opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

11 - 20 May 2026

11 May: Wales Book of the Year shortlists | AI and interpreting | Apologies
12 May: Libris Literatuur Prijs | FAF Translation Prize finalists
13 May: Wolff Translator's Prize | 'Gaza's lost books' | Sami Rohr Prize finalists
14 May: New Zealand Book Awards | Stella Prize
15 May: Dylan Thomas Prize | Laura B. McGrath Q & A
16 May: Orwell Prize longlists | Pope blesses book fair participants | Essential US works ?
18 May: '100 best novels' | Self-Control review
19 May: Premio Strega Europeo | NSW Literary Awards | Andrew Gallix Q & A
20 May: International Booker Prize | Miles Franklin longlist | Sally Rooney Q & A | I'm out of here ...

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       International Booker Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's International Booker Prize, and it is Taiwan Travelogue, by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, in Lin King's translation.

       (This also already won the (American) National Book Award for Translated Literature in 2024, so this isn't a huge surprise.)

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

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       Miles Franklin longlist

       They've announced the ten-title-strong longlist for this year's Miles Franklin Literary Award, the leading Australian novel prize.

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

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       Sally Rooney Q & A

       At The Guardian Samir Eskanda has a Q & A with Sally Rooney on a new Hebrew translation of Intermezzo: ‘The Israeli culture sector is complicit in apartheid’ -- and at +972 Haggai Matar explains We’re publishing Sally Rooney in Hebrew, in line with BDS. Here’s how and why.

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

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       I'm out of here ...

       Well, the US, that is: after living here more on than off for over five decades I am relocating back to the homeland.
       Not much should change at the complete review -- does it ever ? -- though I'll have to figure out the sourcing of review-copies, which might have some effect on what gets reviewed. (Certainly, for example, you can expect more reviews of German -- and likely French and Dutch -- titles, including more that haven't been translated into English.)
       It'll take me a bit to settle in -- and for my trove of books being shipped over to arrive and get unpacked -- but mostly things should move ahead here as always, if a bit more slowly for a while.


       (Yes, that's me in 1969/70, sometime shortly after first arriving in the US.)

       (For what it's worth, my departure was not precipitated by the current administration and its actions -- I would have left, regardless (and would have done so earlier, had that been possible), and had no regrets in any case; still, current circumstamces certainly didn't make staying any more tempting. Not that the domestic Austrian political situation is much more heartening .....)

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

       Premio Strega Europeo

       They've announced the winner of this year's Premio Strega Europeo, the leading Italian prize for a European narrative work in translation, and it is the Italian translation of La llamada, by Leila Guerriero; this is apparently forthcoming in English, in Megan McDowell's translation, as The Call (from Knopf in the US and Pushkin Press in the UK); see also the Indent Literary Agency information page.
       It is a work of non-fiction -- the story of Silvia Labayru.
       It has received lots of critical praise -- and also won, for example, the French prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger last year.

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

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       NSW Literary Awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's NSW Literary Awards -- "the richest and longest running state-based literary awards in Australia" -- with The Immigrants by Moreno Giovannoni taking the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction; see also the Black Inc. publicity page.
       Näku Dhäruk by Clare Wright won both the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction and the overall Book of the Year prize.

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

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       Andrew Gallix Q & A

       At 3:AM Gerry Feehily has Ulysses with Finnegans Rising: An Interview with Andrew Gallix -- mainly about Gallix's new novel Loren Ipsum; see also the Dodo Ink publicity page.

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

       '100 best novels'

       As widely noted and commented upon, the latest '100 best novels'-list is out, The Guardian's The 100 best novels of all time (that have been published in English), selected by 172 authors, critics and academics who each listed their top 10 novels of all time in ranked order (you can see how each one voted by clicking the "See all the votes"-button, which is fun (if time-consuming)).
       George Eliot's Middlemarch came out on top, with most of the usual suspects also figuring; the Anglophone make-up of the pool of voters also means the list is predictably dominated by books written in English, though the heavy-hitter foreign classics (Tolstoy, Madame Bovary, etc.) also make the cut.
       Pure click-bait, of course, but hard to resist -- as is complaining about/commenting on the choices .....

       (These sorts of things get done/published regularly, including by foreign publications, and I chanced across one from Der Spiegel last year yesterday, which is also available online -- promising 'The best books of the world' (avoiding the homer-bias by not including German-language works). Not quite the same exercise in other respects, too -- only four jurors decided the lot, and it covered all 'narrative works' (not just novels), but only from the last hundred years (so Middlemarch etc. wasn't eligible). It, too, is (overly) English-language heavy and a very mixed lot; props to them, however, for selecting Finnegans Wake (!) (though I suspect they only did so because Ulysses wasn't eligible, narrowly missing the date-cutoff).)

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

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       Self-Control review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Stig Sæterbakken's Self-Control, which Dalkey Archive Press brought out in 2012 and is now re-issuing.

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

       Orwell Prize longlists

       The Orwell Foundation has announced the longlists for this year's Orwell Prize for Political Writing and Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, eight titles each.
       Good to see a prize for political fiction, though none of these are under review at the complete review.
       The winners will be announced 25 June.

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

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       Pope blesses book fair participants

       Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin passes on Pope Leo XIV's warm greetings to those attending the Turin International Book Fair in a telegram -- along with the Pope's call that:

We need literature that helps us recognize the dignity of every person

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

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       Essential US works ?

       At Publishers Weekly they: "polled PW's staffers and freelance reviewers, as well as members of the National Book Critics Circle, on the most essential books published in the U.S. since 1776" -- each of the 151 participants asked to nominate three titles --, coming up with their list of: 15 Essential Works of American Literature.
       (Nice/interesting to see that translated works were eligible, though I doubt a one was mentioned.)
       Not sure what 'essential' means but, hey, it's another list to debate .....

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

       Dylan Thomas Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize, "the world's largest and most prestigious literary prize for young writers", and it is Joy Is My Middle Name, by Sasha Debevec-McKenney; see also the publicity pages from Fitzcarraldo Editions and W. W. Norton & Company.

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

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       Laura B. McGrath Q & A

       At The Paris Review blog Rosa Lyster has a lengthy Q & A with Laura B. McGrath on her new book about literary agents, Middlemen.

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

       New Zealand Book Awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, the leading New Zealand literary prize, with All Her Lives by Ingrid Horrocks winning the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction and Te Āhua o ngā Kupu Whakaari a Te Kooti by Tā Pou Temara (Ngāi Tūhoe) (see also the Auckland University Press publicity page) winning the Mūrau o te Tuhi – Māori Language Award.

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

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       Stella Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Stella Prize, an Australian prize, "celebrating Australian women and non-binary writing", and it is Cannon, by Lee Lai; see also the Giramondo publicity page.

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

       Wolff Translator's Prize

       The Goethe-Institut New York has announced the winner of this year's Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize for a translation from the German published in the US or Canada, and it is Max Lawton, for his translation of Michael Lentz's Schattenfroh; see also the Deep Vellum publicity page.
       (I haven't seen this one but expect to get to the German original at some point.)

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

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       'Gaza's lost books'

       At Qantara.de Joseph Croitoru writes about how 'In Gaza, people are working to salvage books from the ruins of libraries, while others are digitising historical texts', in How to preserve what remains.
       As he notes:

During the Gaza War, most public libraries, private book collections and many bookshops were significantly damaged or almost completely destroyed, mostly because of Israeli air strikes.

       Countless tragic losses in this conflict, from its beginnings, and this certainly isn't the least of them -- but at least here something can be salvaged.

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

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       Sami Rohr Prize finalists

       The (US$100,000) Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, whose winning author: "must be an emerging writer whose work shows potential for continued engagement with Jewish subjects and future contribution to Jewish literature/studies" alternates between honoring works of fiction and non; this year is a non-fiction year, and they've now announced the four finalists for this year's prize.

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

       Libris Literatuur Prijs

       They've announced the winner of this year's Libris Literatuur Prijs -- not yet at the official site, last I checked, but see, for example the announcement at ... sponsor Libris.nl --, a leading Dutch prize for a work of fiction, and it is Aan het einde van de oorlog, by Bert Natter.
       This is forthcoming next year in English, as At the End of the War, from Summit Books UK; see, for example, the Australian publicity page or pre-order your copy at Amazon.co.uk (there's no US listing yet).

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

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       FAF Translation Prize finalists

       The French-American Foundation has announced the finalists for its translation prizes in its two categories, fiction and non; sadly, not yet at their official site ...; the only place I could find them posted online was at this LinkedIn post.
       The only one of these under review at the complete review is one of the two Mark Polizzotti translations that he is a finalist for, The Emotions, by Jean-Philippe Toussaint.
       I've only seen one more of these titles.

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

       Wales Book of the Year shortlists

       Literature Wales has announced the shortlists for this year's Wales Book of the Year, two times three titles in each of its four categories, once for books written in English, once for those written in Welsh..
       The winners will be announced 9 July.

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

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       AI and interpreting

       One-time interpreter and The Interpreter-author Diego Marani writes that AI will make language barriers disappear -- and diminish our understanding of other cultures at The Guardian.
       Even though he believes: "The age of the interpreter is over", with AI taking over that role, he suggests this comes with a great loss:

The first effect of the AI translation revolution will be to render the study and learning of languages superfluous for individuals. It will be enough to turn to our phones to understand whoever speaks to us and to translate our own speech into any language. Eventually, we shall be able to read information in every language, to write texts that can be read from one end of the world to the other. Yet knowledge -- true understanding of others, of their cultures and customs, of the cast of mind of another country -- will not thereby become ours.

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

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       Apologies

       I am at (hopefully) the end of what feels like the world's longest (house-)move, hence the rate of reviews being posted has slowed down greatly -- and will continue to be slow until near the end of the month; posting here at the Literary Saloon will also probably be more occasional than usual for a while.
       I hope to get fully back on track once I have relocated; thank you for your patience.

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

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