Russia

       The Moscow Times reports that Russian Platforms Label Pushkin, Gogol Classics Under ‘Drug Propaganda’ Law, as:

Under the legislation that took effect on March 1, literature, films, media and online content deemed to promote narcotics must be sold with a warning label.

       Sigh.

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       Cullman Center fellows

       The New York Public Library has announced the latest batch of Fellows of the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.
       The fiction writers among them are: Yaa Gyasi, Megha Majumdar, and Alexander Sammartino.

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

       Best non-fiction books of the 21st century ?

       At the Sunday Times they have their "team of literary experts picks the top factual British and Irish works since 2000", in The 25 best non-fiction books of the 21st century (possibly paywalled ?).
       Impressive aside: "In 2019 72 million factual books were sold in the UK. Last year this figure tumbled to 55 million".
       Only three of the twenty-five are under review at the complete review: Experience by Martin Amis, Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie, and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins; there's also a review-overview of the impressive Global Crisis by Geoffrey Parker.

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       'Writing in the Age of AI'

       Another article on 'Writing in the Age of AI' -- this time: Rand Richards Cooper, in Humanity on the Page in Commonweal.

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       Book covers in ... India

       At Scroll.in Bhavna Bhasin considers What shapes the designs of book covers in India ?

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

       English-language publishing in ... India

       At mint Somak Ghoshal considers: Is India's English-language publishing failing its readers ? -- noting: "the robust reading cultures in Indian languages, but English-language publishing in India is a different story".
       Ghoshal finds:

For the most part, a cursory glance at India’s English-language publishing landscape shows a poverty of imagination, lack of intellectual ambition, and no quality control -- except in the case of a few indie publishers, who continue to champion writers and books they believe in.

       Much of what he says applies to other English-language publishing landscapes as well, specifically those of the US and UK .....

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       Digitizing অসম

       As, for example, reported at India TodayNE ‘Digitising Assam 2.0’ unlocks 2.76 million pages of Assamese literature online, as: "the Nanda Talukdar Foundation has launched “Digitizing Assam 2.0,” making 2.76 million pages of Assamese literature and archival material fully searchable online".
       See the Digitizing অসম site -- though apparenlty (e-mail-)registration is required to get a peek at the goods, sigh). Still, it sounds impressive and useful (for readers of Assamese).

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

       New Asymptote

       The April issue of Asymptote is now up -- more than enough good material to see you through the weekend.

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

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       Max Seeck profile

       At The Barents Observer Susanna Sjöstedt profiles the author, in Meet Max Seeck, the bestselling Finnish crime writer.
       See also the Agency Ahlbäck author page for Seeck.

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       David Malouf (1934-2026)

       Australian author David Malouf has passed away; see, for example, the notice at Penguin Random House Australia, and obituaries at The Guardian and ABC.

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       Baifang Schell Book Prizes

       They've announced the winners of this year's Baifang Schell Book Prizes.
       The Running Flame by Fang Fang -- translated by Michael Berry -- won the award for Outstanding Literature on or from China and the Sinophone World. Daughters of the Bamboo Grove by Barbara Demick won the Nonfiction Award.

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

       Prix Mondial Cino Del Duca

       The Fondation Simone et Cino Del Duca has announced (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) the winner of this year's Prix Mondial Cino Del Duca, a €200,000 author prize for an author -- of scientific or literary works -- whose work 'carries a message of modern humanism', and it is Nobel laureate and The Prospector (etc.) author J.M.G Le Clézio.

       They've been awarding this since 1969 and it has a solid list of previous winners -- much more literary- than scientific-minded in recent years than when it started out.

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

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       Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Women's Prize for Fiction, "awarded annually to the author of the best full-length novel of the year written in English and published in the UK".
       At the Literary Hub they have brief Q & As with the six shortlisted authors.

       The winner will be announced 11 June.

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

       Shortlist: Carol Shields Prize

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Carol Shields Prize For Fiction‬, celebrating: "creativity and excellence in fiction by women and non-binary writers in Canada and the United States" -- and paying out US$150,000 to the winner.
       The winner will be announced 2 June.

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       Shortlists: NSW Literary Awards

       They've announced the shortlists for this year's NSW Literary Awards -- "the richest and longest running state-based literary awards in Australia" -- in its ten categories; unfortunately and ridiculously, at the official site you have to click through to get to the actual lists for each category (why ? why ? why ?), so go to the Books + Publishing report where they conveniently list them all.
       The winners will be announced on 18 May.

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       Deutscher Sachbuchpreis finalists

       They've announced the eight finalists for this year's German Non-Fiction Prize, selected from 239 entries from 132 publishers.
       Some interesting-sounding titles -- including a Thomas Mann biography; see the dtv publicity page.
       The winner will be announced 8 June.

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       The Palm House review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Gwendoline Riley's latest, The Palm House.

       As I mentioned, Riley was recently named a Windham-Campbell Prize winner.

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

       Sheikh Zayed Book Awards

       They announced the winners of this year's Sheikh Zayed Book Awards a few days ago -- with Nawal Nasrallah's translation of Smorgasbords of Andalusi and Maghribi Dishes and Their Salutary Benefits winning the translaion category (see also the Brill publicity page).

       See also the Sheikh Zayed Book Award-sponsored PW Spotlight: The Sheikh Zayed Book Award Turns 20 at Publishers Weekly.

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

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       Short Circuit

       I reviewed Wolf Haas' Short Circuit when it came out in German, but now it's out in English, today.
       Published by HarperVia, I wonder whether this will be his break-out novel in English. Melville House did publish a few of his Brenner novels, which are fun, but it's still relatively little of his work that has been translated into English.
       And while Short Circuit is good, his stand-out -- also available in English ! -- remains The Weather Fifteen Years Ago. It's published by Ariadne Press; some big publisher really ought to license this .....

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

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