Iranian Freedom Firefighter Wins 2023 Nobel Peace Prize
The 2023 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi in Norway on October 6 “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all. View interview with Nobel committee on the 51-year-old author of White Torture: Interviews with Iranian Women Prisoners published by Simon & Schuster in 2022. Altogether, the regime in Iran has arrested Mohammadi 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes
Norwegian Writer Wins 2023 Nobel Prize for Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2023 was awarded to 64-year-old author, translator and playwright Jon Fosse, "for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.” The New York Times said he “writes about characters trying to transcend their worldly lives.” View the announcement made in Sweden on October 5th and a conversation on Fosse with Nobel committee members.
Translated Books for Kids Provide a Wider World Lens
Next time you buy your child a book you might consider a translated title that could widen their perspective. As Betsy Bird in Evanston, Illinois’ public library system writes in the School Library Journal, translated books for kids often take risks American titles don’t and “always open up our worldview and remind us that our little country isn’t the only one on this great big spinning ball o’ blue.” In her article she provides a month’s worth of kid reads across multiple genres. Check it out next time you shop for books to feed your little one’s precious mind.
On today, August 15th, the 111th birthday of the iconic chef & culinary visionary, we are reminded, “Don’t for the love of heaven let anybody rush you into anything,” in A Lesson in Entrepreneurship, Perseverance and Publishing.
This year’s longlist, known as the Booker dozen, was announced on August 1st and is comprised of 13 authors and titles, features four debut authors and six others who make their Booker longlist debut. For the first time, the longlist has four Irish authors at once, making up a third of the list: Sebastian Barry, Elaine Feeney, Paul Lynch and Paul Murray. Each year, the prize is awarded to what is, in the opinion of the judges, the best novel of the year written in English and published in the UK and Ireland.
On the 206th anniversary of the author’s death, it’s once again time to fan the flame of her literary prowess. When she died on July 18, 1817 the 41-year old British writer left a literary legacy that keeps on giving. Here’s some ideas on how to celebrate.
Translation is an art, says writer Yiln Wang, noting she works hard to research the poet, the times they live in, the literary forms they work in and, finding creative ways to convey the spirit of their work in English.
Neil Gaiman’s Children’s Picture Book to Benefit UN
What You Need to Be Warm, explores flight from conflict and offers hope during trying times, publishes this October by Quill Tree Books and Bloomsbury in UK
Her York, Maine home may have been torn down nearly three years ago but her classic 1966 memoir House By the Sea has a timeless perspective on creativity.
He Won The Nobel. Why Are His Books So Hard To Find?
After Abdulrazak Gurnah was awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature, he instantly gained a wider international audience, something publishers are now scrambling to accommodate.
Not long ago, I re-read Milan Kundera’s 1984 novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which is about the lives of a priapic surgeon named Tomas and his lovers during the Prague Spring.
I’ve been very public about my belief that non-academic day jobs, can be an opportunity for writers, rather than a consolation prize for not landing directly on the tenure track.
