There is something as poetic as it is sad that one of the great Russian-Jewish writers of the latter half of the 20th century worked as a pathologist (worked, that is, until the powers that be demoted and eventually fired him). The New Yorker has a very short story by the magnificent author of Summer […]
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Literary roundup: New Bulgarian fiction and a day of Kafka
In conjunction with the publication of Nine Rabbits by Bulgarian writer Virginia Zaharieva, Istros Books is holding a couple of events in London. On September 20 you can listen to the author in conversation with her translator Angela Rodel while the next evening the pair will be joined by Istros publisher Susan Curtis-Kojakovic and Milena […]
Polish Book Autumnfest: Pole Position
Pole Position is a series of Polish book events kicking off this week in the UK and running through November. It’s a great lineup, opening on September 19 in London with author of Ryszard Kapuściński: A Life, Artur Domosławski speaking with Neal Ascherson about the legendary Polish journalist. In early October Paweł Huelle will present […]
Literary roundup: Poetry during Auschwitz and Slovak, Czech and Hungarian novels
At Tablet there is an essay on Yiddish poet Simkha-Bunim Shayevitch, (also written as Simcha Bunem Shayevich) whose two poems were found “after the war among the heaps of rubble left in the empty ghetto of Lodz.” The essay was written by Yiddish author Chava Rosenfarb, who died last year, and makes the tragic story […]
NYC Lit Crawl: Voyeuristic authors, Czech brothels, and cult-fighting samurai
In this day and age when everyone wants to write a novel before they’ve read their fourth whole book it’s good to have the reminder that you need to literary crawl before you literary walk. Okay, so lit crawls have nothing to do with that idea – no matter, because this Saturday, September 15 for […]
Absinthe 18
From Absinthe: “Absinthe 18 is coming soon and it’s full of exceptional art & writing from Europe, including a short play by Vlad Zografi, and poetry & prose by Marie-Claire Bancquart, Nichita Stanescu, Pia Tafdrup, Sladjan Lipovec, Marco Candida, Kristina Lugn, Hernan Migoya, Marko Pogacar, Iulian Ciocan, Jose Corredor-Matheos, Kamil Bouska, Jiri Brynda, and a […]
Prague’s Forgotten German Writers (Besides Kafka…)
Prague German Writers – Exhibition An article on the exhibition “The Cabinet of Prague German Writers” at Prague Literary House (Prager Literatur Haus) devoted to the Czech capital’s rich and widely unknown German-language literary milieu. Read the full article at Readux More on Prague’s German-language writers upcoming on literalab and elsewhere, including reviews of recently […]
Literary roundup: Found in translation and a form of robbery
Joanna Trzeciak has won this year’s Found in Translation award for her rendition of Sobbing Superpower by Polish poet Tadeusz Różewicz. The annual award is presented by The Polish Book Institute in Krakow, W.A.B. Publishers, the Polish Cultural Institute in London and the Polish Cultural Institute New York for the best English translation of a […]
Russian books and stories, or Tolstoy in a winter landscape
The 25th Moscow International Book Fair wrapped up today and if the scant English-language news coverage is any indication, either this particular event is somewhat backward looking or else the Iron Curtain has redescended across the Continent recently without my noticing. Here are some of the headlines relating to the fair: “Books by Fidel Castro […]
Literary roundup: Misunderstanding Kafka and a Czech émigré novel
Apparently it isn’t only filmmakers who misunderstand Kafka. In the Times Literary Supplement Gabriel Josipovici writes an article covering a number of quite varied books about or related to Kafka titled “Why we don’t understand Kafka” that brings a demanding yet even-handed take on the ultimate resistance to interpretation that Kafka’s writing contains. In a […]
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