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<?xml version="1.0"?><rss version="2.0"><channel> <title>the Literary Saloon</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/index.htm</link> <description>opinionated commentary on literary matters</description> <language>en-us</language> <copyright>Copyright 2025 the Complete Review</copyright> <docs>http://backend.userland.com/rss</docs> <managingEditor>mao@complete-review.com</managingEditor> <item> <title>HWA Crown Awards longlists</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc8</link><description><![CDATA[ The Historical Writers Association has <a href="https://historiamag.com/2025-hwa-crown-awards-longlists/" target="_blank">announced</a> the longlists for its HWA Crown Awards in the three categories: fiction, non, and debut.<br> The shortlists will be announced 15 October and the winners 19 November.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc8</guid> </item> <item> <title>Gaelic Literature Awards</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc9</link><description><![CDATA[ They've <a href="https://www.gaelicbooks.org/the-gaelic-literature-awards-2025-winners?lang=en" target="_blank">announced</a> the winners of this year's Gaelic Literature Awards.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc9</guid> </item> <item> <title>'In Search of Ouologuem'</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jd1</link><description><![CDATA[ At Guernica Vamba Sherif goes <a href="https://www.guernicamag.com/in-search-of-ouologuem/" target="_blank">In Search of Ouologuem</a> -- Yambo Ouologuem, the <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/mali/ouology.htm" target="_blank">Bound to Violence</a>-author.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jd1</guid> </item> <item> <title>Killing Stella review</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jd2</link><description><![CDATA[ The most recent addition to the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font> is my review of Marlen Haushofer's novella, <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/austria/haushoferm3.htm" target="_blank">Killing Stella</a> -- already out in the US, from New Directions, with a Vintage Classics edition coming in the UK in January.<br><br> This is also yet another example of a creeping bandwagon-jumping that's increasingly found in international publishing (of *literary fiction*), this 1958 novella *suddenly* (re)discovered near-simultaneously in a variety of major markets (yes, certainly on the back of the latest wave of interest in <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/austria/haushoferm.htm" target="_blank">The Wall</a>, and more attention being paid to Haushofer in general (as has also been the case recently with, e.g. Alba de Céspedes (<a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/italia/decespedes.htm" target="_blank">Forbidden Notebook</a>, etc.)). <br> This is apparently the first English translation of the novella, published this summer in the US and forthcoming shortly in the UK, while the Spanish translation was republished last year, as was a new Italian translation. All good -- but it sure seems like editors in all these markets are looking as much to what their colleagues in the other major markets are doing, rather than going their own way(s). (Obviously, agents pushing these authors and titles also play a significant role.) ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jd2</guid> </item> <item> <title>Deutscher Buchpreis shortlist</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc5</link><description><![CDATA[ They've <a href="https://www.deutscher-buchpreis.de/en/news/item/six-novels-on-the-shortlist/" target="_blank">announced</a> the six-title-strong shortlist for this year's German Book Prize, the leading German novel prize.<br> The winner will be announced 13 October.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc5</guid> </item> <item> <title>Toni Morrison symposium</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc6</link><description><![CDATA[ They're holding a symposium at Cornell from tomorrow through the 21st, <a href="https://tonimorrison70symposium.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Toni Morrison: Literature & Public Life</a><br> See also Kathy Hovis' preview-article in the <i>Cornell Chronicle</i>, <a href="https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/09/four-day-event-celebrates-70-years-toni-morrisons-cornell-legacy" target="_blank">Four-day event celebrates 70 years of Toni Morrison's Cornell legacy</a>. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc6</guid> </item> <item> <title>US international bestsellers</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc7</link><description><![CDATA[ At Public Books Jed Kudrick and Sean DiLeonardi have an interesting look at <a href="https://www.publicbooks.org/how-translations-sell-three-u-s-eras-of-international-bestsellers/" target="_blank">How Translations Sell: Three U.S. Eras of International Bestsellers</a>, as they: <blockquote><font size="-1">compiled information on all 7,431 fiction bestsellers from 1931 to 2020, identifying author nationality, original publication language, and country of publisher for each title. Sorting out those novels originally written in languages other than English enabled us to arrive at a subset of 176 instances in which translated titles hit the NYT bestseller lists. Collectively, they provide a broad overview of trends related to the history of translated bestsellers.</font></blockquote> Impressively: "From 1931 to 2020, just 2.4 percent of the NYT bestseller lists in fiction were in translation, that is, titles originally written in languages other than English". <br> They find three waves of bestselling translation -- and, worryingly, each wave looks smaller than the last ..... <br> The waves do not appear to correlate completely with the number of titles published in translation -- the more interesting data, I'd suggest -- but all this is still of some interest. <br> (And good to see a Fritz Molden shout-out -- ignominiously put out of business by over-paying for the rights for <i>Princess Daisy</i> (!), a lesson for publishers everywhere .....)]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc7</guid> </item> <item> <title>Prix Jean Monnet</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc1</link><description><![CDATA[ They've announced the winner of this year's <a href="https://litteratures-europeennes.com/les-prix-litteraires/prix-jean-monnet/" target="_blank">prix Jean Monnet de littérature européenne</a>, and it is <i>Trésor caché</i>, by Pascal Quignard; see also the Albin Michel <a href="https://www.albin-michel.fr/tresor-cache-9782226495068" target="_blank">publicity page</a>, beating out other finalists Josef Winkler and Mircea Cărtărescu. (They <i>have</i> announced the winner at the official site, but ... not very <a href="https://litteratures-europeennes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/laureat-Quignard-bandeau-1000x400.jpg" target="_blank">well</a>, so see, for example, the ActuaLitté <a href="https://actualitte.com/article/126148/prix-litteraires/pascal-quignard-laureat-du-prix-jean-monnet-de-litterature-europeenne-2025" target="_blank">report</a>.) ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc1</guid> </item> <item> <title>Giller Prize longlist</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc2</link><description><![CDATA[ They've <a href="https://gillerprize.ca/the-giller-prize-presents-its-2025-longlist/" target="_blank">announced</a> the longlist for this year's Giller Prize, a leading Canadian fiction prize -- fourteen titles selected from "more than 100 books submitted" (but unfortunately not revealed).<br> The shortlist will be announced 6 October, and the winner on 17 November.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc2</guid> </item> <item> <title>New US poet laureate</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc3</link><description><![CDATA[ They've announced that the <a href="https://newsroom.loc.gov/news/library-of-congress-names-arthur-sze-the-nation-s-25th-u.s.-poet-laureate/s/b8413b7b-50b4-4284-9e0e-b0adbde0b70b" target="_blank">Library of Congress Names Arthur Sze the Nation's 25th U.S. Poet Laureate</a>.<br> Admirably: <blockquote><font size="-1">During his term as Poet Laureate, Sze, who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, plans to have a special focus on translating poetry originally written in other languages.</font></blockquote> The current American president does not seem to have weighed in on this selection yet. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc3</guid> </item> <item> <title>Dealing with the Dead review</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc4</link><description><![CDATA[ The most recent addition to the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font> is my review of Alain Mabanckou's <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/congo/mabancka8.htm" target="_blank">Dealing with the Dead</a> -- out today in the US, from The New Press (the UK edition, from Serpent's Tail, came out at the beginning of the year).]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jc4</guid> </item> <item> <title>Forms & Function exhibit</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb8</link><description><![CDATA[ At Princeton University the exhibit <a href="https://library.princeton.edu/formsandfunction" target="_blank">Forms & Function: The Splendors of Global Book Making</a> runs through 7 December; it certainly looks like it's worth a look. <br> A lot is available digitally -- <a href="https://dpul.princeton.edu/global-book-forms" target="_blank">online</a> (requiring lots of clicking-through) or conveniently all together in a ninety-eight page <a href="https://figgy.princeton.edu/downloads/c85fd073-9a0d-45e1-a3be-5dd59ec85fde/file/aa3a4934-e21a-4a34-9a34-f6518707c4ce" target="_blank">guide</a> <font size="-1">(warning ! dreaded pdf format !)</font> . ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb8</guid> </item> <item> <title>'The case for a global literary imagination'</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb9</link><description><![CDATA[ At <i>The Daily Californian</i> Eythana Miller makes <a href="https://www.dailycal.org/weekender/commentary/the-case-for-a-global-literary-imagination/article_121ca63b-de9b-4792-b1a2-4464e349dd0b.html" target="_blank">The case for a global literary imagination</a>, which I can certainly get on board with. <br> The article takes a local angle -- with some <a href="https://www.transitbooks.org/" target="_blank">Translit Books</a> attention, as well as noting that: "Berkeley’s broader cultural ecosystem foregrounds translation more than in many American cities". <br> (And apparently the US lags in publishing works in translation: "largely due to an unceasing fire hydrant of excellent writing that is produced in English every year, making it easy for publishers to take their pick without exerting effort to find writing in other languages they can’t read". Ah, yes, those 'unceasing fire hydrants of excellent writing' .....)]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb9</guid> </item> <item> <title>Recent Hungarian books</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb6</link><description><![CDATA[ At hlo they have a look at some of the <a href="https://hlo.hu/news/new-releases-summer-2025.html" target="_blank">New Books in Hungarian -- Summer 2025</a> -- recent titles that came out in Hungary.<br> Some interesting-sounding titles here, including from a number of authors that have had some works translated into English. Let's hope we see some of these in translation eventually as well.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb6</guid> </item> <item> <title>Art on Fire review</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb7</link><description><![CDATA[ The most recent addition to the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font> is my review of Yun Ko-eun's novel <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/korea/yun_ko_eun2.htm" target="_blank">Art on Fire</a>, coming out in English, from Scribe.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb7</guid> </item> <item> <title>Longlist: (US) National Book Award for Fiction</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb3</link><description><![CDATA[ The (American) National Book Foundation has <a href="https://www.nationalbook.org/2025-national-book-awards-longlist-for-fiction/" target="_blank">announced</a> the ten-title-strong longlist for this year's National Book Award for Fiction, selected from 434 (unfortunately not revealed) submissions.<br> True to form (and disappointingly), I have not seen a one of these.<br> The finalists in this and all the other NBA categories will be announced 7 October, and the winners on 19 November.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb3</guid> </item> <item> <title>Longlists: The Saltires</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb4</link><description><![CDATA[ They've announced the longlists for <a href="https://www.thesaltires.org.uk/" target="_blank">The Saltires</a> -- Scotland's National Book Awards -- in their four categories, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, and Research.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb4</guid> </item> <item> <title>Bookselling in ... Russia</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb5</link><description><![CDATA[ As Reuters reports, things have gotten even messier in Russia, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-booksellers-face-legal-minefield-over-new-foreign-agent-rules-2025-09-12/" target="_blank">Russian booksellers face legal minefield over new 'foreign agent' rules</a>, as: <blockquote><font size="-1">Under a law that came into force on September 1, people who have been designated by Russia as foreign agents are banned from educational activity or producing "information products for minors" -- a broad wording that could potentially apply to books, although books by "agents" are not banned outright.</font></blockquote>]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb5</guid> </item> <item> <title>Schweizer Buchpreis finalists</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#ja8</link><description><![CDATA[ They've <a href="https://www.schweizerbuchpreis.ch/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Medienmitteilung-Schweizer-Buchpreis-Shortlist-2025.pdf" target="_blank">announced</a> <font size="-1">(warning ! dreaded pdf format !)</font> the five finalists for this year's <a href="https://www.schweizerbuchpreis.ch/" target="_blank">Swiss Book Prize</a>.<br> Among the finalists: Jonas Lüscher's <i>Verzauberte Vorbestimmung</i>, which is also longlisted for the German Book Prize and just won the Wilhelm Raabe-Literaturpreis (see my <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ja1" target="_blank">previous mention</a>). (Another finalist, Dorothee Elmiger's <i>Die Holländerinnen</i>, is also on the German Book Prize longlist.) <br> The winner will be announced 16 November.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#ja8</guid> </item> <item> <title>Yan Lianke profile</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#ja9</link><description><![CDATA[ The <a href="https://www.siwf.or.kr/eng/index.do" target="_blank">Seoul International Writers' Festival</a> runs through the 17th; among the authors there is <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/china/yanl.htm" target="_blank">Serve the People !</a>-author Yan Lianke, and in <i>The Korea Times</i> Park Han-sol explores <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/lifestyle/books/20250911/why-novelist-yan-lianke-chooses-anxiety-over-sleep" target="_blank">Why novelist Yan Lianke chooses anxiety over sleep</a>. <br> Among Yan's observations: <blockquote><font size="-1">“I admire the freedom of Korean literature,” he continued. “It’s more personal, more layered and attentive to the marginalized. We all know that Chinese literature carries more constraints. To create a work there demands enormous effort and sacrifice.”</font></blockquote> See also Hwang Dong-hee's report in <i>The Korea Herald</i>, <a href="https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10573929" target="_blank">Yan Lianke, Hyun Ki-young confront unspoken wounds of nations</a>.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#ja9</guid> </item> <item> <title>Kristian Sendon Cordero Q & A</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb1</link><description><![CDATA[ The Philippines is the <a href="https://philippinesfrankfurt2025.com/" target="_blank">Guest of Honour</a> at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair (which runs 15 to 19 October), and at TraLaLit Julia Rosche now has a Q & A in which 'Filipino author and translator Kristian Sendon Cordero discusses visibility, the importance of Bikol, and the art of translation', in <a href="https://www.tralalit.de/en/2025/09/10/interview-kristian-cordero-en/" target="_blank">“Translation is the best way to read a literary text”</a>. <br> Apparently she has translated "authors like Rilke, Kafka, Borges, and Wilde into Bikol and Filipino". The most recent addition to the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font> is my review of Lydia Davis' <i>The 2024 Windham-Campbell Lecture</i>, <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/davisl/into_the_weeds.htm" target="_blank">Into the Weeds</a>, just about out from Yale University Press in their 'Why I Write'-series.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb1</guid> </item> <item> <title>Into the Weeds review</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb2</link><description><![CDATA[]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#jb2</guid> </item> <item> <title>Prix Jacques Delors finalists</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#ja5</link><description><![CDATA[ They've announced the three finalists for this year's <a href="http://livre-europeen.eu/" target="_blank">prix Jacques Delors du livre européen</a>, with works by Javier Cercas, Carlo Masala, and Judith Koelemeijer left in the running.<br> The winner will be announced 25 November, with the prize to be awarded on 10 December.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#ja5</guid> </item> <item> <title>LTI Korea profile</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#ja6</link><description><![CDATA[ At <i>The Korea Times</i> Kim Se-jeong profiles the <a href="https://www.ltikorea.or.kr/en/main.do" target="_blank">Literature Translation Institute of Korea</a> (South Korea, that is), in <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/lifestyle/books/20250910/lti-korea-connects-korean-literature-global-publishers" target="_blank">LTI Korea connects Korean literature, global publishers</a>. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#ja6</guid> </item> <item> <title>Hotlist 2025</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#ja7</link><description><![CDATA[ The German Hotlist is an award for which every German-language independent publishing house can submit one title; 184 did this year, and they've now <a href="https://www.hotlist-online.com/das-ist-die-hotlist-2025/" target="_blank">announced</a> the ten finalists for ths year's prize.<br> Seven of the works are books in translation -- whereby the one I'm most curious about is Béla Rothenbühler's <i>Polyphon Pervers</i> -- see also the Voland & Quist <a href="https://www.voland-quist.de/werke/polyphon-pervers/" target="_blank">publicity page</a> --, translated from the Luzerndeutsch (Lozäärntüütsch). ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509b.htm#ja7</guid> </item> <item> <title>(US) National Book Award for Translated Literature longlist</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz9</link><description><![CDATA[ The (American) National Book Foundation is announcing the longlists for its National Book Awards this week, and one of those <a href="https://www.nationalbook.org/2025-national-book-awards-longlist-for-translated-literature/" target="_blank">announced</a> yesterday was that for the Translated Literature category -- ten titles, selected from 139 (unfortunately not revealed) submissions.<br> Three of the titles are under review at the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font>: <ul> <li><a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/italia/latronicov.htm" target="_blank">Perfection</a>, by Vincenzo Latronico (tr. Sophie Hughes) <li><a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/niederld/daanjea.htm" target="_blank">The Remembered Soldier</a>, by Anjet Daanje (tr. David McKay) <li><a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/centralasia/ismailovh2.htm" target="_blank">We Computers</a>, by Hamid Ismailov (tr. Shelley Fairweather-Vega)</ul> I also have the third volume of Solvej Balle's <i>On the Calculation of Volume</i> and will get to it soon; it's not out in the US yet (due out, appropriately enough, 18 November). I haven't seen any of the other titles.<br><br> All the NBA finalists will be announced 7 October, and the winners on 19 November.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz9</guid> </item> <item> <title>Wilhelm Raabe-Literaturpreis</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ja1</link><description><![CDATA[ They've <a href="https://www.braunschweig.de/politik_verwaltung/nachrichten/raabe-preis-luescher.php" target="_blank">announced</a> the winner of this year's Wilhelm Raabe Literary Prize, and it is <i>Verzauberte Vorbestimmung</i>, by <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/suisse/luscherj.htm" target="_blank">Kraft</a>-author Jonas Lüscher; see also the Hanser <a href="https://www.hanser-literaturverlage.de/en/buch/jonas-luescher-verzauberte-vorbestimmung-9783446283640-t-5581" target="_blank">foreign rights page</a>.<br> While it doesn't have quite the same prestige as the German Book Prize, it actually pays out more -- €30,000. And Lüscher is also still in the running for the German Book Prize, having made the longlist for that one as well. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ja1</guid> </item> <item> <title>British Academy Book Prize shortlist</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ja2</link><description><![CDATA[ The British Academy has <a href="https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/power-politics-and-the-environment-british-academy-book-prize-2025-shortlist-announced/" target="_blank">announced</a> the six-title-strong shortlist for their Book Prize, awarded for: "works of non-fiction that will inspire readers to deepen their understanding of people, society and cultures across time and place". <br> The winner will be announced 22 October.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ja2</guid> </item> <item> <title>'The life of Ukrainian books and authors in wartime'</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ja3</link><description><![CDATA[ At RAAM <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/postsu/kurkova1.htm" target="_blank">Death and the Penguin</a>-author Andrei Kurkov writes about <a href="https://platformraam.nl/artikelen/2889-ukrainian-books-and-authors-in-wartime" target="_blank">The life of Ukrainian books and authors in wartime</a>. <br> He notes: <blockquote><font size="-1">The Ukrainian book market has now largely recovered from its slump in 2022. In 2024, 15,601 book titles were published in Ukraine with a total circulation of over 33 million copies. This is 1,887 book titles and almost 4.5 million copies more than in 2023. Almost 92% of these books were published in Ukrainian.</font></blockquote>]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ja3</guid> </item> <item> <title>Mistress Koharu review</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ja4</link><description><![CDATA[ The most recent addition to the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font> is my review of Tsujihara Noboru's 'love-doll' novel, <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/japannew/tsujiharan.htm" target="_blank">Mistress Koharu</a>, recently out from Honford Star.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ja4</guid> </item> <item> <title>'Among Friends - Unter Freunden'</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz7</link><description><![CDATA[ The Goethe-Institut USA "is launching a nationwide campaign to celebrate and strengthen transatlantic friendship", <a href="https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/kul/kua/unt.html" target="_blank">Among Friends - Unter Freunden</a> -- including sending two authors <a href="https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/kul/kua/unt/otr.html" target="_blank">On the Road</a> "to bring the transatlantic partnership to life for a new generation and to foster a vibrant literary exchange between Germany and the United States"; see also the Sabine Kieselbach report at Deutsche Welle, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/young-german-authors-on-the-road-in-trumps-usa/a-73918844" target="_blank">Young German authors on the road in Trump's USA</a>.<br><br> I wonder what the over-under is on the INS grabbing them somewhere along the way. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz7</guid> </item> <item> <title>Andrea Bajani profile</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz8</link><description><![CDATA[ At Rice News Brandi Smith reports <a href="https://news.rice.edu/news/2025/rices-bajani-wins-italys-top-literary-prize-anniversary" target="_blank">Rice’s Bajani wins Italy’s top literary prize for ‘The Anniversary’</a>. That's old news -- he won the Premio Strega several months ago; see my <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202507a.htm#ig6" target="_blank">previous mention</a> -- but it's a new profile, noting also that: <blockquote><font size="-1"> The attention has thrust Bajani into a whirlwind schedule. By the end of the year, he will have toured Italy, Spain and Germany with launches also in Hungary, Portugal and the Netherlands before continuing to South America. In total, the novel will be published in nearly 30 countries.</font></blockquote> We also learn that the English translation is by Geoffrey Brock, and is forthcoming from Penguin UK in spring 2026. But no word yet re. a US edition (though surely also coming).<br><br> The only Bajani-title under review at the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font> is his <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/italia/bajania.htm" target="_blank"> If You Kept a Record of Sins</a>. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz8</guid> </item> <item> <title> India and the Nobel Prize</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz4</link><description><![CDATA[ With the announcement of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature just a month away (9 October) the handwringing articles are beginning to appear -- such as Shankar Sharan wondering (and finding a reason for) <a href="https://theprint.in/opinion/india-nobel-prize-literature-independence-quality-education/2737688/" target="_blank">Why hasn't India won Nobel Prize for literature after Independence ? Quality of education</a> at <i>The Print</i>. <br> He maintains: <blockquote><font size="-1">This shameful situation is no fault of publishers here. In current democracies, intellectual activities grow or wither according to the government's attitude. Desi rulers have been more engrossed with promoting their own images, schemes and ideological fixations. Their concern has not gone much beyond taking care of the economy and maintaining their seats of power.</font></blockquote>]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz4</guid> </item> <item> <title>Cynthia Ozick profile</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz5</link><description><![CDATA[ In the <i>Wall Street Journal</i> Tunku Varadarajan profiles <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/cynthia-ozick-a-new-york-jewish-life-of-letters-52aff38e?st=67Fzz5" target="_blank">Cynthia Ozick: A New York Jewish Life of Letters</a>.<br> Among her pronouncements: <blockquote><font size="-1"> Ms. Ozick’s lifelong rule, when faced with writers who display antisemitism in their work, is: “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. With one exception—Ezra Pound, because he committed treason. I don’t think the ‘Cantos’ are enough of a baby to keep him.”</font></blockquote> Most of <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/authors/ozickc.htm" target="_blank">Ozick</a>'s work is under review at the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font>.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz5</guid> </item> <item> <title>'The Sartre and de Beauvoir of Ukraine'</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz6</link><description><![CDATA[ In the <i>Irish Times</i> Lara Marlowe profiles <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/world/europe/2025/09/07/the-sartre-and-de-beauvoir-of-ukraine-how-two-literary-academics-became-wartime-resistance-leaders/" target="_blank">The Sartre and de Beauvoir of Ukraine: how two literary academics became wartime resistance leaders</a> -- Tetyana Oharkova and Volodymyr Yermolenko.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz6</guid> </item> <item> <title>Boekenbon Literatuurprijs longlist</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz1</link><description><![CDATA[ They've announced the longlist for this year's <a href="https://www.boekenbonliteratuurprijs.nl/" target="_blank">Boekenbon Literatuurprijs</a> -- one of the leading Dutch literary prizes, previously also the AKO Literatuurprijs and then the ECI Literatuurprijs, still paying out €50,000, and notable because both works of fiction and non are eligible -- fifteen titles, selected from 525 submissions. <br> The shortlist will be announced 6 October, and the winner 13 November.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz1</guid> </item> <item> <title>Mick Herron profile</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz2</link><description><![CDATA[ At <i>The Guardian</i> Lisa Allardice profiles <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/sep/06/slow-horses-author-mick-herron-i-love-doing-things-that-are-against-the-rules" target="_blank">Slow Horses author Mick Herron: ‘I love doing things that are against the rules’</a>.<br> <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/herronm/slow_horses.htm" target="_blank">Slow Horses</a>-author Herron has a new novel out in the series, <i>Clown Town</i>.<br> He also is featured in this week's By the Book-<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/books/review/mick-herron-clown-town-slough-house.html" target="_blank">column</a> <font size="-1">(presumably paywalled)</font> in <i>The New York Times Book Review</i>.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz2</guid> </item> <item> <title>Chinese Songs in a French Key review</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz3</link><description><![CDATA[ The most recent addition to the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font> is my review of Pauline Yu on <i>How Judith Gautier's Book of Jade Introduced Europe to Chinese Poetry</i>, in <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/books/book_of_jade.htm" target="_blank">Chinese Songs in a French Key</a>, just out from Columbia University Press.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iz3</guid> </item> <item> <title>Tractatus</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy8</link><description><![CDATA[ The Philosophicum Lech has <a href="https://www.philosophicum.com/tractatus/archiv/preistraegerin-2025" target="_blank">announced</a> the winner of this year's Tractatus, awarded for a philosophical essay, and it is <i>Gefühle der Zukunft</i>, by Eva Weber-Guskar; see also the Ullstein <a href="https://www.ullstein.de/werke/gefuehle-der-zukunft/hardcover/9783550202872" target="_blank">publicity page</a>. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy8</guid> </item> <item> <title>Prix Renaudot longlists</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy9</link><description><![CDATA[ They've now also announced the longlists for this year's prix Renaudot -- second after the Goncourt in French prestige; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo <a href="https://www.livreshebdo.fr/article/la-premiere-selection-du-prix-renaudot-2025" target="_blank">report</a>.<br> The only overlap with the Goncourt is Nathacha Appanah's <i>La nuit au cœur</i>. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy9</guid> </item> <item> <title>Longlists: (American) National Translation Awards</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy2</link><description><![CDATA[ The American Literary Translators Association has <a href="https://literarytranslators.org/the-2025-national-translation-awards-in-poetry-and-prose-longlists/" target="_blank">announced</a> the longlists for its National Translation Awards, in the two categories of prose and poetry.<br> Only two of the prose-titles are under review at the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font>: Ranya Abdelrahman and Sawad Hussain's translation of Bothayna Al-Essa's <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/arab/alessab.htm" target="_blank">The Book Censor's Library</a> and Lin King's translation of Yáng Shuāng-zǐ's <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/taiwan/yangsz.htm" target="_blank">Taiwan Travelogue</a> (and I've only seen one more of these titles). <br> The shortlists will be announced 9 October, and the winners on 6 November.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy2</guid> </item> <item> <title>Longlist: Baillie Gifford Prize</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy3</link><description><![CDATA[ They've <a href="https://www.thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/inside-the-covers/news/the-prize-announces-2025-longlist" target="_blank">announced</a> the twelve-title-strong longlist for this year's Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction.<br> I haven't seen any of these.<br> The shortlist will be announced 2 October, and the longlist on 4 November.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy3</guid> </item> <item> <title>Nelly-Sachs-Preis</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy4</link><description><![CDATA[ The city of Dortmund has <a href="https://www.dortmund.de/newsroom/presse-mitteilungen/autorin-yoko-tawada-erhaelt-nelly-sachs-preis-der-stadt-dortmund.html" target="_blank">announced</a> the winner of this year's Nelly Sachs Prize, and it is both Japanese- and German-writing Tawada Yoko; she gets to pick it up on 14 December.<br> Several of Tawada's works are under review at the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font>: <ul> <li><a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/tawaday/emissary.htm" target="_blank">The Emissary</a> (UK title: <i>The Last Children of Tokyo</i>) <li><a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/tawaday/exophony.htm" target="_blank">Exophony</a> <li><a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/tawaday/facingtb.htm" target="_blank">Facing the Bridge</a> <li><a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/tawaday/memoirs_of_a_polar_bear.htm" target="_blank">Memoirs of a Polar Bear</a> <li><a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/tawaday/nakedeye.htm" target="_blank">The Naked Eye</a> <li><a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/tawaday/portrait.htm" target="_blank">Portrait of a Tongue</a> <li><a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/tawaday/time_differences.htm" target="_blank">Time Differences</a></ul> Previous winners of this mostly biennial prize include Nobel laureates Nelly Sachs (1961), Elias Canetti (1975), and Nadine Gordimer (1985), as well as authors including Milan Kundera (1987), <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/authors/goytisoloj.htm" target="_blank">Juan Goytisolo</a> (1993), Michael Ondaatje (1995), Javier Marías (1997), Christa Wolf (1999), and Margaret Atwood (2010).]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy4</guid> </item> <item> <title>Meanjin killed off</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy5</link><description><![CDATA[ As <a href="https://meanjin.com.au/latest/statement-on-meanjin/" target="_blank">announced</a> at <i>Meanjin</i>: "Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) announced today that <i>Meanjin</i> will cease publication after its final issue in December 2025" -- this after 85 years, the last 17 as an MUP imprint.<br> Apparently the claim is: <blockquote><font size="-1">The decision was made on purely financial grounds, the MUP Board having found it no longer viable to produce the magazine ongoing.</font></blockquote> See also, for example, Kelly Burke's report at <i>The Guardian</i>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/sep/04/meanjin-close-melbourne-university-publishing" target="_blank">Decision to close Meanjin criticised as act of 'utter cultural vandalism'</a> and Alexander Howard's <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-writers-shocked-and-disgusted-by-closure-of-85-year-old-literary-journal-meanjin-264585" target="_blank">Australian writers shocked and 'disgusted' by closure of 85-year-old literary journal Meanjin</a> at <i>The Conversation</i> <br> Disappointing.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy5</guid> </item> <item> <title>Russia's literature industry</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy6</link><description><![CDATA[ At Meduza Kristina Safonova reports on <a href="https://meduza.io/en/feature/2025/09/04/it-s-mostly-whining" target="_blank">‘It’s mostly whining’ How pro-war writers and A.I.-enhanced censors conquered Russia’s literature industry</a>. <br> She reports, for example, that: <blockquote><font size="-1">In the fourth year of the war, it is difficult to find a major bookstore in Russia without Z-literature on its shelves, or a festival lineup that does not include writers who have endorsed the invasion. “It looks like these people got everything they wanted. They feel they’re on the right side of history; they’ve booted out their rivals; and they’ve cleared the market for themselves. But look at their Telegram channels and the content is mostly whining: ‘We weren’t invited! Hardly anyone showed up to our event! We’re being silenced!’</font></blockquote>]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy6</guid> </item> <item> <title>TLS goes fortnightly</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy7</link><description><![CDATA[ Except for one double-issues each winter and each summer, the <a href="https://www.the-tls.com/" target="_blank">Times Literary Supplement</a> has been appearing weekly; alas, no more -- from now on it's only appearing every other week, throughout the year (in a <a href="https://www.the-tls.com/archive" target="_blank">new look</a>, too).<br> Disappointing.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy7</guid> </item> <item> <title>Europese Literatuurprijs</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ix7</link><description><![CDATA[ They've <a href="https://www.letterenfonds.nl/actueel/europese-literatuurprijs-2025-naar-irene-sola-en-adri-boon" target="_blank">announced</a> the winner of this year's Europese Literatuurprijs, a Dutch prize for the best European novel translated into Dutch, and it is Adri Boon's translation from the Catalan of Irene Solà's <i>Et vaig donar ulls i vas mirar les tenebres</i>, published in English as <i>I Gave You Eyes and You Looked towards Darkness</i>; see, for example, the publicity pages from <a href="https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/i-gave-you-eyes-and-you-looked-toward-darkness" target="_blank">Graywolf</a> and <a href="https://granta.com/products/i-gave-you-eyes-and-you-looked-toward-darkness/" target="_blank">Granta</a>. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ix7</guid> </item> <item> <title>Prix Goncourt longlist</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ix8</link><description><![CDATA[ The Académie Goncourt has <a href="https://www.academiegoncourt.com/_files/ugd/d5bd15_57c949a7795749ac8e19acaf81eee3c9.pdf" target="_blank">announced</a> <font size="-1">(warning ! dreaded pdf format !)</font> the fifteen titles longlisted for the prix Goncourt, the leading French-language novel prize.<br> Books by Nathacha Appanah, David Diop, and Laurent Mauvignier are in the running -- though I have to think Emmanuel Carrère's <i>Kolkhoze</i> is the early favorite; see also the P.O.L <a href="https://www.pol-editeur.com/index.php?spec=livre&ISBN=978-2-8180-6198-5" target="_blank">publisity page</a>.<br> This is a four- rather than just three-round prize, with a longer shortlist of eight titles to be announced 7 October, a shorter shortlist of four titles to be announced 28 October, and the winner to be announced 4 November.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ix8</guid> </item> <item> <title>Österreichischer Buchpreis longlist</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ix9</link><description><![CDATA[ On the heels of the announcement of the longlist for the German Book Prize (see my <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202508c.htm#iv5" target="_blank">previous mention</a>), the Austrians have now announced the ten-title-strong longlist (selected from 72 submissions) for their big <a href="https://oesterreichischer-buchpreis.at/" target="_blank">fiction prize</a> -- with, somewhat surprisingly, no overlap with the German Book Prize at all.<br> Beside the three Austrian titles longlisted for the German Book Prize that didn't make the Austrian Book Prize-cut, I'm also surprised that Raphaela Edelbauer -- who won this prize in 2021 with <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/austria/edelbauer.htm" target="_blank">DAVE</a> -- didn't make the longlist with <i>Die echtere Wirklichkeit</i> (see the Klett-Cotta <a href="https://www.klett-cotta.de/produkt/raphaela-edelbauer-die-echtere-wirklichkeit-9783608966305-t-9116" target="_blank">publicity page</a>), even as it tops, for example, the ORF critics' Bestenliste <a href="https://tv.orf.at/stories/2509bestenliste102.html" target="_blank">for September</a>. <br><br> I haven't seen any of these, but I am more intrigued by more of the Austrian titles than the German Book Prize ones. There's a Wolf Haas, for one, -- the <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/austria/haasw1.htm" target="_blank">The Weather Fifteen Years Ago</a>-author is dependable -- as well as some hefty ones, including Dimitré Dinev's <i>Zeit der Mutigen</i> (the only book of his I have is his 2003 novel <i>Engelszungen</i>, which clocks in at six hundred pages -- and this one is almost twice as long (1152 !); see the Kein & Aber <a href="https://www.keinundaber.ch/buecher/zeit-der-mutigen?variant=14444400" target="_blank">publicity page</a>) and Monika Helfer's a-story-for-each-day-of-the-year book, <i>Wie die Welt weiterging</i>, which comes to 768 pages (see the Hanser <a href="https://www.hanser-literaturverlage.de/en/buch/monika-helfer-wie-die-welt-weiterging-9783446277502-t-5343" target="_blank">foreign rights page</a>). Also of interest: Marlene Streeruwitz's New York-novel, <i>Auflösungen.</i>; see the S.Fischer <a href="https://www.fischerverlage.de/verlag/rights/book/marlene-streeruwitz-aufloesungen-9783103971996" target="_blank">foreign rights page</a> (that's only 416 pages long).<br> (For those seeking some relief, the six titles <a href="https://oesterreichischer-buchpreis.at/longlist-debuetpreis-2025/" target="_blank">longlisted</a> for the debut-prize are all of much more manageable length -- and two are under 75 pages !)<br> The shortlists will be announced 9 October, and the winners on 10 November.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ix9</guid> </item> <item> <title>Bayerischer Buchpreis finalists</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy1</link><description><![CDATA[ And they've also <a href="https://www.bayerischer-buchpreis.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/2025/sechs-autorinnen-im-finale-um-den-bayerischen-buchpreis-2025/" target="_blank">announced</a> the finalists for this year's Bavarian Book Prize, three in each of the categories, fiction and non -- with one German Book Prize longlisted title making the cut, Dorothee Elmiger's <i>Die Holländerinnen</i>.<br> The winner will be announced 28 October.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#iy1</guid> </item> <item> <title>Premio FIL</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ix4</link><description><![CDATA[ They've announced the winner of this year's <a href="https://www.fil.com.mx/premiofil/premiofil_fil.asp" target="_blank">Premio FIL de Literatura en Lenguas Romances</a> -- an author prize for an author who writes in one of the Romance languages -- and it is French-writing Amin Maalouf. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ix4</guid> </item> <item> <title>Cundill Prize shortlist</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ix5</link><description><![CDATA[ They've <a href="https://www.cundillprize.com/news/2025shortlist" target="_blank">announced</a> the shortlist for this year's Cundill History Prize, "the world's leading award for history writing".<br> Princeton University Press did well, with three of the eight shortlisted titles.<br> Three finalists will be announced 30 September, and the winner will be announced 30 October. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ix5</guid> </item> <item> <title>Swallows review</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ix6</link><description><![CDATA[ The most recent addition to the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font> is my review of Kirino Natsuo's latest, <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/japannew/kirinon5.htm" target="_blank">Swallows</a> -- yet another contemporary Japanese novel taking on an aspect of the country's fertility rate crisis.<br> It's already out in the UK, and is coming out in the US next week.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202509a.htm#ix6</guid> </item> </channel></rss> If you would like to create a banner that links to this page (i.e. this validation result), do the following:
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