opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

       Sally Rooney's books not for sale in UK

       In not entirely surprising news -- the auther had warned that this seemed a likely outcome -- Sally Rooney's UK publisher Faber have released a statement, explaining that: "in full agreement with Sally, we have taken the decision that we can no longer supply her works in the UK in any format". (And, indeed, her books are now listed as "Currently Unavailable" at the Faber site; see also her author page at Faber.co.uk.)
       Rooney's (financial, explicitly from the proceeds of the sales of her books) support of the group 'Palestine Action' became illegal when Palestine Action was added to Schedule 2 of the UK Terrorism Act 2000, as a 'Proscribed Organisation', last year, and this leads to what Faber describes as: "circumstances where Faber cannot pass on UK earnings to Sally Rooney for her work. To sell a writer's work and not be able to pass on earnings is an unconscionable situation for a publisher". (I would have imagined that there are work-arounds -- most obviously: just holding onto the money for now, until sanity prevails, some years or decades from now -- but this is of course more dramatic.)
       (It's unclear from the statement whether her books are to be pulled from stores -- as surely they should be, if Faber wants to stop them selling and bringing in money they can't disburse -- but in his report in the Irish Times, Sally Rooney’s books will no longer be available in UK over her support for Palestine Action Martin Doyle reports: "Books currently in the UK market can sell through and do not need to be returned".)

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

---

       Österreichischer Buchpreis shortlist

       They've announced the shortlists for this year's Austrian Book Prize, in both the main (five titles) and debut (three titles) categories.

       The winner will be announced 23 November.

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

       Crossword Book Awards shortlists

       They've announced the shortlists for this year's Crossword Book Awards, a leading Indian book prize with five categories, including for books in translation (from other Indian languages into English); see also the more convenient run-down at Scroll.in.

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

---

       Thélyson Orélien update

       As readers may recall -- though it can be hard keeping up with all the cases of authors accused of using AI in their writing ... -- one of the bigger recent (possible) scandals involves Thélyson Orélien's widely acclaimed C’était ça ou mourir -- longlisted (and then de-longlisted ....) for the prix Goncourt, etc. etc.
       Orélien has regrouped back in Quebec now, after his French publicity tour was cut short, and is apparently now: "speaking out and addressing the allegations that he used artificial intelligence to write his debut novel" -- so Cassandra Yanez-Leyton at CBC News, in Quebec author accused of using AI admits past plagiarism but maintains novel is his own work.
       So, yeah, re. the plagiarism allegations that surfaced once folks started looking into his work:

Where the allegations of plagiarism are concerned, Orélien admitted to it in some of his earlier work, saying on Tuesday they were "unacceptable" mistakes from his youth.

       Not a great look, and I'd suggest it doesn't do much for his credibility .....
       (In The New York Times Ségolène Le Stradic also reports on Orélien's latest statement, in Acclaimed Author Denies Using A.I. but Admits Plagiarism (presumably paywalled), quoting Orélien more fully speaking about his plagiarism, including his admission that: "I made unacceptable mistakes, despite my youth and inexperience. I deeply regret this and present my apologies without reserve". (To this I would suggest: not good enough (well, except for the 'unacceptable' part -- spot on there). Of course, to me nothing would be good enough: plagiarism, of this sort, is, indeed, unacceptable -- irredeemably so -- and should cancel him as an author (or, more accurately, would-be wannabe author), plain and simple, end of story.)
       As to the AI-accusations -- well, hard to prove, hard to disprove. (As I haven't seen the novel I can't even guess, either way -- though my hope is that it is AI-generated (and, if so, that Orélien admits it), because that makes for a much more interesting discussion (that, as I've noted previously, we're going to have to face sooner or later, because even if this one was 'human-written' there will be cases of AI-generated books that will *fool* prize-judges, critics, and readers, and be critically acclaimed and best-selling -- and soon).) For now, I'd suggest: judge the book on its own merits (i.e. the finished text, not how it got that way), but I realize that in this day and age, where there's such a focus on who (or what ...) the *author* is, and on notions of *authenticity*, that's a tall order.

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

---

       Writing in English but publishing abroad

       At The Connexion Théophile Larcher considers "five US authors whose books are published in French but whose recent work has struggled to find publishers in their native country", in The US authors finding literary success in France (sort of annoyingly paywalled (but in any case ...)). (Larcher focusses on five author all published by the same publisher, Gallmeister; there are, however, other examples.)
       An interesting phenomenon -- and somewhat surprising in some of these cases, given some of the numbers:

The French translation of Jean Hegland’s Into the Forest (Dans la forêt, 2017) sold 400,000 copies. David Vann’s Sukkwan Island, published by Gallmeister in 2010, won the Prix Médicis and has sold more than 270,000 copies.

       (It should be noted that Vann's collection, Legend of a Suicide, which the novella Sukkwan Island was part of, was very widely and favorably reviewed when it came out in English (several years before the French translation); Vann's difficulties getting published in English came later.)

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

       Mass-market paperbacks !

       As longtime readers know, there are some book-related issues that I advocate loudly for at every turn (literary prizes should reveal what books have been submitted/are in the running for the prize ! focus on the work/text, not the author ! the novel is the highest form of (modern) literature (and please, no story collections) !) but there is probably none I feel as strongly about as -- to oversimplify a bit --: all books should be published in mass-market paperback format (well, let's say: at least all works of fiction (and drama and poetry and ... oh, just everything).) (My actual ideal is, of course, the slightly smaller, truly pocket-sized edition -- think the Japanese 文庫本, or the German Reclam or (old) Manesse editions, or even English hardcover series such as The World's Classics from Oxford University Press, way back in the day -- but I'm trying to be realistic.)
       (I am currently unpacking thousands of books I had shipped from the US to my new residence, and trying to stuff them on too few shelves, so I currently really wish they -- and all books ! -- were mass-market paperback-sized .....)
       So anyway, it's good to see Ned Rust ask and reflect on: 'So why did the Big Five publishers just kill the mass market paperback ?' at Jacobin, in Publishers Killed the Paperback, Then Blamed Readers.
       Lots of good points -- and reminds me, yet again, how the publishing *business* completely escapes my understanding.
       (I was lucky enough to grow up in the US in the 1970s, during the heyday of the truly mass-market paperback in the US and UK, and, oh, how glorious that was. Lots of crap, too, terrible crap, but such a wide range of stuff. Then came the 1980s, and (format-)abominations such as the Vintage Contemporaries series, curse them .....)

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

---

       Publishing in ... Saudi Arabia

       At KSA.com they report of a recent 'Report on the State of Culture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2025' published by the Saudi Ministry of Culture, in 341 Novels in One Year: Saudi Narrative Literature Thrives. (I can't get the Ministry of Culture site to load, so, sorry, no link to the actual report.)
       Publishing seems to be doing well -- "total published literary works rose to 715 in 2025 from 509 in 2024, a growth rate of approximately 40.5%". with the total number of novels -- obviously the highest form of literature -- increasing to 341, from 218 published in 2024 (way to go, Saudi novelists !). Also: "847 books were translated from Arabic into other languages in 2025".
       Meanwhile, while it's unclear what qualifies as an outlet (but, hey, at least you can get books there): "The number of book sales outlets jumped from 123 in 2019 to 800, a more than sixfold increase". (I used to beat up a lot on Saudi repressiveness but things really have improved a lot in the past decade or so, at least as regards access; the Ministry of Culture was actually only founded in 2018 -- the same year cinemas were again allowed to show movies, after decades of being banned -- and with that there really seems to have come an effort to encourage production and consumption.)
       While the production numbers impress, notably absent from at least this summary of the report are sales-figures -- does any of this stuff sell ? Are people reading ? And, of course: are any of the books being translated into English ?

       (This article also has a '20 Questions'-summary/overview at the end, presumably generated by a not-extremely-well-worded AI prompt .....)

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

---

       Twenty years of The Three-Body Problem

       I was rather underwhelmed by Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem -- to the extent that I couldn't be bothered to seek out the second and third volumes in the trilogy -- but there's no doubt that it is, in several respects, a very significant text, and at China Daily it gets its due on its twentieth anniversary as Yang Yang and Zhu Xingxin offer Reflections on the global success of a sci-fi milestone.
       If nothing else, it's certainly been a sales success:

As of this year, the trilogy has sold over 40 million copies in the Chinese mainland, with more than 400 reprints. Since the first English translation of the opening book in the series in 2014, the trilogy has been translated into 45 languages and sold about 7.3 million copies overseas, making it one of the best-selling Chinese literary works outside of China.

       (I would suspect it is the all-time best-selling translated-from-Chinese work of fiction.)

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

       Yamazaki Nao-Cola profile

       With two of her novels, Beautiful Distance and Don't Laugh at Other People's Sex Lives, now also out in US editions (they came out in the UK earlier this year, to little notice) the author is now profiled at The Japan Times by Kris Kosaka, in Nao-Cola Yamazaki is your favorite writer's favorite writer. (The likelihood of this headline being true seems slim; however much Yamazaki's writing may be appreciated, I am confident, for example, that she is not the favorite of any of my favorite writers.)
       Among the things Kosaka points out is that:

Labels, boundaries and borders of all kinds are porous to the author, and it shows in their writing style. Yamazaki writes from male, female and nonbinary perspectives, experimenting frequently with language to subvert or reconfigure expectations for gender or class.

       Note also that these aren't the first works by Yamazaki to appear in English: Friendship For Grown-Ups came out nearly a decade ago, in Stranger Press' wonderful Keshiki-series; see their publicity page. (I recently came across my copy and hope to get to it soon.)

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

---

       Hungarian translation support

       Good to hear that, as hlo reports, after the dark Orbán years Hungary to Relaunch Translation Support Programme.
       As they note:

The translation support programme was shut down a few years ago as a result of which Hungary became almost the only country in Europe without such a programme.

       Unfortunately, these are important programmes -- unfortunate because, while wealthy European nations can subsidize them (which is good !), far too many countries and languages can't and don't, a major factor in the continuing imbalance in what gets translated and then published in the US and Europe.

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

---

       Hotlist winners

       They've announced the winners of this year's Hotlist, the German independent-publisher book prize, which every independent German publisher gets to submit a single title for (as 205 did this year), and the main winner is Allee Verlag (it's the publisher that gets the award ...), for the German translation of Mattias Timander's Din vilja sitter i skogen; see also their publicity page, and the Weyler förlag foreign rights page; English-language rights apparently have not yet been sold (but Albanian ones have ...).
       (Allee Verlag doesn't seem to have published much yet, but: three books by Michal Ajvaz ! so that's a good start.)

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

---

       Yet more AI-in-writing claims/discussion

       So at The Atlantic Vauhini Vara finds Yet Another Literary Prizewinner Seems to Be AI (presumably paywalled (but e.g. ...) -- in this case, the recently-announced winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing (a short story prize, which is why I didn't bother mentioning it last week); you can read the prize-winning story here (warning ! dreaded pdf format !).
       Meanwhile, at The New York Times Doyle D. Calhoun looks at some of these recent 'scandals', focusing on the very uncomfortable fact that -- surely not-so-coïncidentally --: "The five literary scandals around A.I. that I consider most significant this year have all focused on Black and brown writers", in When Black Writers Are Guilty Until Proved Human (presumably paywalled). And, hey, guess what ! this new one does as well !
       This racist tinge to the whole debate further muddies the issue, and it's obscene that certain groups or types of writers are being tarred and targeted in this clearly selective way -- I note also that with some of the earlier scandals it was women who were the central figures; as usual, white men seem to get away with things (not being publicly called out, shamed, or punished) the easiest (because, have no doubt, they're doing it too; recall what I quoted just a few days ago from yet another piece on AI-in-publishing: "“Every single imprint has a story of someone very esteemed who had a book canceled because of blatant AI use” without ever making the news, one editor says").

       I'd love to see the debate focus on the matter: what does it matter if the author uses AI ? (I'm not saying it doesn't matter, but let's discuss what it matters.) To play devil's advocate: if the writing can *fool* the judges of literary prize and editors then surely there must be something to it ? (Don't get me wrong: there are lots of other issues and problems with the use of AI in writing as well, but this seems to me the ultimately important one: it's the text that counts -- and should be the focus of discussion --, not the method by which it was created. I suspect it will be a long time, if ever, that AI-generated (or translated) texts reach the heights of the very best (human) literary creation -- but I also feel pretty confident that it could already churn out a perfectly satisfying (and that for millions of readers ...) Lee Child novel.)
       All that said (well, there's a lot more to be said, but ...), I do wish everyone would be more upfront about their AI-use (or non-use) -- though I understand the cost of admitting resorting to practically any form of AI-assistance is, at this time, reputationally very high, and that writers also like to lie about their creative process (and much else), for image-reasons (romanticizing the act of 'writing', *sigh*)..

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

       Exporting (Vietnamese) literature

       At Vietnam.vn they have a conversation with Nguyen Xuan Minh, about What can we learn from Spain's approach to 'exporting literature' ?, drawing on his experiences from having recently visited the Liber book fair in Spain.
       It's a fairly long piece, and offers an interesting glimpse at how the industry -- especially regarding selling into foreign markets -- 'works'.
       Also, while this is probably sensible, and good advice, this ultra-professional approach breaks my heart:

In my opinion, you shouldn't bring thousands of books and expect the partner to find them themselves. Instead, you could select 30-50 truly promising Vietnamese works each year, prepare a good English summary, a sample translation of about 30-50 pages, author profiles, sales records, and a program to support translation or publishing costs. The foreign copyright buyer must be able to memorize a book within minutes and then have enough material to present to their editorial team.

       I worry/think so much falls through the cracks because of this prevailing approach .....

       [Aside: Vietnam.vn is the portal of the 'Department of Grassroots Information and External Information' at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Viet Nam, and surely every country should have a Department of Grassroots Information.)

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

---

       Selling Arabic books abroad

       At The National Saeed Saeed talks to Egyptian publisher Sherif Bakr in exploring Why international publishers are overlooking Arabic books.
       Arabic books seem to me to have had a pretty good run since 2001, and on the whole still do much better (i.e. more translations are published) than quite a few areas, but obviously things could be better.
       And it's interesting to hear about some of the hurdles -- not least the make-one-weep level of the (financial) levels they are talking about and playing at:

He also recalls agreeing a $100 advance with a Nordic literary agency, only to struggle to transfer the money because Egyptian bank officials at the time did not understand the purchase of publishing rights. He eventually paid in cash at a book fair. Although restrictions have eased, he says a $100 transfer can still incur about $40 in fees.

       Anyway, the Arab Voices hub -- promising: "Eschewing the traditional canon, our independent jury of experts searched for the most vibrant voices published over the last five years" -- ... can't hurt. Though I'd suggest that it would probably help if the 'Contact Us'-link was actually a link, and the text there not just lorem ipsum-filler.

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

---

       Canadian literature

       At The Spectator Alex Diggins *explains* How progressive politics ruined Canadian literature (presumably paywalled (but e.g. ...)).
       I had no idea that Canadian literature had been ruined, so I was of course very interested to hear how that happened, but I have to say, I still don't really get this.
       Apparently: "Canada has singularly failed to produce a national literature". And this is apparently a bad thing, since we ... need 'national' literatures ? And (the idea of ?): "The “Great Canadian novel” is a hollow joke" -- while every country obviously needs a 'great country-X novel' .....
       I have to say, I've always liked the fact that so much Canadian literature doesn't deal with, wallow in, or worry about national identity and that sort of thing (as much US-American fiction does), and that it generally doesn't feel (specifically) Canadian (which helps it travel well, albeit without the flag-waving country-of-origin label in any way prominent (again, in contrast to much US-American stuff)). Indeed, I'd argue Canada punches considerably above its weight, literarily. Oh, yeah, and didn't a Canadian just win the Nobel Prize ?
       (Aside: why doesn't Robertson Davies get mentioned in these articles ? Thirty years dead, he's maybe a bit out fashion, but come on, how can you not trot him out ?)
       Anyway, Diggins gets to moan about the: "distortion field of DEI" and how: "Literary quality, or even basic popularity, become subservient to demands for equality, representation and a fuzzily-defined conception of “fairness”", and it's all the fault of: "top-down meddling in culture" (well, and also "its adherence to progressive politics"; perhaps top-down meddling adhering to fascistic politics might be something he could get on board with; fascistic politics love to embrace the flag and exalt 'nation' (whichever one ...) above all).
       For all his complaining, Diggins doesn't seem to offer any *solutions* (as if this were the sort of thing that's solvable) -- beyond: 'don't be progressive'.

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

---

       Orkus review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Gerhard Roth's 2011 Dantesque (if not quite the way that term is usually used) Reise zu den Toten, Orkus.

       I can see how this is a hard sell to foreign publishers, as the eighth and final volume in a series, but it's actually a very good introduction to the author and easily works as a stand-alone. Several works by Roth have been published in English -- notably by the admirable Ariadne Press, thought that probably isn't helping (publishers look up the Circana BookScan data (tracking book sales), and these books are probably not flying off any shelves).
       A shame, because this has a lot going for it -- the short varied chapters make it a very accessible read, plus there are lots of notable cameos: Roth talks to Nobel laureates ! (Kertész ! Ōe ! Canetti !) Roth gets a guided tour from Simon Wiesenthal ! Roth goes to the premiere of Thomas Bernhard's Heldenplatz ! It's also an interesting variation on the form: not straightforward autofiction (or memoir, which it could also, sort of, be seen as), but a kind of auto-meta-fiction.
       A shame that it's unlikely to be translated.

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

       Nigeria Prize for Literature

       They've announced the winner of this year's Nigeria Prize for Literature, and it is Why Does God Need A Gun ? by Ogaga Ifowodo. It'll probably be months before they post the news at the 'official site', but meanwhile see, for example, their Instagram (*sigh*) post, or Nehru Odeh's more useful report at PM News, Ogaga Ifowodo Wins $100,000 Nigeria Prize for Literature.
       The Nigeria Prize for Literature rotates through four genres, and this was a poetry year; Why Does God Need A Gun ? beat out the other 222 submissions; see also the Masobe publicity page for the book.

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

---

       New Directions profile

       Racking up two Nobel Prize in Literature laureates in a row now -- adding to the dozen previous winners they already published -- US publisher New Directions continues to be on a nice little roll, and they certainly deserve the success. Anne Carson's win now also leads to Ronda Kaysen's profiling The Plucky Publishing House That Keeps Winning Nobels (presumably paywalled (but e.g. ...)) in The New York Times.
       A solid overview -- showing New Directions in nice contrast to the publishing behemoths that dominate American trade publishing.

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

---

       AI in(festing) publishing

       Adam Morgan reports at Wired on how Book Publishers Are Quietly Using More AI. Staff Are Revolting (possibly paywalled ?).
       Yes, apparently -- and unsurprisingly --:

(A)t least three of the Big Five US book publishers -- HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette -- have been quietly incorporating AI tools into their publishing processes without public disclosures or author consent.

       (I think there's a safe bet to place on the practices of the other two, too .....)
       Fun (and also unsurprising) to hear:

At HarperCollins senior leaders purchased Claude licenses from Anthropic months ago “but very quickly realized they didn’t know how to implement them,” according to a current employee. Dozens of junior- and senior-level staff were then “voluntold” to become “AI Champions” and were tasked with discovering use cases in monthly brainstorming sessions with staff across the company.

       And, of course:

But according to workers at HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette, one of the most common use cases for LLMs so far is generating publicity copy.

       Disappointingly, there's apparently been lots of covering-up re. author-use of AI:

“Every single imprint has a story of someone very esteemed who had a book canceled because of blatant AI use” without ever making the news, one editor says.

       Certainly a lot of interest here -- and most of it does not bode well for the future of big publishing, or for readers.

       (While we're on the topic, see also Sabine Kieselbach's report at Deutsche Welle, about how: 'AI is a hot topic at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair', in Author or artificial intelligence ? Literature in crisis.)

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

---

       Non-fiction struggles

       At The Walrus Tajja Isen discusses how Nonfiction Is Struggling. Publishers Are Making It Worse -- a fairly thorough dive around the subject, with some interesting observations about the publishing (and book-selling) businesses.

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

       Translation copyright

       Via I'm pointed to Lin King's Instagram (*sigh*) post, her lengthy Statement on the copyright infringement of the English translation of Taiwan Travelogue.
       King translated Yáng Shuāng-Zǐ's Taiwan Travelogue into English, and the translated book won the International Booker Prize. Now some (unfortunately unidentified by King) European publisher has brought out a translation based not on the original text but on King's English translation, in which King holds the sole copyright. (This is not a given: many translations into English unfortunately wind up with the (English-language) publisher, or with the original author (the English-translation-copyright for Murakami Haruki's books, for example, is in his name, for example, giving him full ownership and control).) King did not give permission for the translation; indeed, she sought to prevent its publication but was thwarted. Now she's taking legal action -- good for her !
       Her post is fascinating for details such as how translations are licensed (and how the process can fail one of the parties, as it did here), but also raises the significant issue of 'relay translations' -- translations via a second language, as, amazingly, still happens too often with books that come out in English but is far, far more widespread with other, especially, smaller languages, where a direct translator can be harder to find and so translations are done based on another (usually English, nowadays) translation (so, for example, even some of Murakami's earlier work was translated into even a 'major' language such as German via the English translation). (My current (least) favorite example is Isaac Bashevis Singer, who wrote in Yiddish, as the German translations of his major works are translations from the English -- despite the fact that Yiddish is a Germanic language which is very close to modern German.)
       King's translation of Taiwan Travelogue is obviously very 'free', in the sense of her clearly having shaped the English text in certain ways; as she notes, the novel: "could have been translated into English in countless ways". Even more obviously than with most works, the English version of the novel is, for better and worse, very much also King's work -- and so she is certainly justified in staking the claim to having a say and getting credit for her part for this new translation into whatever European language it is; that work is no longer (just) Yáng Shuāng-Zǐ's novel, but rather just as much Lily King's work.
       This underlines the importance of translators being able to keep and assert copyright-control over their work: if it is their work that is being used as the basis for a further translation, then they should get a say in (and get paid for) that. Taiwan Travelogue is a great test case, because the translator's presence is so obvious here (again: for better and worse ... (as longtime readers know, I like my translators to be vanishingly invisible (yes, yes, I know, impossible, etc. etc. but still ...))), but really that shouldn't matter: relay translations must fully acknowledge, in every respect (including legally and financially) the work they are based on.

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

---

       Prix Renaudot shortlists

       I forgot to mention this, but the prix Renaudot -- the second-biggest French book prize, after the Goncourt -- also announced its 'deuxième sélection' earlier this week, in its two categories, fiction and non (like the Goncourt, this is a four-rounder, so this is the shorter longlist, or the longer shortlist ...); see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report
       It's noteworthy because not only did the Renaudot folk not follow the lead of the Académie Goncourt and kick controversial (because allegedly AI-written) C’était ça ou mourir, by Thélyson Orélien, straight off the longlist, but the book actually made this second-round cut. So: very different treatment of the book -- and it will be interesting to see how far it goes in the next rounds (the final shortlist is to be announced 23 October, the winner 3 November).

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

---

       More book reviews !

       Worth pointing to: at his Political Currents by Ross Barkan Barkan makes the case that The Little Magazines Should Review More Books.
       No disagreement here.

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

---

       US fall book preview

       At The Millions they've posted The Millions' Great Fall 2026 Book Preview, "some 130 books out this fall" that they're excited about.
       The usual caveats, but it's a big list, so it covers a lot and certainly includes titles of interest -- but please do also keep an eye out for titles that don't have the big PR and hype machine behind them .....

       (Glad to see that The Millions is still doing these -- but they don't seem to be doing much else; that 'editorial hiatus' sure is dragging on (but, hey: "we hope to return to our full operations soon").)

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

       The Nobel Prize in Literature goes to ... Anne Carson

       They've announced the winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature, and it is Anne Carson, getting the prize: "for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature"

       The only work by her under review at the complete review is Norma Jeane Baker of Troy, and I am afraid I don't have any of her other work at hand.

       The Poetry Foundation has a good author page on her (with links to some examples of her work).

       For early reports on her win, see, for example:

• Anne Carson Is Awarded Nobel Prize in Literature (presumably paywalled) by Alex Marshall at The New York Times
• Canadian poet Anne Carson wins Nobel Prize in Literature by Ian Youngs at the BBC

       That's pretty much all I've got at this point; more presumably to follow tomorrow.

       (Updated - 9 October): A few more odds and ends for you:

• Anne Carson Is (Yet Another) Perfect Nobel Literature Laureate by Alex Shephard and Mark Krotov at The New Republic
• Anne Carson Punches a Hole Through Greek Myth - a 2021 Q & A with Tacita Dean at Interview
• ‘Delights await!’: Margaret Atwood and other writers on Nobel winner Anne Carson at The Guardian
• A crash course in Anne Carson: the books that won the Canadian author the Nobel Prize by Talia Kliot at CBC Books
• 2026 Nobel Prize winner Anne Carson: Where to start reading by Elizabeth Grenier at Deutsche Welle

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

---

       Full English translation of 토지 coming !

       I only mentioned a handful of works of literature that had not, or had barely been translated into English in my The Complete Review Guide to Contemporary World Fiction (since the focus there is on works that are actually accessible to English-reading readers), but among them was the modern Korean classic (and epic) Land, by Park Kyung-ni (noting, inter alia, that it was her: "most remarkable achievement").
       There's been a stab at translating it -- see the Brill publicity page -- but that didn't make it very far (and has long been out of print). But now comes the great news that renowned translator Anton Hur has been commissioned to translate the whole thing into English; see Lee Jae-yong's article at the Seoul Economic Daily, Translator Anton Hur Wins New Park Kyung-ni Prize Special Award. (No word yet on who is publishing it, however .....)
       It's one hell of an undertaking: a twenty-volume work ! One of the recent Korean editions came out as a two-box set .....
       Obviously, it will be a couple of years before we get to see this -- but this is very big and good news.

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

---

       Kirkus Prizes

       They've announced the winners of this year's Kirkus Prizes, "given annually by Kirkus Reviews to works of exceptional merit in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, and young readers' literature".

       Each winner gets: "a cash prize of $50,000" -- which is more than the more prestigious American book prizes (Pulitzer, National Book Award, etc.) pay out.

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

       Nagroda Literacka Nike

       They've announced the winner of this year's Nike Prize, the biggest Polish book award, and it is Null, by Szczepan Twardoch; see also Agnieszka Warnke's report at culture.pl, Szczepan Twardoch Wins 2026 Nike Literary Award.
       See also the Marginesy publicity page for Null.
       The only work by Twardoch that has appeared in English translation so far seems to be his King of Warsaw, published by ... Amazon Crossing.

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

---

       Jelinek archive

       The City of Vienna has announced the acquisition of Nobel laureate and Greed-author Elfriede Jelinek's literary estate, with the 'Teilvorlass' (partial pre-death estate) now going to the Wienbibliothek im Rathaus (the Vienna City Library, located in City Hall), the rest, completing the collection, presumably to follow upon her passing.
       Since it's public money being used to pay for the acquisition, they also reveal how much they're shelling out: €600,000. (Two appraisals were commissioned to determine the value/price.)

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

---

       (US) National Book Awards finalists

       The American National Book Foundation has announced the finalists for its National Book Awards -- five books in each of the five categories (Fiction, Non, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People's Literature).

       Two of the finalists in the Translated Literature-category 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.

       Interesting titbit:

Publishers submitted a total of 1,912 books for this year’s National Book Awards: 451 in Fiction, 727 in Nonfiction, 285 in Poetry, 159 in Translated Literature, and 290 in Young People’s Literature.

       Interesting to see that so much more non-fiction is submitted than fiction -- publishers obviously thinking more non-fiction titles stand a chance against the competition, while apparently believing only a more select selection of fiction does. Also curious/sad to see how (relatively) few translated works are submitted.

       The winners will be announced 18 November.

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

---

       (US) National Translation Awards

       The American Literary Translators Association has also announced its shortlists, for its National Translation Awards, in the two categories of Prose and Poetry.
       I haven't seen any of these.

       The winners will be announced 23 October.

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

---

       Prix Goncourt - deuxième sélection

       The Académie Goncourt has announced (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) its 'deuxième sélection' -- its shorter longlist or longer shortlist, as this is a four-round prize with one more round to go (four finalists will be announced 27 October) before the winner is then announced on 3 November.
       And, no, they didn't reconsider and put Thélyson Orélien's C’était ça ou mourir -- booted off the original longlist for AI-suspicions -- back on the list .....

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

---

       FT Business Book of the Year Award shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Financial Times and Standard Chartered Business Book of the Year Award.
       As they note: "Three of the six finalists tackle the risks and opportunities of AI" -- though apparently not with the writing (or judging) of the books themselves, with all that still human-done. In a few years -- who knows ?

       The winner will be announced 2 December.

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

---

       Nobel Prize countdown

       Yes, it's that time of year: the Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced tomorrow; you can watch the announcement live at the official Nobel site or on YouTube.
       I haven't been able to work up much enthusiasm this year, with the routine and candidates pretty much the usual (minus a few possible contenders that have died off). As usual, the place for discussion is the World Literature Forum's Nobel Prize in Literature 2026 Speculation-thread, with over three thousand posts to date. (I'm afraid I haven't been following it much, but there's usually much fun speculation.)
       Elsewhere, we find the usual stuff -- say, Faisal Al Zaabi exploring Could an Arab writer win the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature ? Nine names to know in The National. In the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung they offer seven suggestions, in Wer verdient den Literaturnobelpreis ? Sieben Vorschläge -- throwing in some such as Journey to Karabakh-author Aka Morchiladze, as well as Gabriela Adameșteanu (Eastern European ? I don't think so, not this year), along with Murnane and ... Houellebecq. Meanwhile, at Expressen we get the always-fun who-do-you-think-will and who-do-you-think-should win the prize round-up in De här kan få årets Nobelpris i litteratur, with a decent mix of names.

       Finally, there's Katharina Abel going over the familiar at Deutsche Welle, in How the Nobel Literature Prize winner is secretly chosen.
       I mention this because Gisèle Sapiro is quoted extensively here -- a researcher whose Qu'est-ce qu'un auteur mondial ? (see the Seuil publicity page) I've been curious about and eager to see.
       Among other things:

According to Gisele Sapiro, the Academy aims to honor ambitious, influential literature that has, for example, given rise to a new literary movement. "At the same time, the work has to be universal, being able to transcend its own culture," she says.

Translations can be one indication of this. "I noted in my research, however, that all the laureates since 1990 had been translated into English, French and German -- except for Abdulrazak Gurnah [the Tanzanian-British 2021 Nobel laureate], who had not been translated into German before winning -- meaning that I think these three languages are the most important," Sapiro explains.

       Interesting enough -- but, dear god, how could a researcher get that one detail so wrong (and why didn't German outlet Deutsche Welle catch it ?): Gurnah's work had been extensively translated into German long before he got the prize: Pilgrims Way in 2004 (see e.g.), Paradise in 1996 (e.g.), Admiring Silence in 2000, By the Sea in 2001, Desertion in 2006 (e.g.) -- the same year it came out in English. How can one miss those ? The Biobibliography-page at the Nobel site even conveniently and helpfully lists them (scroll down) !
       So, someone has fallen in my estimation .....

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

       Deutscher Buchpreis

       They've announced the winner of this year's German Book Prize -- the imitation-Booker that is the biggest German novel prize -- and it is Die Lücken, by Shida Bazyar.

       Bazyar is definitely on a roll: a previous novel was shortlisted for this year's International Booker Prize, while this one has already won the Wilhelm Raabe-Literaturpreis (which actually pays out more than the German Book Prize does). World English rights have apparently already been acquired by Scribe (who admirably picked up her up early, having already published two of her books).
       See also the Kiepenheuer & Witsch foreign rights page for Die Lücken.

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

---

       William Vollmann profile

       At The Sacramento Bee Graham Womack and Lia Russell have a lengthy (if somewhat local) profile of the author, in Famed writer William Vollmann is dying. Sacramento's still a big part of his life
       He again notes that Viking dropped him after he wouldn't cut A Table For Fortune down some (and: "refused to change the fonts" !), adding the nice detail that he tried to be accommodating, but:

“I went through it and I said, ‘I cut it, but I’m really sorry but unfortunately, it’s like 400 pages longer now,’” Vollmann recalled telling his editor. “So he was not happy, and they fired me.

       I have an e-version of A Table For Fortune, but fear I won't be able to make it through it in that format. Meanwhile, see also the Arcade publicity page.

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

---

       Shortlist: Giller Prize

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Giller Prize, apparently: "Canada's leading and most influential literary prize for fiction", with a prize of C$100,000 for the winner.

       The winner will be announced 16 November.

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

---

       Shortlist: T.S.Eliot Prize

       They've announced the not-so-short shortlist for this year's T.S.Eliot Prize -- "the most valuable and prestigious in the UK for a new collection of poetry", with the winner getting £25,000 -- ten titles selected from 174 poetry collections that were submitted.

       The winner will be announced 18 January 2027.

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

---

       Grand prix de littérature américaine finalists

       They've announced the three finalists for the Grand prix de littérature américaine, a French prize for the ... best American novel (translated into French ... -- and, yeah, ostensibly: "choisi pour la richesse et l'originalité de son style"); see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.

       The winner will be announced 2 November; it might even be that Jay McInerney novel ... (it's one of the finalists).

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

---

       Jeffrey Archer (1940-2026)

       Jeffrey Archer, who technically qualified as an author and did enjoy considerable sales-success with his books, has passed away; see, for example, the BBC report.

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

       Cheikh Hamidou Kane (1928-2026)

       Cheikh Hamidou Kane, author of the classic Ambiguous Adventure, has passed away; see, for example, the editorial tribute at Financial Afrik, Death of Cheikh Hamidou Kane: a giant of African literature has passed away, or the RFI report, Sénégal: l'écrivain Cheikh Hamidou Kane inhumé à Dakar, les hommages se poursuivent.

       (Updated - 7 October): See now also the obituary in The New York Times by Adam Nossiter, Cheikh Hamidou Kane, Author of Seminal Anticolonial Novel, Dies at 98 (presumably paywalled).

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

---

       Sunday Times Literary Awards shortlists

       At the (South African) Sunday Times Jennifer Platt runs down the shortlists for the Sunday Times Literary Awards in its two categories, fiction and non, with some information and judges' comments on each of the shortlisted books.

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

---

       Russian book-destruction

       It's been widely reported on -- since it's been going on for a while --, but in The Guardian Charlotte Higgins covers it thoroughly and at good length, in Incinerated novels and destroyed warehouses: Russia's war on Ukrainian books.
       So much depressing waste ......

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

---

       Prix Hors Concours shortlist

       The prix Hors Concours, a French literary prize: "dedicated exclusively to independent publishers, celebrating bold and contemporary fiction", has now announced the finalists for this year's prize -- though not yet, *sigh*, at the official site, last I checked, so see, for example, the ActuaLitté report.
       They do make some effort to get the word out and try to interest publishers, etc. abroad -- "Our selection of 40 competing excerpts is now available in English translation, offering international readers and publishing professionals a direct gateway to these works", they offer here -- so that's probably good, but I don't know how many people bother to check these out.

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

go to archive

- return to top of the page -

© 2026 the complete review


Main | the New | the Best | the Rest | Review Index | Links