Permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy Horace Engdahl has tipped his hand when it comes to considering an American for the Nobel prize for literature. He told the AP in an interview, “Of course there is powerful literature in all big cultures, but you can’t get away from the fact that Europe still is the center of the literary world … not the United States.” Our writers are ”too sensitive to trends in their own mass culture.” He added, ”The U.S. is too isolated, too insular. They don’t translate enough and don’t really participate in the big dialogue of literature.” […]
Awards
Patrick Ness Wins Guardian Children's Prize
Patrick Ness’s YA novel THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO, “about a world where thoughts are audible,” won the Guardian’s children’s book award. The judges praised the “breathtaking quality” of the writing. “It’s challenging but not bleak – an excitingly different book.”Guardian
MacArthurs for Adichie, Ross
The latest group of MacArthur Fellows include Nigerian-born novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author most recently of the splendid Half of a Yellow Sun, and music critic and author of The Rest is Noise Alex Ross. Adichie tells the Washington Post, “I really appreciate the recognition.” She adds, “I can write and get well paid for it for the next five years, which is the best possible position for a writer to be in.” Post
Another Fall Preview
The Seattle Times highlights “40 upcoming books looks from mid-September forward” though “like a bird-parent pushing the strongest fledglings out of the nest first, many of this fall’s books have already been released — and reviewed by The Seattle Times.” The editors write: “There’s a tradition in publishing that says the reading public gets distracted during an election season — best to stay away from ‘major’ book releases. Like so much else, this crumb of conventional wisdom has been swept under the rug.” Their Perfect Timing award goes to Michael Lewis for his December 1 release, PANIC: the Story of […]
Business Book Award Shortlist
The nominees for the FT/Goldman Sachs business book of the year award. The winner will be named October 14: A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World William J. Bernstein (Atlantic Monthly Press) Cold Steel: The Multi-billion-dollar Battle for a Global IndustryTim Bouquet & Byron Ousey (Little Brown Book Group UK) When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic ChangeMohamed El-Erian (McGraw-Hill) McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal UnderworldMisha Glenny (Knopf) Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid EconomyLawrence Lessig (The Penguin Press) The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of LifeAlice Schroeder (Bantam)
German Book Prize Nominees, and Australian Winners
The 25,000-euro prize for Germany’s best novel will be given October 13, right before the Frankfurt Book Fair. The contenders are: Dietmar Dath: Die Abschaffung der Arten (Suhrkamp, September 2008)Sherko Fatah: Das dunkle Schiff (Jung und Jung, February 2008)Iris Hanika: Treffen sich zwei (Droschl, January 2008)Rolf Lappert: Nach Hause schwimmen (Hanser, February 2008)Ingo Schulze: Adam und Evelyn (Berlin Verlag, August 2008)Uwe Tellkamp: Der Turm (Suhrkamp, September 2008) Schulze appears to be the only author who has been published previously in English (with works including Simple Stories and 33 Moments of Happiness: St. Petersburg Stories and New Lives, set for release […]