As the Knausgaard phenomenon puts contemporary Norwegian writing on the map of the English-speaking world (a map full of blank spaces, it must be said), or on the other hand, as it localizes that literature into a single name – (I could imagine the introductions between an up-and-coming Norwegian writer and an up-and-coming Chilean writer: […]
The growth of European crime writing from outside Scandinavia continues and on June 11 four crime writers from the other corners (and center, actually) of Europe will be in London at the London Review Bookshop to talk about their work and, of course, crime. The event is titled “More Bloody Foreigners: Criminally Good Books From […]
“So many poems. So many nice poems. More and more and still getting stronger.” This is from the begininng of Jacek Gutorow’s poem “Caedmon”, one of four of the Polish poet’s works published in B O D Y in translations by Piotr Florczyk.
Book Expo America begins on May 29 and among all the books about God, cats, wizards, S&M, self-help and various combinations of these there will be some books in translation in the spotlight. One of these will focus on Marek Hlasko, with an event entitled “Marek Hlasko: Reviving a Literary Rebel”. Participating will be Polish […]
“May 27, 1939 was the day the incessant wandering that had led Joseph Roth through a change of names, religions, political allegiances and literary styles would finally come to an end at Necker Hospital in Paris after four days of delirium tremens in which he never regained consciousness. He had been drinking himself to death […]
The Sozopol Fiction Seminars take place in Sozopol, Bulgaria from May 29-June 3 with a lineup of Bulgarian and English-language writers and editors in attendance, including yours truly. The seminars are supported by the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation and Elizabeth Kostova, author of The Historian and The Swan Thieves, is one of the aforementioned writers leading […]
From the time I read “The Sorrows of Idiot Augustus” in Best European Fiction 2012 by Janusz Rudnicki, translated from the Polish by Jennifer Croft, I was on the lookout for anything by this fantastic writer that would breakthrough the sea of mediocrity of what gets published in English-language fiction. This turned out to be […]
As noted in the preview of Book World Prague 2014, the 2014 Jiri Theiner Award was given to historian Peter Demetz. Index on Censorship has an article on it though it’s more about the background of the award. (The article was written by Pavel Theiner, the son of the award’s namesake, and he quotes himself […]
Prague’s book fair – Book World Prague – is underway and the guest of honor this year is Hungary with writers in attendance including the venerable Péter Esterházy, Krisztina Tóth, György Spiró, János Háy and László F. Földényi. You can download a supplement in English on the Hungarian presence that even has a section entitled […]
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