The London Literature Festival is underway with a wide range of guests and events, including appearances by James Salter, Paul Theroux, Aleksandar Hemon and George Saunders among many others. In the literalab universe one of the most unique events takes place May 25 at London’s Southbank Centre, “Mum, Dad, I’m a Poet,” with the great […]
Book World Prague roundup Prague’s book fair just came and went and though I missed seeing a lot of the bigger names and featured events I was left with one strong impression that seems highly significant for Central European literature and the region as a whole. It is that Central Europe is fucked – no […]
“Should I ask Jesus Christ for help, or should I write to our President in the capital? But even Jesus Christ himself is having a bad time and Comrade President could give an order to have Mama executed – after all, he is strict and fair. I’m afraid that Mama wouldn’t take her blindfold off […]
The Washington Post has an amazing article about teaching Russian literature in prisons in Virginia. Not only does it recount how convicted felons are getting enthusiastic about reading Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and company, and having their minds opened up to the wider possibilities of life by what they’re reading as opposed to being reformed or restrained […]
Prague’s book fair Book World Prague (BWP) 2013 runs from May 16 to 19, with some events having already taken place in various spots throughout the city. The main fair hosts Slovakia as this year’s Guest of Honor, with a significantly larger and less restricted group of writers attending the event than when, say, Saudi […]
The fifth Prague Microfestival of poetry runs from May 12 to 14 with an extra night of readings on May 15. Celebrating “new and innovative poetry that ventures into the realm of experimentation and the visual arts, unfettered by the narrow boundaries of national literatures” the festival brings together 12 writers from Norway, Croatia, the […]
“A good day to all our passengers,” she said, smiling. “My name is Masha. Our flight today will be at an altitude of 6,000 meters. We’re flying to Malaysia. The captain of our crew is pilot first class Ivan Potapov. He is a very experienced pilot. He’s been in five air disasters and all five […]
For a fifth year European Literature Night is taking place in cities throughout the continent. On May 15 work by writers dead and alive will be celebrated in a host of interesting locations, in both cosmopolitan locales whose names evoke a long cultural history – Florence, Bucharest, Vienna, London, Prague – all the way to […]
“ … and for a moment he felt himself flagging inside her, that helped him, in fact, to wriggle out again and push her onto her back, now she was looking at him a little surprised, a little breathless, her eyes were shining like some crazed junkie’s, her pupils were enormous, she had placed her […]
The PEN World Voices festival is underway in New York, running from April 29 to May 5. There are a lot of great events, including Mikhail Shishkin speaking on a panel about book reviewers, a conversation with Polish author of Russians in Warsaw Agata Tuszyńska, a Literary Safari including Hungarian Noémi Szécsi and Czech Michal […]
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