“So many poems. So many nice poems. More and more and still getting stronger.” This is from the begininng of Jacek Gutorow’s poem “Caedmon”, one of four of the Polish poet’s works published in B O D Y in translations by Piotr Florczyk.
Book Expo America begins on May 29 and among all the books about God, cats, wizards, S&M, self-help and various combinations of these there will be some books in translation in the spotlight. One of these will focus on Marek Hlasko, with an event entitled “Marek Hlasko: Reviving a Literary Rebel”. Participating will be Polish […]
The Sozopol Fiction Seminars take place in Sozopol, Bulgaria from May 29-June 3 with a lineup of Bulgarian and English-language writers and editors in attendance, including yours truly. The seminars are supported by the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation and Elizabeth Kostova, author of The Historian and The Swan Thieves, is one of the aforementioned writers leading […]
As noted in the preview of Book World Prague 2014, the 2014 Jiri Theiner Award was given to historian Peter Demetz. Index on Censorship has an article on it though it’s more about the background of the award. (The article was written by Pavel Theiner, the son of the award’s namesake, and he quotes himself […]
Prague’s book fair – Book World Prague – is underway and the guest of honor this year is Hungary with writers in attendance including the venerable Péter Esterházy, Krisztina Tóth, György Spiró, János Háy and László F. Földényi. You can download a supplement in English on the Hungarian presence that even has a section entitled […]
“Lermontov’s house is gone now. The foundations have crumbled in upon themselves; the mock-ups of the reconstruction are now covered in graffiti. There will never be any reconstruction…” This is the beginning of Tara Isabella Burton’s excellent essay on Tbilisi on Tin House’s blog Fiction by Lyudmila Ulitskaya Great Russian writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya has a […]
The recent centennial of Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal and the publication of Harlequin’s Millions in a translation by Stacey Knecht is the impetus for a number of Hrabal-based events coming up this week. On May 6, Knecht will be in conversation with writer Caleb Crain at 192 Books in New York City. And NYRB and […]
Argentine writer Iosi Havilio is appearing at the excellent Blue Metropolis International Literature Festival in Montreal on Friday May 2 and Saturday May 3 together with fellow Latin American writers Carlos Labbé, Luis Alberto Urrea and Eduargo Lago. Read an excerpt from Iosi Havilio’s Paradises in B O D Y here There are not a […]
For the second year running Hungarian László Krasznahorkai has won the Best Translated Book Award for fiction. His novel Seiobo There Below, translated by Ottilie Mulzet, was the winner after he won the 2013 prize for Sátántangó in a translation by George Szirtes. Krasznahorkai came by his publisher New Directions’ offices and gave a short […]
In The Moscow Times, John Freedman illuminates a striking parallel between the hysterical, xenophobic cultural attacks being directed against cultural figures in Russia and those carried out at the height of Stalinism: “I’ve seen this before. Not in my lifetime, no. I saw it unfold before my astonished eyes in crumbling, yellowing newspaper clippings from the late 1920s […]
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