“There was fascism, there was communism and the bugbears of communism. Now, there is, supposedly, none of that, and all the filth of those times has been swept under the carpet.” – from Canzone di Guerra by Daša Drndić, translated from the Croatian by Celia Hawkesworth. B O D Y’s Winter Issue rolls on with […]
The world lost a major writer when Daša Drndić passed away earlier this year. The author of Trieste, Belladonna and Leica Format, all available in English translation, is still seeing her work coming out in English with the soon-to-be-published Doppelgänger coming out from Istros Books in a translation by Celia Hawkesworth and Susan Curtis. Read […]
“The army wanted my brother to report the next day at nine o’clock. The draft card covered up the ladies with their long skirts at the evening cabaret. France cabarets its nights away. I was born here, where a different program is in store. A mix of fear and bitterness suddenly overwhelmed me and wouldn’t […]
“They say that when people jump from their own – or someone else’s – windows and balconies, they first take off their socks, shoes, trainers, slippers. They jump barefoot. With their hangnails, corns and hard heels. They go to join their barefoot ancestors.” From the absolutely unique and brilliant award-winning Hair Everywhere by Tea Tulić, […]
Croatian writer Ivan Sršen’s debut novel Harmattan follows a Nigerian woman imprisoned in Germany for nothing more than entering Europe without the proper documents. Read an excerpt of the account of prison life in Saturday European Fiction in a translation by Marino Buble. Read more Saturday European Fiction
From a book of essays that charts everything from the “listlessness of Central Europe to the ennui of the Low Countries” to a series of books that covers pretty much the rest of the bases by dealing with “Life and death—under water, and in the sky. Sinister picnics. Hellish cafeterias.” (If there’s anything else in […]
“Have I told you the story about the guy who butchered hogs?” “Which guy?” “The one who was in the Foreign Legion. Have I told you that one?” “Is it for real?” And so starts the very short story, “One Big Mess” by Croatian writer and author of Our Man in Iraq Robert Perišić in […]
“All courses start in the fall, when a man has to start something, turn things around, survive. It’s always great in the beginning, but there’s a point with people like him, people who never make a second payment for their German, karate, creative writing, yoga…” From a short prose piece – “All Courses Start In […]
“That New Year little Mensur Ćeman learned that Grandfather Frost really did exist, but that he was not the kind old man from the Coca-Cola ad bringing colorfully wrapped presents for the children—he was an infidel arsonist, and it was because of him that he now lived at his Uncle Irfan’s and had to go […]
The 2013 London Book Fair will take place from April 15 to 17 with Turkey as this year’s guest of honor. There will be a number of writers and events that touch on Central and Eastern European literature, including: GLAS New Russian Writing will be presenting Debut Prize winners Irina Bogatyreva, Alexander Snegirev and Olga […]
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