opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

       Deutscher Sachbuchpreis

       They've announced the winner of this year's Deutscher Sachbuchpreis, the leading German-language non-fiction book prize, and it is Ein Hof und elf Geschwister, by Ewald Frie; see also the C.H.Beck publicity page.

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       Luca Di Fulvio (1957-2023)

       Italian author Luca Di Fulvio has passed away; see, for example, the fanpage.it report.
       Several of his works have been translated into English; the only one under review at the complete review is The Mannequin Man.

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       Ama Ata Aidoo (1842-2023)

       Ghanaian author Ama Ata Aidoo has passed away; see, for example, the BBC report, Ama Ata Aidoo: Ghana's famous author and feminist dies.
       Three of her works are under review at the complete review:

• Anowa
• The Dilemma of a Ghost
• Our Sister Killjoy

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       Naveen Kishore Q & A

       At Kitaab they have a Q & A with the Seagull Books-publisher, “One doesn’t always write only to be published.”- Naveen Kishore (Poet, Artist, Publisher, and Writer).

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       VCU Cabell finalists

       They've announced the three finalists for this year's VCU Cabell First Novelist Award

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       Encyclopedia review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Richard Horn's 1969 novel-as-Encyclopedia.
       This was long out of print; great to see Tough Poets Press reviving it.

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       Jnanpith Award

       They've announced the winner of the 2022 Jnanpith Award, the leading Indian author prize, and it is Damodar Mauzo; see, for example, the PTI report.
       The Goan author writes in Konkani; his novel Karmelin has been translated into English -- see the Indian Novels Collective information page -- as have several story-collections, including Teresa's Man; see also the Rupa publicity page.

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       James Tait Black shortlists

       They've announced the shortlists for this year's James Tait Black Prizes, "Britain's longest-running literary prize".
       One of the four fiction finalists is under review at the complete review: After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz.

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       Premio Reina Sofía

       They've announced the winner of this year's Premio Reina Sofía de Poesía Iberoamericana, the leading Latin American poetry prize, and it is Gioconda Belli; see, for example the EFE report at El País.

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       Daniel Hahn Q & A

       In the Hindustan Times Kunal Ray has an Interview: Daniel Hahn, translator - “Awards are a statement of what we value”.

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       Sade exhibit

       At the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona there's an exhibit devoted to the The 120 Days of Sodom-author running through 15 October, Sade: Freedom or evil, exploring: "the aesthetic, philosophical and political legacy of the Marquis de Sade in contemporary culture, from the early 20th-century avant-gardes to the present day".

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       Biography of X review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Catherine Lacey's Biography of X, which has been getting a lot of attention.

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       Korean literature abroad

       Another article on how Korean literature in translation enjoys growing universal appeal, this one by Kwak Yeon-soo in The Korea Times, this time with a focus on international literary awards that Korean fiction in translation -- not just into English -- has been nominated for this year.

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       Choose Your Own Adventures ... to the Booker

       In The Guardian The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida-author Shehan Karunatilaka explains How Choose Your Own Adventures helped me win the Booker prize.

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       Greatest children's books ?

       "BBC Culture polled 177 books experts from 56 countries in order to find the greatest children's books ever" and the results are now in; see their list of The 100 greatest children's books of all time.
       I've read quite a few of these -- but mostly in younger years; only one of the titles is under review at the complete review: Philip Pullman's Northern Lights (published in the US as The Golden Compass), which came in at number six.

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       Geetanjali Shree Q & A

       At The White Review Reya Divekar has an Interview with Geetanjali Shree, the author of Tomb of Sand and The Empty Space.

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       Neustadt International Prize finalists

       They've announced the nine finalists for the 2024 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, a leading author prize; works by some of them are under review at the complete review:

• Chris Abani
  • Becoming Abigail
• Angie Cruz
• Ananda Devi
• Jenny Erpenbeck
  • Not a Novel
  • Visitation
• Nona Fernández
• Juan Felipe Herrera
• Maxine Hong Kingston
• Valeria Luiselli
  • Faces in the Crowd
  • The Story of My Teeth
• Shahrnush Parsipur
  • Touba and the Meaning of Night
  • Women without Men

       The winner will be chosen at this year's Neustadt Lit Fest, scheduled for 23-25 October.

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       Dublin Literary Award

       They've announced the winner of this year's Dublin Literary Award, which pays out: "€100,000 for a single work of fiction in original English or translated into English", and it is Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp, in Jo Heinrich's translation.
       See also the Peirene Press publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

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       Peter Zeindler (1934-2023)

       Swiss mystery author Peter Zeindler has passed away; see, for example, the SRF report.

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       Bad Kids review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Chen Zijin's Bad Kids, now also (almost) out in the US.

       Certainly good to see more crime fiction from China -- definitely a literary area in which they still lag. But, hey, they've begun to catch up with science fiction, so maybe there's hope.
       This is still pretty rough -- but it has made the shortlist of this year's Crime Writers' Association Dagger for Crime Fiction in Translation.

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       Princess of Asturias Award for Literature

       They've announced that this year's Princess of Asturias Award for Literature will go to Murakami Haruki.

       This prize has a solid list of previous winners, though it is a bit all over the place -- last year's winner was playwright Juan Mayorga who, let's face it, doesn't quite have Murakami's international profile ..... (They also gave it to a songwriter before the Nobel folks did, setting that awful precedent -- Leonard Cohen in 2011, the year before Philip Roth got it.)

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       Macunaíma review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of a new translation, by Katrina Dodson, of Mário de Andrade 1928 Brazilian classic, Macunaíma: The Hero with No Character, now out from New Directions in the US and Fitzcarraldo in the UK.

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       International Booker Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's International Booker Prize, and it is Time Shelter, by Georgi Gospodinov, in Angela Rodel's translation.
       Quite a lot of the winners of the International Booker Prize -- and the predecessor Independent Foreign Fiction Prize -- are under review at the complete review.

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       Dino Buzzati's Il deserto dei Tartari

       At Public Books Lawrence Venuti writes about Crossing “The Tartar Steppe”: A New Buzzati.
       Originally published in English in 1952, in a translation by Stuart Hood -- the version under review at the complete review --, New York Review Books has now published a new translation by Venuti, as The Stronghold; see also their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org or Amazon.co.uk.

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       Premio Strega Europeo

       They've announced the winner of this year's Premio Strega Europeo, the leading Italian prize for a work in translation, and it is Emmanuel Carrère's V13.
       See also the P.O.L publicity page; it's not yet available in English, but is apparently coming out from Jonathan Cape in the UK; I expect there will be a US edition as well..

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       NSW Premier's Literary Awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's NSW Premier's Literary Awards, a leading Australian literary prize.
       The Christina Stead Prize for Fiction went to Women I Know by Katerina Gibson.
       This was also a year when they awarded the biennial NSW Premier's Translation Prize -- won by Tiffany Tsao for her translation of Budi Darma's People from Bloomington.

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       International Prize for Arabic Fiction

       They've announced the winner of this year's International Prize for Arabic Fiction, the leading Arabic-language fiction prize, and it is تغريبة القافر ('The Water Diviner'), by Omani author Zahran Alqasmi

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       Annie Ernaux profile

       In The Observer Alice Blackhurst profiles Annie Ernaux, in ‘If it’s not a risk… it’s nothing’: Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux on her unapologetic career.

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       Martin Heidegger's Changing Destinies review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Guillaume Payen's Martin Heidegger's Changing Destinies: Catholicism, Revolution, Nazism, recently out in English from Yale University Press.

       I should be reviewing some actual Heidegger -- but with the collected works a planned 102 (!) volumes, there's ... a lot.
       I am surprised by how little attention this has gotten from US/UK reviewers -- though I figure the usual suspects (The New York Review of Books; Times Literary Supplement; London Review of Books) will eventually get around to it. It doesn't seem to have gotten much German coverage either, where it was published in translation last year.

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       Martin Amis (1949-2023)

       As widely noted, British author Martin Amis has died; see, for example, obituaries in The New York Times (by Dwight Garner) and The Guardian (by Sarah Shaffi).
       As shocking as the news is, what most surprised me was to learn that ... he had moved to Florida, dying 'at his home in Lake Worth, Florida'. After all the fuss the literary media made about him moving to and living in Brooklyn, how did this not get widely reported and covered ? (Also: too bad Amis never publicly weighed in on Florida's governor.)
       Several of his works are under review at the complete review -- though I haven't reviewd anything of his in some fifteen years:

• Experience
• Heavy Water
• House of Meetings
• Koba the Dread
• Night Train
• The Second Plane
• The War against Cliché
• Yellow Dog

       I read his (generally much more impressive) earlier work before I started the site, and haven't revisited it, but he was certainly always an author to pay attention to.

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       M.John Harrison Q & A

       M.John Harrison -- Light, etc. -- has a new (anti-)memoir out, Wish I Was Here -- alas, apparently only in UK edition, so far; see the Serpent's Tail publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.co.uk -- and at The Guardian Anthony Cummins has a Q & A with him, M John Harrison: ‘I want to be the first human to imitate ChatGPT’.

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       Dževad Karahasan (1953-2023)

       Bosnian author Dževad Karahasan has passed away; see, for example, the Sarajevo Times piece, BiH Famous Writer Dzevad Karahasan has passed away.

       Very little of his work has neem translated into English, but see the Suhrkamp foreign rights author page for an overview of many of them.
       I have the German translation of his Omar Khayyam-novel, Što pepeo priča -- see the Suhrkamp foreign rights page -- and hope to finally get to it.

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       ChatGPT: in China

       In the South China Morning Post Stephen Chen reports that ‘Somebody may call the police’: Chinese Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan turns to ChatGPT to beat writer’s block.
       He used it in writing a commendation for fellow author Yu Hua --:

But he stressed that he had written all of his novels himself and said he was likely to continue doing so because he enjoyed the power of writing.

       Interestingly, quite a bit of discussion in the article is about the fact that ChatGPT isn't freely accessible in China:

OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, has not yet made the service available in China. Some commenters said it was possible Mo had violated OpenAI’s terms of service by using the platform in China, and they warned this could result in legal action being taken against him by OpenAI. The Post has reached out to OpenAI for comment.

The Chinese government has also banned the use of VPN software, which is needed to access ChatGPT from China, as a means of controlling access to information deemed inappropriate or sensitive. If Mo Yan or his student were caught using a VPN to access ChatGPT, they could face penalties such as fines or imprisonment.

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       ChatGPT: in India

       At The Hindu Sahana Venugopal takes a stab at Writing award-winning Indian fiction with ChatGPT.
       HarperCollins India CEO Ananth Padmanabhan was open to the AI-generated query letters (or at least the first: "if you saw the two emails that you sent, they have the same structure" ...), while literary agent Kanishka Gupta was more dismissive:

He declared the two storylines were “absolute rubbish,” and said they were full of cliched phrases, while regurgitating the plot lines of other published novels.

“I’m not going to read these books,” Mr. Gupta said simply.

       (I suspect that many human-written queries are also: "full of cliched phrases, while regurgitating the plot lines of other published novels".)
       Gupta did say: "if I get some AI-generated query letter which reads like a query letter written by an actual author and it’s creative enough, then I might invite the full manuscript".

       The future isn't quite here, but, damn, it's coming fast and hard.

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       Luis Chitarroni (1958-2023)

       Argentine author Luis Chitarroni has passed away; see, for example, Walter Lezcano's piece, Murió Luis Chitarroni, el genial escritor que encontró en la erudición una forma de generosidad in Clarín.

       The only one of his works under review at the complete review is The No Variations.

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       Ockham New Zealand Book Awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, the leading New Zealand book awards.
       The fiction prize went to The Axeman's Carnival, by Catherine Chidgey; see also the Te Herenga Waka University Press publicity page.

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       Miles Franklin longlist

       They've announced the eleven-title longlist for this year's Miles Franklin Literary Award, a leading Australian novel prize.
       The shortlist will be announced on 20 June, and the winner on 25 July.

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       Coffee House Press

       At Publishers Weekly Claire Kirch reports that a Wave of Resignations Rocks Coffee House Press.

       Nothing from Coffee House Press has been reviewed at the complete review in a couple of years, but they do have a very solid list -- and some good-looking forthcoming titles.

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       Publishing ... outside Russia

       The Moscow Times looks Forward Into the Past: Forbidden Books In Russia, noting that:

Today the situation is reminiscent of the Soviet period. Russian literary journals and publishing houses are appearing outside Russia.

       They point, in particular, to publisher Freedom Letters.

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       AI translation symposium

       In The Korea Herald Hwang Dong-hee reports that LTI Korea to host symposium on current, future landscape of AI literature translation.
       The symposium will take place 26 May; certainly an interesting topic.

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       Sibylle Lewitscharoff (1954-2023)

       German author Sibylle Lewitscharoff has passed away; see, for example, Tilman Krause's piece in Die Welt.

       Two of her novels are under review at the complete review -- Apostoloff and Blumenberg; see also the Suhrkamp foreign rights author page.

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       Prix Orange du livre en Afrique

       They've announced the winner of this year's prix Orange du livre en Afrique, a prize for a novel written in French by an African author and published by an African publisher, and it is Ambatomanga, la douleur et le silence, by Michèle Rakotoson; see also the Livres Hebdo report.

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       Sin review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of F. Sionil José's novel Sin -- published in the United States as Sins.

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       Films based on Amélie Nothomb works

       At Frenchly Andrea Meyer offers a quick look at The Uncanny & Interesting Films of Belgian writer, Amélie Nothomb, the films based on her books.
       The books behind these films -- and almost all her others -- are, of course, under review at the complete review,

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       Reading in ... Russia

       At Foreign Policy Andrei Kolesnikov suggests that For Russians, Reading Is the New Resistance, as:

One crucial resemblance to Soviet times is the newly political role of reading. Unable to protest openly, people are expressing a different kind of resistance by reading literature that is banned, discouraged, or casts an unfavorable light on the regime -- if only by comparison.

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       Tehran International Book Fair

       The Tehran International Book Fair is now on; as they report at the Tehran Times: Tehran Intl. Book Fair opens with Tajikistan as guest of honor.
       Regrettably little literature from either Iran or Tajikistan is available in English translation -- and I'm afraid the book fair won't make much of a difference in that regard.

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       Ardinghello review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Eine Italiänische Geschichte aus dem sechzehnten Jahrhundert by Wilhelm Heinse, his 1787 novel, Ardinghello und die glückseligen Inseln.

       I would think that anyone making a list of the top ten works of classical German literature -- say, pre-1900 -- that haven't been translated into English is very likely to include this work -- maybe mainly for its literary-historical interest and influence, but still.

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       Dylan Thomas Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize, "awarded for the best published literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under", and it is God's Children Are Little Broken Things, by Arinze Ifeakandu.
       See also the publicity pages from W & N and A Public Space, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org or Amazon.co.uk.

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       CWA Daggers shortlists

       The British Crime Writers' Association has announced the shortlists for this year's CWA Daggers, including for the Gold Dagger and the Dagger for Crime Fiction in Translation.
       The only shortlisted title under review at the complete review is from the latter category, The Anomaly, by Hervé Le Tellier.
       The winners will be announced on 6 July.

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       Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards

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       RSL Ondaatje Prize

       The Royal Society of Literature has announced the winner of this year's RSL Ondaatje Prize, awarded to: "a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, evoking the spirit of a place", and it is Heritage Aesthetics, by Anthony Anaxagorou; see also the Granta publicity page.

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       Goncourt de printemps

       The Academie Goncourt has announced (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) the winners of its spring prizes.
       They include Claude Burgelin's Georges Perec-biography -- see also the Gallimard publicity page -- winning the Goncourt de la biographie Edmonde Charles-Rouxm and The Lady in White-author Christian Bobin being posthunously awarded the Goncourt de la poésie.

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       Orwell Prizes finalists

       They've announced the finalists for this year's Orwell Prizes, forty-five works in five categories.
       Among the prizes is the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction; one of the finalists is under review at the complete review, After Sappho, by Selby Wynn Schwartz.
       The winners will be announced on 22 June.

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       Jan Michalski Prize finalists

       They've announced the 'first selection' for this year's Jan Michalski Prize for Literature, the CHF50,000 prize open to works in any literary genre, written in any language; books don't have to be translated into French or English or German (though almost all books in the running have been, over the years).
       There are fourteen titles, selected by the judges; they include Michel Houellebecq's Anéantir, Eva Baltasar's Boulder, and Hamid Ismaïlov's Manaschi.
       None of the titles are under review at the complete review yet.

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       Ian Hacking (1936-2023)

       Canadian philosopher Ian Hacking has passed away; see, for example, the notice at the University of Toronto.
       The only one of his books under review at the complete review is The Social Construction of What ?

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       Seduced by Story review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Peter Brooks on The Use and Abuse of Narrative, in Seduced by Story, recently out from New York Review Books.

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       Kim Chi-Young Q & A

       At Korea JoongAng Daily Lee Jian has a Q & A with the translator of Cheon Myeong-kwan's International Booker Prize-shortlisted Whale, Kim Chi-Young, in Meet the translator who got lost in a 'Whale' of a literary world.

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       Fundación para las Letras Mexicanas profile

       At El País Carlos S. Maldonado reports on how A literary incubator in Mexico celebrates its 20th anniversary -- the Fundación para las Letras Mexicanas.

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       Pulitzer Prizes

       They've announced this year's Pulitzer Prizes.
       The Criticism prize went to a book reviewer -- Andrea Long Chu, who writes for New York.
       The Fiction prize was shared -- the first time that has ever happened -- by Trust by Hernan Diaz and Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver; the third finalist was The Immortal King Rao by Vauhini Vara.

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       Libris Literatuur Prijs

       They've announced the winner of this year's Libris Literatuur Prijs, a leading Dutch literary prize, and it is Het lied van ooievaar en dromedaris, by Anjet Daanje; see also the Dutch Foundation for Literature information page and the Uitgeverij Passage publicity page.

       English-language rights don't seem to have sold for this one yet, but we should see a translation of her De herinnerde soldaat from New Vessel Press in the next yer or two.

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       Good Men review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Arnon Grunberg's Good Men, just about out from Open Letter.

       It's been a while since we've seen a Grunberg translation in English -- and there's quite a backlog, so hopefully we'll see more soon.

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       Wendy Doniger Q & A

       At Scroll. in Avik Chanda has the latest in their 'Meet the Translator'-series, with ‘The quest for the ultimate ‘Mahabharata’ is madness. It is not there’: Translator Wendy Doniger.
       "You can’t have too much of the Mahabharata", she notes.
       I have the University of Chicago Press volumes of their still incomplete translation -- see, for example, the publicity page for volume one -- and tackling that is certainly one of my grand reading-ambitions.

       Among the more interesting books I've occupied myself with recently is the fascinating SUNY Press volume of Many Mahābhāratas; I hope to get a review up sooner or later; meanwhile, see their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org or Amazon.co.uk.

       (The only Doniger title under review at the complete review is Redeeming the Kamasutra.)

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