Book World Prague roundup Prague’s book fair just came and went and though I missed seeing a lot of the bigger names and featured events I was left with one strong impression that seems highly significant for Central European literature and the region as a whole. It is that Central Europe is fucked – no […]
The fifth Prague Microfestival of poetry runs from May 12 to 14 with an extra night of readings on May 15. Celebrating “new and innovative poetry that ventures into the realm of experimentation and the visual arts, unfettered by the narrow boundaries of national literatures” the festival brings together 12 writers from Norway, Croatia, the […]
The PEN World Voices festival is underway in New York, running from April 29 to May 5. There are a lot of great events, including Mikhail Shishkin speaking on a panel about book reviewers, a conversation with Polish author of Russians in Warsaw Agata Tuszyńska, a Literary Safari including Hungarian Noémi Szécsi and Czech Michal […]
Czech writer Emil Hakl has a novel Of Kids and Parents and story collection On Flying Objects in English translation. Now Tinge Magazine has an excerpt from The Witch’s Flight, which is being published by Twisted Spoon Press later this year, in a translation by Marek Tomin, who previously translated Hakl’s novel. There is also […]
I recently had the pleasure of hearing Prague-based writer Thor Garcia read from his most recent novel Only Fools Die of Heartbreak. Now the Czech Literature Portal has an interview with Garcia in which he talks about the mythical early 90s, his journalism and writing, Czech culture and “drab” American fiction. Having just written about […]
At Hungarian Literature Online there is an interview with Matt Henderson Ellis, whose novel Keeping Bedlam at Bay in the Prague Café was recently published by New Europe Books. The interview is titled “Prague kind of lends itself to neurosis,” which has instantly become my automated answer to the perpetual “Why did you move to […]
This year’s Prague Writers’ Festival, which takes place from April 17 to 19, has a distinctly political thrust. Grouped around the theme “The Birth of Nations” there are a pair of discussions between participating writers titled “Revolution” and “The Birth and Death of Czechoslovakia.” The star of the festival is Nobel Prize-winning Turkish writer Orhan […]
Asymptote’s April 2013 issue has just come out and, as always, contains a lot of great prose, poetry and more, some of which comes from the part of the world written about hereabouts. The introduction of Hungarian writer Miklós Szentkuthy continues with an excerpt from Towards the One and Only Metaphor translated by Tim Wilkinson […]
“Under communism the basic building material was greyness. That’s what we all remember. Even those of us who have forgotten everything else. Communism was grey – this truism has poisoned our minds. And so, after our heroic liberation, our first reaction was to rush to a paint shop. And that’s what my country looks like […]
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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