Book Reviews Apala Bhowmick The Aunt Who Wouldn’t Die (John Murray, 2019), by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, translated from the original Bangla by Arunava Sinha, is a fast-paced thriller about the rescue mission around the flagging finances of an erstwhile-affluent Bengali family who open a shop in the city that sells sarees. The narrators consist of three women of different generations of the family, lending the plot a delightful tripartite divide. It is a tale about the tenacity of the human spirit to withstand hardships and about human relationships that endure. This translation—of a difficult text to translate—possesses the rare quality of being appealing to both the English-speaking reader and to the audience who can understand the Bengali language. I’ve had a chance to read the original Bengali text as well, and the work has been successfully transferred, cultural flavor and all, into a rather curt and mercantile language like English. Speaking of mercantilism, the reader will be afforded a sidelong glance at upper-middle-class Bengali sentiments, at least at a certain point in the history of this community, toward professions like the merchant’s or the petit bourgeois shopkeeper’s. Words like shaashuri and Pishima have been retained, and the name Chakor Mitra, which the reader will encounter on the very first page, is phonetically funny but also funny when you know the implications of the first name when it’s used as a noun in... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2020-03-10 15:47:11 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#indie publisher
Ned Blackhawk received the nonfiction award, with “The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-16 12:36:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#justin torres
#nonfiction award
#national book award
After executive roles at Grosset & Dunlap and Simon & Schuster, Artenstein launched RGA/Lowell House in 1984, and sold the company to the NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group in 1998. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-13 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#executive roles
#grosset dunlap
#simon schuster
Fitzhenry, the president and CEO of Canadian distribution and publishing company Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, died on August 26. A celebration of her life will be held on November 14. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#canadian distribution
History books she shepherded over 44 years at Alfred A. Knopf won a raft of Pulitzers — seven in all — as well as Bancrofts, though one recipient set off a furious academic debate. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-03 21:36:32 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#history books
#book editor
Jeanne DuPrau’s “Project F,” Patricia Forde’s “The Girl Who Fell to Earth” and Donna Barba Higuera’s “Alebrijes” answer the question, Could this be the beginning of the end? Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-03 09:01:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book review
#science fiction
When she was in high school in the early 1950’s, Joanna Russ (1930–2011) read Mark Twain’s short story “A Medieval Romance,” about a duke without a male heir who brings his daughter up to fill the role, hiding her gender from all. Things get complicated when the duke’s niece falls in love with... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-11-03 08:41:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#high school
#short story
#medieval romance
#science fiction
Ken Norwick, whose clients included a number of prominent authors as well as the Association of American Literary Agents, died on October 30. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#clients included
#prominent authors
His tiny California newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize for its exposé of Synanon, a renowned drug rehabilitation program that had turned into a violent operation. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-01 21:32:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#david mitchell
#pulitzer prize
A new book argues that corporate publishing has transformed what it means to be an author. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2023-11-01 10:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book argues
#corporate publishing
#big publishing
A celebrated illustrator and writer, he brought sardonic wit to franchises like Justice League and to offbeat creations like Rocket Raccoon and Ambush Bug. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-10-30 20:42:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#justice league
#comic book
Miller, who, with his late wife, Anita Miller, founded Academy Chicago Publishers in 1975, died in Chicago on October 19. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#late wife
These must-read historical fiction books set in France span more than 800 years, from the reign of Eleanor of Aquitaine to post-WWII Paris. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-10-26 10:31:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#historical fiction
WordsWorth Books founder Stavis, a leader in computerized inventory and online selling and cofounder of the WordStock inventory and POS system, died on October 20. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bookseller
Unit sales of print books fell 3.2% last week at outlets that report to Circana BookScan. The performance wasn’t a bad one—it was just unable to match the same period last year, when 'It Starts with Us' by Colleen Hoover sold more than 810,000 copies in its first week on sale. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#2% decline
#circana bookscan
#print book
Seeing untold promise in new technology, he was a prime mover in the creation of the cable industry, helping to transform Time Warner Cable into a giant in the field. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-10-19 20:03:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#visionary executive
#cable tv
#prime mover
#time warner
When you hear the phrase “queer history,” how far back does your mind go? For many, there’s a sense that LGBTQIA+ history is fairly recent, starting with Marsha P. Johnson or maybe Oscar Wilde. Beyond that, we start to get into murky territory: stories of “lifelong bachelors” and “happy... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-17 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#world appeared
#oscar wilde
#electric literature
#historical fiction
This essay isn’t about World War II. But like any historical fiction writer publishing in 2023, it’s impossible to ignore the recent wave of WWII novels that fill bookstore shelves at the moment. As someone who reads and enjoys many of these books but has no desire to write one, I have a theory... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-17 08:45:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#recent wave
#bookstore
#historical fiction
These Halloween short stories are free to read online! They're deliciously unsettling, genre-bending, emotional, and even humorous. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-10-16 10:33:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#spooky season
#read online
#short stories
Since my first novel was published, at almost every interview and live event, I get asked a version of the same question. Usually people seem just curious, but occasionally there are notes of hostility or amazement. They want to know why, and often how, I write my female protagonists. The answer... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-16 08:50:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#live event
#female protagonists
#first novel
Stephen Rubin, the outspoken and influential publishing executive whose publication of works by such authors as Dan Brown, John Grisham, and Michael Wolff made him a force in the book business over the past 40 years, died on October 13 in Manhattan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#stephen rubin
#dan brown
#john grisham
#book business