FSG's "Work in Progress"
As any and all long-time (or probably even short-time) readers of Three Percent know, we pick on publisher websites quite a bit. (See for instance, any and every post about Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.) Most often they deserve it for many of the same reasons that we like to make fun of book ads. I’m totally ripping off ...
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The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry
The joy of an anthology is similar to the joy of a college course in literature, of listening to the radio, of attending an art exhibition: it is the pleasure of having someone else tell you what is good and important and how it all connects together. You may find the joy of a discovery or an insight that you would probably ...
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International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2011 Longlist [International Prizes, Take Three]
Out of 123 total entries, the judges for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (aka the Arab Booker), selected 16 books for the longlist. It’s interesting to note that, according to the press release, of the 16, seven of the books are written by women (yay!), and that “religious extremism, political and ...
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Finlanda Prize, Finlandia Controversy [International Prizes, Take Two]
Last week, the Finnish Book Foundation announced its six-title shortlist of the Finlandia Prize for fiction, which carries with it a 30,000 euro prize. Before getting into the “controversy” part of this post, here’s a look at the six finalists. (All descriptions from the FILI newsletter): Joel ...
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The Sky Will Fall . . . Within Three to Five Years [Uplifting Monday Morning News]
So, according to Neil Van Uum, president of the Joseph-Beth Booksellers chain, which recently filed for bankruptcy, most indie bookstores aren’t long for this world: Van Uum said the bankruptcy’s roots came in the summer when the company began “to run a little bit sideways” on some of the terms of ...
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International IMPAC Dublin Award 2011 Longlist [International Prizes, Take One]
So the 2011 longlist for the IMPAC Award was announced this morning, and includes 162 books from 43 countries. According to the press release 42 are titles in translation, covering 14 different languages. This is where I usually complain about the IMPAC’s website, the absurdity of a 162 book longlist, of the name of ...
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WLT Nov/Dec Issue in Full HTML Glory!
Last time I wrote about World Literature Today, I did so in some not entirely pleasant terms. Not because of WLT‘s content—which is always fantastic—but because of problems with my subscription (which, admittedly, I did nothing to try and correct prior to posting that post) and the WLT website (which, ...
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