opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

11 - 20 September 2026

11 September: Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Yale Drama Series Prize
12 September: Grand prix de la littérature américaine longlist | AI-assisted translation
13 September: Belarusian literature Q & A | The Great Victorian Collection review
14 September: Windham-Campbell Festival | Chinese science fiction | Deepa Bhasthi Q & A
15 September: The Doll - the miniseries | AI and writing and publishing | Damon Galgut profile
16 September: (US) National Book Award for Translated Literature longlist | Singapore Literature Prize longlists | Reading in ... Singapore | Hotlist longlist
17 September: Annie Dillard (1945-2026) | Gaelic Literature Awards | Ehrenpreis des Österreichischen Buchhandels | 'Chinese culture in the 2020s' | George Saunders profile
18 September: (US) National Book Award for Fiction longlist | Dayton Literary Peace Prizes | Crossword Book Awards longlists | Wolfson History Prize shortlist
19 September: Uketsu profile | Writing in ... China | Unpacking update
20 September: Gonçalo M. Tavares Q & A | Bookstores in ... Belgium | Jonathan Franzen profile | Esterházy Irodalmi Díj | The Defection of A.J. Lewinter review

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       Gonçalo M. Tavares Q & A

       At El País Tereixa Constenla has a Q & A with the The Neighborhood-author, in Gonçalo M. Tavares, writer: ‘If a country like the U.S. has 40 million poor people, that country isn’t rich’.
       Among his observations:

I have nothing against books that sell a lot, as long as they’re like Don Quixote (1605-1615) or Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World (2022). What does irritate me is when literature just becomes a distraction. A good book doesn’t allow the reader to be in a passive state like a viewer watching a Netflix series.

       And:

Q. How many manuscripts do you have sitting in a drawer?

A. Many. Maybe dozens.

Q. In five years, will we be able to read what you’re writing now ?

A. Yes. But that’s something that could be problematic. When I die -- which could happen tomorrow, or in a week -- there will be a gigantic number of books.

       That does not sound like too bad a problem to me .....
       He also suggests that: "The 21st century is beginning to resemble the 20th century like a bad photocopy".

       Meanwhile: has really no US/UK publisher bought the rights to his epopeia O Fim dos Estados Unidos da América yet ? Agents Literarische Agentur MertinWitt list sales to Brazil, Egypt, France, Poland, and Spain on their author page for him, but no English-language rights sales yet. Come on, folks !

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       Bookstores in ... Belgium

       At The Brussels Times Jon Eldridge has a long and nicely illustrated look at Brussels' 'remarkably varied bookstore scene' in Reading the room: Brussels bookshops turn the page.

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       Jonathan Franzen profile

       At The Guardian Sophie McBain profiles the author on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of The Corrections, in Jonathan Franzen: ‘It’s still mysterious to me that I was angry for so long’.
       The concluding observation:

“I don’t really care about bettering my soul. I care about getting it right,” he adds. And then, the reflexive edit: “Which is a pretty good ending line.”

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       Esterházy Irodalmi Díj

       The Esterházy Literary Award is a relatively new Hungarian literary award, given for a novel or poetry-collection, paying out €10,000 to the winner, and first awarded last year; the Esterházy Magyarország Alapítvány has now announced the winner of this year's prize, and it is Elmész, visszajössz, sose halsz meg, by Bognár Péter; see also the hlo report.
       Sixty-one titles were submitted for this year's prize; see also this year's shortlist, and the Magvető Kiadó publicity page for Elmész, visszajössz, sose halsz meg.

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       The Defection of A.J. Lewinter review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Robert Littell's 1973 debut, The Defection of A.J. Lewinter, re-issued last year by Soho Press (as they have much of his work over the past two years).

       Fun titbit: this -- like several of Littell's works --, was (co-)translated by the great Jean-Patrick Manchette (The Mad and the Bad, etc.), together with his wife, Mélissa; quite the endorsement, that he thought it was worth his time .....

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       Uketsu profile

       The Mainichi has Narumi Tateda's Kyodo profile of the Strange Pictures-author, in Mystery man Uketsu reflects on Dagger shortlist, early life in Britain.
       Certainly an impressive success story, as:

More than 2.7 million copies of Strange Pictures have been published in Japan and overseas, with translated editions planned in around 40 countries and regions.

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       Writing in ... China

       At Foreign Policy Kimberly Lim suggests Chinese Literature Is Undergoing a Vibe Shift ((paywalled, but ...)
       Among the observations:

“This is … the boundary of Chinese literature: you can depict suffering, but you must remember, your suffering has nothing to do with the government,” said Murong Xuecun

       There has been a noticeable change since the ascendance of Xi Jinping, including:

The result, [Notre Dame professor Michel] Hockx said, has been a far greater emphasis on cultural production that supports Xi’s own brand of “healthy patriotism, the China dream, and telling the China story well.” Since 2024, Chinese state media has promoted the concept of “new mass literature and art,” which reframes stories of hardship into an approved, uplifting narrative, [UCSD professor Ping] Zhu said.

       No coïncidence then, surely, that Chinese literature hasn't seemed nearly as interesting for the past decade-plus .....

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       Unpacking update

       As regular readers know, I moved from the United States to Austria in May. All the stuff I had shipped over -- my books (the bulk of what I had sent over -- 421 boxes worth), as well as other odds and ends (no furniture, but my (relatively not-extensive) wardrobe, paperwork, some art, and the like) -- was delivered on 11 August.
       Just so you have some idea of how the unpacking is going: with the boxes filling all the rooms in the apartment, three to five high and two or three wide, only yesterday (!), some 250 box-openings in, did I find the box with my desktop computer (I've been working off my laptop for the past four months).
       Buried deep, I had honestly thought that by now the odds were up to about fifty-fifty that it had *fallen of the truck* somewhere along the way, so that was a nice semi-surprise. (The box with the monitor -- not shaped like practically all the other boxes -- I found on day one. )
       As this might suggest, I still have quite a way to go with the book-unpacking, sorting, and shelving; I would say it's going quite well, but the state of my apartment would certainly suggest otherwise to any outside observer. But really, it is ! And I am fortunate in being able to take my time and get things as right as I can. (Though as you've probably noticed, it certainly has impacted by reviewing-rate, as it will take me considerably longer to get back up to speed than I had expected -- though at least when I do it will be in much more amenable and comfortable working conditions than I have had in many years.)
       Meanwhile, I also note what a relief it is to work off/on a desktop computer again, with a 24-inch rather than 11-inch screen. Though it will take me some time to adjust to using a mouse again (rather than trackpad).

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       (US) National Book Award for Fiction longlist

       The (American) National Book Foundation has now also announced the ten-title-strong longlist for the National Book Award for Fiction, selected from 451 submissions.
       The finalists in this and all the categories will be announced on 6 October, and the winners on 18 November.

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       Dayton Literary Peace Prizes

       The Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation has announced (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) the winners of its 2026 prizes, with The Sunflower Boys by Sam Wachman getting the fiction prize; see also the Harper Perennial publicity page.

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       Crossword Book Awards longlists

       The Indian Crossword Book Awards have announced their longlists -- ten titles in each of five categories that include: fiction, translations, and ... 'business and management'; see also the more convenient summary/list here, at Scroll.in.
       Books by Rahul Bhattacharya and Jeet Thayil are among those on the fiction longlist; there are translations from six languages in the running in the translation category, with three of them from Bangla.

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       Wolfson History Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Wolfson History Prize, "the most valuable history writing prize in the UK, awarding the winner £50,000".
       The winner will be announced 1 December.

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       Annie Dillard (1945-2026)

       American author Annie Dillard has passed away; see, for example, obituaries in The Guardian and The New York Times (presumably paywalled).

       None of her work is under review at the complete review.

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       Gaelic Literature Awards

       The Gaelic Books Council (Comhairle nan Leabhraichean) has announced the winners of this year's Gaelic Literature Awards.
       Dealan-dè, by Seonag Monk, won the Highland Society of London Prize for Best Fiction Book; see also the Acair publicity page.

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       Ehrenpreis des Österreichischen Buchhandels

       They've announced the winner of this year's 'Ehrenpreis des Österreichischen Buchhandels für Toleranz in Denken und Handeln' -- the 'Honorary Prize of the Austrian Book Trade for Tolerance in Thought and Deed', sort of the Austrian version of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade -- and it is Searching for Emma-author Dacia Maraini.
       It's been awarded since 1990, and has a solid list of winners -- with, for example, this year's Frankfurt Peace Prize recipient, Philippe Sands, already picking this one up in 2023 -- but what is really noteworthy about it is that it is truly a purely honorary prize, not something you still see very often. Yes, while, for example, the Frankfurt Peace Prize comes with €25,000, this one pays out nothing -- though I do hope they are offering to cover Maraini's travel-expenses when she comes to pick up the prize on 22 November.

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       'Chinese culture in the 2020s'

       Via I am pointed to the currently freely accessible, at the New Left Review, look at 'The Situation of Chinese Culture in the 2020s' by Mao Jian, Rogue Verbs -- offering an interesting overview of much contemporary Chinese fiction.

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       George Saunders profile

       At Mpls.St.Paul Magazine Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl speaks with the author at some length, in George Saunders Is Very Impressed with Minnesota.

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       (US) National Book Award for Translated Literature longlist

       Over the course of the week the (American) National Book Foundation announces the longlists for its annual National Book Awards, and yesterday they announced the longlist for the Award for Translated Literature.
       Ten titles -- of which two are under review at the complete review: Rahul Bery's translation of Vicente Luis Mora's Centroeuropa and Martin Aitken's translation of Karl Ove Knausgaard's The School of Night.

       The shortlists for all the awards will be announced on a single day -- 6 October (the same day the shortlists for the American Literary Translators Association's National Translation Awards are expected ...) -- as will the winners, on 18 November.

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       Singapore Literature Prize longlists

       The Singapore Book Council has announced the longlists for the Singapore Literature Prize in three of its eight categories -- English Poetry, English Prose, and Chinese Prose -- (the other five categories only get shortlists); see the press release (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) (gotta admire anyone putting out a fifty-one-page press release ...) or annoyingly click your way through at the main Singapore Literature Prize-page.
       They apparently got 156 submissions across the eight categories; the shortlists for all eight categories will be announced 13 October.

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       Reading in ... Singapore

       In Singapore they've launched a: "national movement to make reading a lifelong habit and a shared culture that nurtures curious minds, critical thinkers and informed citizens", ReadSG (warning ! annoying video + sound autoplays when opened, *sigh*).
       Yes:

NLB's 2024 National Reading Habits Study [warning ! dreaded pdf format ! but this one is only two pages long] found a broader shift toward short-form, skimmable content, and away from the sustained, focused reading that improves our ability to think critically, understand different perspectives, spark our imagination and make sense of an increasingly complex world.

       And so they are taking action -- trying to get everyone to pick up/return to good old-fashioned-type reading. Starting out with fifteen minutes a day .....
       It'll be interesting to see how this goes and whether it helps or effects any change.
       See also Syarafana Shafeeq writing on the New movement to get S'poreans to read 15 minutes a day through tracking platform, virtual rewards at The Straits Times.

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       Hotlist longlist

       They've announced the ten titles that make up this year's 'Hotlist' -- an award where every independent German publisher can submit one title for consideration (205 did so this year). Three of the final ten titles are selected by the public, voting online -- admirably, you can see the top fifteen vote-getters here -- and the rest by the official jury
       The jury will select a winner from among these, to be announced on 9 October (the day after they announce the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, tough competition for limited literary attention ...).

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       The Doll - the miniseries

       Thirty years ago CEU Press re-issued the translation of Bolesław Prus' grand novel, The Doll, and New York Review Classics re-issued it some fifteen years ago -- but perhaps now its time has really come, as a Netflix miniseries based on the novel is becoming available tomorrow -- see, for example, Jillian Rayfield wondering at The New York Times Can a Polish Epic Become the World's Next Period Drama Hit ? (presumably paywalled), Laura Bais finding at Comics Basics that Netflix’s ‘The Doll’ Is Based on a Polish Literary Epic and It Might Be the Period Drama You Didn’t Know You Needed, and Ewan Jones reporting at TVP that Hotly-awaited Netflix version of classic Polish novel causes cultural stir.
       (As some of the articles also note, a (Polish) film-version is also coming out at the end of the month, directed by Maciej Kawalski; see, for example, the IMDb page.)
       I don't get Netflix (and indeed find it basically impossible to watch anything 'streaming' on my computer) and I have no idea how good or bad this adaptation might be -- but I'd certainly recommend the novel to you.
       (Meanwhile, I can't believe NYRB aren't touting the miniseries-tie-in at their publicity page for the novel.)

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       AI and writing and publishing

       Yet more pieces on the subject, with Ed Nawotka considering Publishing's AI Reckoning at Publishers Weekly -- focusing on how publishers are utilizing it: "in operations while drawing firm lines around creative work", but covering a range of topics.

       Also of interest is Joel Khalili's piece in Wired, ‘I Like My Big Rat Wife’: Meet the People Using Chatbots to Write Custom Fiction (possibly paywalled ?)), which also looks at the paper by Neel Gupta, Maria Antoniak, and Melanie Walsh, AI Fiction in the Wild (warning ! dreaded pdf format !).
       Among the observations:

One concern with all of this is that the ability to generate fiction will limit people's exposure to types of writing that may stretch them. But generated fiction may also challenge “some older, more idealistic notions about what literature is -- that there’s some communication between writer and reader, and something really valuable about that,” says Neel Gupta, a PhD candidate at the University of Washington who coauthored the study. “AI use helps to reveal that maybe for a lot of readers, this is a much more simple economic exchange. This is about getting some entertainment -- getting what they want.”

       And, as Khalili quotes one reader/writer: "It’s a digital choose-your-own-adventure book but with infinite swipes".
       On the whole, this seems a neat, engaged use of AI to me -- but if you're okay with this, why not be okay about AI-generated/assisted writing in generally/publicly 'published' form ... ?

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       Damon Galgut profile

       At Hankyoreh Im In-tack speaks with Damon Galgut on writing in a country where a book can cost half your monthly wage.
       Among his (depressing) comments:

“There’s not much value placed on literature at all in South Africa. When I won the Booker Prize, the government said nothing,” he said. “And I don’t think it was deliberate; I think they do not notice; books don’t register at all.”

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       Windham-Campbell Festival

       The Windham-Campbell Festival, featuring this year's batch of Windham-Campbell Prize winners -- who include Fiction-winners Gwendoline Riley (author of the Booker Prize-longlisted The Palm House) and Adam Ehrlich Sachs (Gretel and the Great War) -- runs from tomorrow through Friday at Yale University; see, for example, Mike Cummings' YaleNews preview report, Windham-Campbell Festival brings literary star power to campus. (This is the prize for which each winner receives US$175,000 to support their work.)
       Some of the events should eventually be watchable at their YouTube channel.

       (Not there: The Last Samurai-author Helen DeWitt, who won-but-didn't-win; see, for example, her account at her paperpools weblog.)

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       Chinese science fiction

       At Five Books Sylvia Bishop speaks with Mingwei Song, who recommends The Best Chinese Science Fiction
       Nice to see the fascinating New Story of the Stone, by Wu Jianren -- a sequel to one of the greatest works of literature, and one of the Chinese classics, The Story of The Stone -- rates a prominent mention; this work surely deserves more attention than it has gotten.
       Also good to see Chi Ta-Wei's The Membranes rate; this is another excellent work which deserves considerably more attention.
       And, yes, the best-known of all works of Chinese science fiction, Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem, makes the cut here, too; certainly a significant work, but one that I don't think quite lives up to its very high reputation .....
       Han Song's Hospital is also under review at the complete review -- and I'm sorry that I haven't seen his other novels yet. And I've been trying to get a copy of Lao She's Cat Country for ages but haven't managed yet ....

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       Deepa Bhasthi Q & A

       In The Kathmandu Post Anish Ghimire has a Q & A with the translator of Banu Mushtaq's Heart Lamp (which I have, but haven't gotten to yet ...), in Booker-winning translator Deepa Bhasthi on why she has ‘nothing kind to say about AI’.
       Among her responses:

What do you think young translators worry about too much -- and what should they be worrying about instead?

I don’t think young translators worry enough about critical thinking. Everyone is so geared towards doing everything quicker. I think translators don’t read enough. I always say you have to read more than you write, and listen more than you talk.

And we should read more South Asian literature. We’re very happy to read translations from French, Italian and German, which we should, but we also need to read stories from our own part of the world.

       (I, too, think we should read more South Asian literature -- even if we're not from that part of the world ..... And, yes, critical thinking, good, too .....)

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       Belarusian literature Q & A

       At Naša Nìva they have an English translation of the BG.Media Q & A with the editor-in-chief of bellit.info and press secretary of the International Union of Belarusian Writers, Tsikhan Charniakevich, Charniakevich: Don't expect a triumphant march of Belarusian literature across Europe.
       Yes, he's (realistically) not too hopeful:

What needs to happen for Belarusian literature to be talked about again in ten years as one of the most interesting literatures of Eastern Europe ?

I don't know, I simply wouldn't expect that at all.

       But good to hear about publishers such as Лысы Чэрап:

They've published about a dozen books, maybe. Very outrageous, on the verge of foul play, in the spirit of DIY 1990s. But these books are printed because they sold 20-50 copies of the previous print run, and with the money earned, they printed a new book. So, there are publishing projects that bypass all barriers: both interesting and completely unreadable things can appear there.

       Also interesting to hear that:

I would say that in emigration over the past five years, Belarusians have published 10 times more fiction in Russian than there was in "pre-revolutionary," "pre-harvest" times. It's easier for them that way, they breathe that way, they feel that way. All this is understandable, considering how much Russian-speaking urban population there is in Belarus, from which, of course, writers also emerge. Therefore, the drift of professionals will be towards the Russian language, and I predict that it will increase year by year both in Belarus and in the diaspora.

       (But/and he also notes: "People come from a Russian-speaking environment but see that Belarusian-language content interests readers, so some run their Russian-language texts through Chat GPT" .....)

       Disappointingly little Belarusian literature is available in English, and little is under review at the complete review -- only: Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich's Voices from Chernobyl, Vasil Bykau's Alpine Ballad, and Paranoia and Мова by Victor Martinovich

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       The Great Victorian Collection review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Brian Moore's 1975 novel, The Great Victorian Collection.

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       Grand prix de la littérature américaine longlist

       Among the many, many French literary prizes is, unsurprisingly, also one for the best American novel (that's been translated into French, mind you), the Grand prix de la littérature américaine -- and they've now announced this year's eight-title-strong longlist; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.
       Four finalists will be announced on 5 October.

       Meanwhile, they've also announced the longlists for the prix Médicis, awarded in two categories: French novel (18 titles are in the running) and translated novel (17 titles -- with only one overlap with the Grand prix de la littérature américaine longlist, Laura Kasischke's The Lifeguard (see also the Red Hen publicity page)); see, for example, the ActuaLitté report.

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       AI-assisted translation

       Yet another look at the use of AI in publishing translations, as Sam Spratford reports that: 'Tech developers think automation will fundamentally reshape the work of literary translators, but not everyone is on board', exploring in Publishers Weekly what is (arguably) Lost in Translation.
       As Spratford explains:

Nuanxed generates the first draft of a translation with an in-house AI tool, then employs human translators, editors, and proofreaders to finalize the text, using additional AI tools to expedite their work. This is the most common model used by the bevy of AI-powered translation companies that have risen to prominence in recent years.

       [Aside: maybe it's just me, but if engaged in any word/language-related activity I could not imagine dealing with a company which goes by such an ... un-nuanced name. Deal-breaker right there. (Though, yes: points for the very appropriate new-Angst-connotation/association.)]
       Much as I sympathize with translators, I'm not sure they are doing themselves (m)any favors by how they (generally) frame/present the issue -- here, for example, invoking Emily Wilson's translation of the Odyssey and with quotes such as this:

Translator Stefan Tobler is the founder of the U.K.-based small press And Other Stories, which has won two consecutive International Booker Prizes. Tobler tells PW that the AI-assisted translations he’s read “don’t hold a candle to the best literary translation,” adding that there’s “no point assuming progress will be continual.”

       I have the highest regard for Tobler and And Other Stories, trusting their high standards in both the selection of books they publish and the care they put in their translations. But the debate and problem isn't here, at the high(est) end of the 'literary' spectrum.
       There will always be some ... well, basically bespoke, all-human literary translation, of works that are, in various ways, challenging; AI will only ever be of limited assistance in translating classical (and much modern) poetry or epics, or, say, something by Krasznahorkai László or Elfriede Jelinek. But let's face it, most of what is published and most of what sells (really: the overwhelming majority) is schlock -- and, I'm sorry, but AI can already translate most schlock pretty well, probably with minimal editing; I just don't see how 'AI-assisted' translation doesn't completely take over this market (and I wish the discussion would focus more on that, and the implications for translators (as even translators who do great work translating 'literary' stuff often earn much of their bread and butter churning out translations of mysteries and other, more basic, popular fiction)). Similarly, surely AI translation will take over large swathes of the field of non-fiction, where the 'facts' often matter more to the reader than the (writing) style.
       But, of course, this is far from the last we'll hear on the subject .....

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       Prime Minister's Literary Awards

       Writing Australia has announced the winners of this year's Prime Minister's Literary Awards, "the richest literary prize in the nation".
       There are six categories, with the fiction award going to A Piece of Red Cloth, by Leonie Norrington, Djawundil Maymuru, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, and Djawa Burarrwanga; see also the Allen & Unwin publicity page.

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       Yale Drama Series Prize

       They've announced (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) the winner of this year's Yale Drama Series Prize, and it is AMANDA, by Mo Holmes; it will be published by Yale University Press.
       This award has been handed out since 2006, and: "Over twenty years, the competition has received more than 27,000 submissions from 134 countries".
       All the sadder then that with the awarding of this year's prize they've also announced

Yale University Press has made the difficult decision to conclude the Yale Drama Series Prize after the 2026 award year. The 2026 prize marks the final year of the program.

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

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