An introductory guest post at Beauty is a Sleeping Cat November is German Literature Month and there has already been a lot going on at blogs such as Beauty is a Sleeping Cat. The first part of my own contribution went up as a guest post on that excellent blog as an introduction to the […]
Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko is appearing at the University of Buffalo through November 3 for a series of events devoted to his work. He will read his poetry on November 1, hold discussions of his poetry and film, screen his film Stalin’s Funeral starring Vanessa Redgrave and be present at a Buffalo Philharmonic performance of […]
“Insallah,” he said, and took a long drag. “If NATO gives the green light, then we attack.” “Twins,” a story of the Libyan uprising from Hungarian writer and war correspondent Sándor Jászberényi is featured on Pilvax Magazine. And so yet another Central European writer has devoted his attention to the Arab/Islamic world without a peep […]
Yuri Andrukhovych came to Prague’s Forum 2000 more as a journalist from a country very much in the center of debates about political liberties and freedom of the press than as the writer of the postmodern absurdist novel Perverzion. At the forum itself he discussed the situation of Ukraine and its beleaguered yet extremely resilient […]
In its 16th year in Prague Forum 2000 begins its first full day today after kicking off with an opening ceremony last night that included Joan Baez singing “We Shall Overcome” and will now follow up with discussion panels on the state of the media that may well disagree with Ms. Baez’s sentiments. We shall […]
The Prague Centre for Jewish Studies is currently holding its first annual conference: “Jewish Studies in the 21st Century. Prague – Europe – World” (program – mostly in Czech). On Thursday, October 18, I attended the literary segment of the conference at the Clam-Gallasův Palace and under five imposing crystal chandeliers heard various presentations about […]
The new issue of Asymptote is out with a lot of great content in many languages and formats – fiction, poetry, drama, graphic novel, video and an especially interesting section of non-fiction including Arnon Grunberg on J.M. Coetzee and ghost stories collected on the streets of Berlin. From Central and Eastern Europe there are three […]
The trial over the fate of the Kafka manuscripts left in Max Brod’s possession, that he bequeathed to his secretary Esther Hoffe, has finally reached a settlement. The judge ruled that the manuscripts should go to Israel’s National Library, though of course Hoffe’s surviving daughter will appeal until the end of her own life, after […]
Book fairs are a very strange phenomenon. There are many, many kinds of trade fairs but it’s likely that there isn’t a kind as diametrically opposed to the basic function that sustains it as a book fair is to the solitary act of reading. One the one hand all this interaction is vitally necessary – […]
The Frankfurt Book Fair is in full swing, exhibiting the full spectrum of all the literary and publishing world has to offer. What is this spectrum, you ask? At one extreme great writers and an array of fantastic books – some already available in English, others calling out from their respective countries’ stands saying “translate […]
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