Interviews Photo of Sulaiman Addonia by Alexander Meeus. For me, one of the most astounding books of this past year—which may have slipped your attention due to the pandemic—was Silence Is My Mother Tongue, the second novel by Ethiopian Eritrean writer Sulaiman Addonia (@sulaimanaddonia). Published last September by Graywolf Press, the novel is just now beginning to get the recognition it deserves: it was recently shortlisted for the Firecracker Award for Independently Published Literature and is a 2021 LAMBDA Literary Award finalist. Set in a refugee camp in Sudan, the novel defies expectations—shimmering with sensual detail, it charts the daily encounters and erotic dreams of an extraordinary cast of characters, with the inseparable siblings Saba and her mute brother, Hagos, at its center. Of course, since war erupted in Ethiopia’s Tigray region this past winter, Addonia’s work has only taken on more resonance. “I have been looking at the pictures of refugees fleeing Tigray and waiting outside the United Nations refugee agency office at Hamdayet in Sudan,” Addonia wrote in a New York Times editorial in late November, “the place through which my family and I passed decades ago, on our way to a refugee camp further inland. I was struck by the eyes of young children. Their gazes retreat and shift, as if their wide eyes have already become the trenches into which they will hide their childhood.” We spoke by email—Addonia... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2021-05-18 13:43:22 UTC ]
Interviews Veronica Esposito John Keene is the author of Counternarratives, which received an American Book Award and the Republic of Consciousness Prize. He is also the recipient of a Lannan Literary Award and a MacArthur Fellowship. He is the... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-03-30 15:27:14 UTC ]
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Linda Grant has won the 2020 Wingate Literary Prize for her "compelling love letter to London life", A Stranger City (Virago). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-16 01:49:46 UTC ]
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While German publishers are still reeling from the cancellation of the major spring fair Leipziger Buchmesse last week, the industry has been dealt two more blows in the wake of the coronavirus crises. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-11 07:50:07 UTC ]
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More than US$330,000 in prize money is attached to the annual PEN America Literary Awards, each of which is selected by a separate jury. The post PEN America’s 2020 Literary Award Winners appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-03-06 10:59:52 UTC ]
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Annual literary festival The Laugharne Weekend has been saved thanks to a crowdfunding appeal and assistance from the Welsh Assembly, with this year's festival boasting a packed line-up featuring authors such as Max Porter and Eimear McBride. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-03 20:52:10 UTC ]
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Danez Smith burst into national recognition in 2014, when their poems about the Black Lives Matter movement found piercing resonance in a time of social and political change. Smith won the Individual World Poetry Slam that year, as well as the Lamda Literary Award for Gay Poetry for their book... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-21 09:49:13 UTC ]
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The still-young Aspen Words Literary Prize's longlisted titles point up 'humor in the midst of serious situations'–in issue-driven fiction. The post Aspen Words $35,000 Literary Prize Names Its 2020 Finalists appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-02-19 15:30:55 UTC ]
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The Carol Shields Prize is an effort to raise the visibility of women writers, in part with a sum that far exceeds many other book awards. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-02-07 10:00:17 UTC ]
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IT’S LATE ON the first night of a literary festival in Kampala, Uganda, and I use my phone to order an Uber. Pickup location: Kampala National Theatre. I drop the pin on the street entrance nearest my location’s the pulsing blue dot: Siad Barre Avenue. I’d glimpsed the street name when I... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-12-27 20:00:19 UTC ]
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Grand Marais, Minn., held its third North Shore Readers & Writers Festival early last month, attracting literary types from across the state. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-11-29 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The Charles Taylor Foundation, a charity organization that supports Canadian writers, gave a cheery explanation for why a literary prize it’s been co-sponsoring for two decades is coming to an end next year: they accomplished exactly what they’d set out to do. For almost 20 years, the Foundation... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-21 18:55:31 UTC ]
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Ian Williams has won the 2019 Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canada's richest literary award for fiction, for his novel Reproduction. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2019-11-19 03:04:37 UTC ]
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Unusual for its focus on socially relevant fiction, the Aspen Words Literary Prize has six debuts among its 16 longlisted titles for 2020, is third year. The post Aspen Institute Names Its 2020 Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlist appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-11-18 06:30:13 UTC ]
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Aspen Words has announced the longlist for the 2020 Aspen Words Literary Prize, a $35,000 award given to a work of fiction that “illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture.” The longlist includes sixteen books: twelve... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-14 17:00:04 UTC ]
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The longlist for the 2020 International DUBLIN Literary Award was announced today, and it is indeed long—156 books long, to be precise. The prize is sponsored by the Dublin City Council, and the longlist is comprised of nominations from public libraries around the world. Last year’s winner,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-11 17:21:15 UTC ]
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News and Events WLT Photo by J. Foley Opale World Literature Today, the University of Oklahoma’s award-winning magazine of international literature and culture, announced late Wednesday evening that Ismail Kadare is the 26th laureate of the renowned... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-10-16 22:21:35 UTC ]
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It's the height of literary award season and WD senior editor Amy Jones considers what prizes like The Booker Prize have to offer readers and writers. The post Benefits of The Booker Prize and Other Literary Awards for Writers (Besides the Money) by Amy Jones appeared first on Writer's Digest. Continue reading at Writer's Digest
[ Writer's Digest | 2019-10-14 19:33:33 UTC ]
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Another week, another prestigious literary prize announcement. This time, it’s the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, which “celebrates the power of literature to promote peace, social justice, and global understanding.” The nonfiction winner was Rising Out of Hatred, by Eli Saslow, a book... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-10-07 15:05:09 UTC ]
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The Cliveden Literary Festival returned for a third time last weekend with Ian McEwan, Howard Jacobson and Elif Shafak among the authors taking part in a busy event that saw speakers discuss topics from feminism to Russian spies, cyberwarfare and conspiracy theories to secrets of the universe. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-30 13:22:16 UTC ]
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After a four-year absence, the free literary festival will be back in Los Angeles in October with 40 leading Latin-American writers and artists. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-09-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
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