opinionated commentary on literary matters
At The Japan Times Mike Fu reports on how Japan's macabre literati go global . I don't know that this is really anything new -- Suzuki Koji ( Ring , etc.), anyone ? -- but, yes: "the latest wave of genre fiction comes as a counterpoint -- and perhaps a complement -- to the highly marketable healing fiction segment that has shaped perceptions of Japanese literature" (recently). Uketsu ( Strange…
In The Korea Times Park Jin-hai profiles Remco Breuker, as Dutch scholar completes landmark translation of Samguk Yusa , as: Unlike previous English translations, this edition was painstakingly translated in full directly from the original text, which is primarily in classical Chinese, with some elements of "hyangchal" -- an archaic writing system that used Chinese characters to represent…
At The Guardian Sophie McBain has a lengthy profile of Art Spiegelman: The US needs a counter-revolution . . Among the fun details: There is a mural painted by the cartoonist Gary Panter on the living room wall, and another just above their bed, painted to replace a set of bookshelves that collapsed on to the couple when they were asleep, breaking Mouly s nose and prompting a big book clear out.…
At ActuaLitt they have put up a handy Liste des prix litt raires fran ais et francophones . Limited information -- though more can be found if you click the 'our articles on'-link at each entry -- but a handy overview of the many, many French and francophone prizes, including the quirky ones.
Long championed by/at The Untranslated, Alberto Laiseca's Los sorias (see also the publicity pages from Ediciones Simurg and Editorial Barrett ) is scheduled to be published by Deep Vellum in Max Lawton's English translation in the spring of 2029, and at the Buenos Aires Herald Agust n Mango previews the coming attraction, in Los Sorias : the legendary Argentine book that remains a secret abroad .…
Eamon Maher has been: "reading letters McGahern received from fellow Irish writers that are held within his literary archive " and quotes from some of these in reporting in the Irish Times on The Writer s Writer: A dive into John McGahern s literary archive shows his huge impact . I'm not sure letters to the author are the best way to judge what they thought of his writing -- though these are…
The most recent additions to the complete review are my reviews of two novels by Andrew Bergman featuring his PI Jack LeVine:: The Big Kiss-Off of 1944 Hollywood and LeVine
American author John Crowley has passed away; see, for example, the obituary (presumably paywalled) in The New York Times or the Locus notice .
Another take, this by Cameron Pugh at the Christian Science Monitor , as to how Caught in the backlash over AI, book publishers face mounting questions . Interesting point, that: Controversies over AI use have struck the publishing industry amid ballooning work and thinning staff. The number of books released by publishing houses in the United States increased by 10% between 2022 and 2025,…
In the South China Morning Post Meredith Chen reports on How AI is helping to open a new chapter for ancient Chinese literature . Digitization certainly seems useful -- see the site she mentions, Shidian Guji -- but as to the LLMs processing and analyzing works: associate professor from the Department of Chinese and History at City University of Hong Kong Tsui Lik-hang notes: Classical Chinese is…
They've announced the winner of this year's Arthur C. Clarke Award, and it is When There Are Wolves Again , by E.J. Swift; see also the Arcadia publicity page . Nice touch: the prize money is 2026 -- an amount raised every year since 2001 (though, I note, at less than the rate of inflation ...).
JAM news reports that Lasha Bugadze becomes first modern Georgian writer whose book was barred from being sent to prison , as prison authorities did not allow the latest novel by the The Literature Express -author, , to be sent to a prisoner. In the US, of course, prison censorship is widespread -- many, many books are denied prisoners --, but apparently in Georgia: "the penitentiary code contains…
At , Luka Mi eta has a lengthy Conversation with Gojko Bo ovi : ten novels that best reflect the Serbs and Serbia , and while it cuts off rather abruptly (maybe they want you to register to read the rest ?) there's a lot here, and some good suggestions -- not least, the great Me a Selimovi 's Death and the Dervish .
They've announced -- yes, even with a press release in English -- the longlist for this year's German Book Prize, the leading German novel prize (basically: the German imitation-Booker). Twenty titles, selected from 205 considered (meaning the jury called in 25, since apparently only 180 were submitted ). It doesn't look like many of the authors with longlisted titles have published much in…
They've announced the shortlists for this year's (Australian) Prime Minister's Literary Awards, "the richest literary prize in the nation". Five finalists in each of the six categories, selected from 673 entries. The winners will be announced 10 September.
The most recent additions to the complete review are my reviews of two short novels by Yamazaki Nao-Cola: Beautiful Distance Don't Laugh at Other People's Sex Lives These came out in English in the spring in the UK, from Daunt Books -- to not much notice, it seems -- and are forthcoming in the US at the end of next month, from SJP Lit; I wonder whether the Sarah Jessica Parker-imprimatur will make…
Just a heads-up, that there will be no posts tomorrow, as the movers are finally bringing my (many boxes of) books, which will keep me ... busy. Here's hoping they all fit ..... You can still think of and celebrate the Literary Saloon, however -- tomorrow is the twenty-fourth anniversary of the weblog, added to the site (which was started in 1999 ...) and with posting starting on 11 August 2002.
At The Substack Post John Paul Brammer, Kathleen Schmidt, and Lincoln Michel discuss, at some length, An author's 2 million book deal was pulled over suspected AI use. Where does publishing go from here ? with Danya Issawi -- yet more (and, yes, also more of the same) on this fun question. Among the observations -- this by John Paul Brammer: I don t think the average person needs to be reading…
French author and screenwriter Didier Decoin has passed away; see, for example, the franceinfo report . His John l'enfer won the prix Goncourt in 1977, and he was later both secretary-general and then president of the Acad mie Goncourt . His work has not been widely translated into English -- The Case Against Love and The Office of Gardens and Ponds appear to be the extent of it. Somewhat…
German-born American author Ursula Hegi has passed away; see, for example, the obituary in The New York Times (presumably paywalled) . See also the author page at Simon & Schuster, with links to information about her various books.
They've adapted Arthur Schnitzler's novel Late Fame for a movie of the same name, directed by Kent Jones and starring Willem Dafoe; see, for example, the Magnolia Pictures publicity page . This has been floating around for a while -- it was playing in Vienna when I came here two months ago -- but apparently has just been released in the US; among the review, see those at: AV Club Deadline The New…
For the German Hotlist competition: "All German-language independent publishing houses are invited to submit one book regarded as one of the best of their current catalogue", and 205 did this year -- all of which you can find (after annoyingly clicking back and forth and through -- come on, people, just post a simple one-page list ...) here , and they've now announced the thirty finalists, which…
At The Conversation the research team Folio considers: Friday essay: is there a great Australian graphic novel ? -- an interesting overview.
This week's academic scandal -- or at least the one that's been getting the most attention --, the one at Cambridge University that has now led to the professor in question stepping down from his position, comes with a well-timed publishing kicker, as a book by him -- a memoir, though with a co-writer -- is scheduled to come out shortly, from Simon & Schuster -- see their publicity page --, with…
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of John Gregory Dunne's account of The Studio -- the studio in question being Twentieth Century Fox, anno 1967.
They've announced the winner of this year's Miles Franklin Literary Award, the leading Australian novel prize, and it is Fierceland , by Omar Musa; see also the publicity pages from Penguin Books Australia and Penguin Random House SEA .
Why provide actual content when lists are so much more fun ? The New York Times ' book coverage is running with them -- now out: The 50 Best Thrillers of the 21st Century (presumably paywalled) , as voted on by: "291 crime novelists, editors, booksellers, librarians and other book lovers". A few are under review at the complete review : 4. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo , by Stieg Larsson 6. My…
In an already much-reported-on story -- see e.g. coverage at The Guardian and the BBC -- in a new article at Judgment and Decision Making Sydney Sears and Deena Skolnick Weisberg explore Bot or not: Can people tell the difference between stories written by a human or by an AI system ? and find ... umm, not so much. Unsurprisingly: "our participants displayed a bias against AI, rating stories more…
The Gaelic Books Council has announced the shortlists for this year's Gaelic Literature Awards There are seven categories, including two for unpublished manuscripts. The winners will be announced 15 September.
At El Pa s Laura Fern ndez has a profile of the author, in Chuck Palahniuk: Transgressive literature in the U.S. ended with 9/11, when we all became terrorists -- itself an interesting thesis. He also suggests: Today, horror is the only genre that allows for transgression; it s the only one that can reflect on what we re experiencing, while attacking it at the same time
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Anna Arno's biography, Paul Celan : A Life , now out in English, from Harvard University Press. (As longtime readers know, I regard Celan as one of the three greatest twentieth-century German poets, alongside Rilke and Brecht.)
The Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival will take place at the end of the month, and while there's apparently nothing up about it yet at the Inizjamed site, at the Times of Malta Emma Mattei spoke to artistic director Leanne Ellul and festival coordinator Jean Paul Borg 'on their origins and the ideas shaping this year's programme', in A literary festival, unbound Seven writers from six…
Another take/look, this one from the Philippines, as Mye Mulingtapang considers Can AI translate literature ? Why human translators still matter at ABS-CBN, speaking specifically with local translator Kristian Sendon Cordero.
At The Guardian Madeleine Dunnigan tackles at some length (and based also on personal experience) the always fun topic of I want to be ripped to shreds : writers flock to MFAs -- but does it breed elitist literature ? I'll only say that I love the picture they cruelly put at the top of the article -- 'A School of the Museum of Fine Arts student works on writing in a tree in Boston, Massachusetts'.
Austrian author Monika Helfer has passed away; see, for example, the orf report or the statement from publisher Hanser. Bloomsbury recently brought out two of her books in English, Last House Before the Mountain and Library for the War-Wounded ; see their author page . See also the Hanser foreign rights page for more information about some of her books. (They refer to her as 'Monika Helfer-K…
At Kill Your Darlings Suzy Garcia has a Q & A with the critic, in Merve Emre Has Her Eye on Australia . Among the reveals: I don t own a television, and the last movie I saw in a theatre was Midsommar in 2019. And, of course, quite a few ( Barley Patch -author) Murnane-mentions.
Another article about the publishing of works after an author's death, this time with a focus on kids' books: at USA Today Clare Mulroy reports that 'Experts say posthumous publishing may signal economic hardship for the industry, but it's also a way for book heirs to continue a family legacy', in Posthumous publishing may signal hard times and a need for nostalgia. Is it ethical ? I'm not sure…
There have been quite a few articles about mysterious large-scale purchases of used books, with the apparent purpose of the purchases being to 'feed' (i.e. 'train') LLMs, with the books then destroyed, and at The Guardian Stephanie Convery now offers another look, in More than just objects : Australian booksellers raise alarm over horrific destruction of rare titles to feed AI . While I really,…
Another case of a work of fiction being bought for a huge sum ("an offer for more than 2m [...] as part of a 14-way auction") and then being ditched by the publisher because of suspicions of AI-use is making the rounds and I can't resist a few comments. In The Guardian Emma Loffhagen sums up what seem to be the basics here -- and quotes the author: He said the novel had passed through first…
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Matthew Head's 1955 novel, Murder at The Flea Club . This is the fourth in his quartet of novels featuring Dr.Mary Finney; nothing special -- but it does leave me curious enough about the other three, which are set in the then-still Belgian Congo, where Head (actually: John Canaday) spent some time in the 1940s. (Canaday went on to…
At Publishers Weekly Nick Hilden has Q & As with two authors about literary influence -- Sigrid Nunez on Virginia Woolf and Keith Ridgway on Samuel Beckett .
At Korea JoongAng Daily they report that Turkish readers write history as K-literature translation tops best sellers in 2025 as, impressively: "Turkey is Europe's most enthusiastic market for Korean literature," Hong Soon-chul, the head of literary rights agency BC Agency, said. "Three universities, including Ankara University, have even established dedicated programs to train translators of…
They've announced the longlist for this year's Cundill History Prize -- "The world's leading prize for a work of history written or translated into English", awarded for a work demonstrating: "excellence across the prize's guiding criteria: craft, communication, and consequence" Fifteen titles, selected: "from almost 400 submissions from across the world".
Atlas (the Association pour la promotion de la traduction litt raire) has announced the seven finalists for this year's Grand Prix de Traduction Am d e Pichot , a leading French prize for a translation of a 'remarkable work of contemporary fiction'. Noteworthy: none of the seven finalists are translations of a work written in English. The past three winners have been translations of Mircea C rt…
I mentioned this when it was still in the works, but now the new publication Hyphen has launched -- the first issue: "featuring work in seven languages by 17 writers and 11 translators, with Marathi as the Language in Focus". Looks promising ! At South First Ashutosh Kumar Thakur writes about the magazine and the launch, in Hyphen and the dream of a shared Indian literature -- suggesting that:…
Season four of Prime Video's adaptation of Lee Child's long-running Jack Reacher series of novels is set to become available 12 August, and they've now also announced details about season five -- see, for example, the report at The Hollywood Reporter . I mention both because the books they are each based on are under review at the complete review : season four is based on Gone Tomorrow , and…
With a new Odyssey -film out, Emily Wilson -- who, among other things, has translated Homer's epic -- is getting some attention, especially since she reviewed the new film version, at considerable length (4234 words, as the webpage helpfully points out) at the London Review of Books , a take (and, basically, take-down) which has itself been much-discussed. At npr they apparently had her on for a…