Throughout August, Literalab asked writers, translators and publishers to comment on both the women writers from their own language they most appreciate having been translated into English as well as those they would most like to see make the leap. Ágnes Orzóy is the editor of Hungarian Literature Online and editor-at-large at Asymptote. She has […]
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 […]
The great Tadeusz Różewicz passed away on April 24, 2014, the last of a great generation of Polish poets to experience the country’s turbulent 20th century from the Second World War through communism and its aftermath. Today, B O D Y publishes his poem “Wishing Well” in a translation by Kasia Pilat. There have also […]
I have been expressing my admiration for Central European crime writing since I was practically a baby, but being a baby no one understood what I was saying, so it took until I started Literalab and began writing about it that my admiration took on intelligible form. Since then I have surveyed regional crime fiction […]
1. The Devil’s Workshop by Jáchym Topol (translated by Alex Zucker) Like my favorite book of the year before, my favorite book of 2013 delves into the ultimate horrors that man inflicts on his fellow man, but does so with a surplus of imagination, suspense and humor. Whereas Selvedin […]
“‘Istanbul is an incredible city,’ he said. ‘Here you’ll find the sort of people who’ll share their last crust of bread with you, as well as the sort who’ll cut out your kidneys and dump you in the canal.’ He was looking for the first kind;” From “The Assassin from Apricot City” by Witold Szabłowski, […]
Witold Szabłowski’s The Assassin from Apricot City: Reportage from Turkey, translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones is about to be released by Stork Press, and in the run up to publication there will be a book launch tonight, November 21, at London’s Free Word Centre. Both the author and translator will be there, as […]
“Pale sky turned into a shabbily painted wall with paint flaking here and there, exposing the texture of old wooden boards. Instead of the white sails he saw the whites of the eyes with threads of broken capillaries. These were the eyes of a madman. He took a breath, greedily, but felt no relief. He […]
The next two weeks of B O D Y’s Sunday European Fiction will be devoted to dark stories of crime and death. First up is the brutal opening of Polish crime writer Mariusz Czubaj’s novel 21:37, just published by Stork Press in a translation by Anna Hyde. This is the award-winning writer’s first book to […]
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 […]
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