Book Reviews Indrajit Bose The author at the Zakir Hussain Delhi College during the Bengali Literary Festival 2018 / Photo courtesy of bitanchakraborty.com Simplicity and quiet elegance never fail to impress us. The effect of a good short story often is like a fugue or an adagio in a musical composition, creating impressions fugitifs, in the best manner of the impressionists, sketching in a mood or elaborating on a motif or theme. Bitan Chakraborty’s The Mark (Shambhabi Imprint, 2020) is unquestionably a collection of short stories revolving around the everyday lives of ordinary characters that leaves an impression of serious engagement with the contemporary Indian milieu and is also aesthetically pleasing. Chakraborty is already an established author of the novel; his foray into the short story adds a further dimension to his existing repertoire. A writer must “convincingly create an illusory world if he is to captivate his readers,” Chakraborty has said, and he appears to have lived up to his aesthetic or writerly principles in The Mark. Peripheral and marginal lives lived by characters grappling with the challenging socioeconomic realities of our times, mediated with narratorial control and poise—these are what make the stories in The Mark a testament to the craft of a storyteller and short fiction writer par excellence. The stories in the collection revolve around everyday life and broad human themes—the despair and... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2020-04-21 13:18:37 UTC ]
Cultural Cross Sections Alex Wade View inland from the top of Zennor Hill / Courtesy of the author Walking his dogs through the Zennor moors, a writer in Cornwall contemplates the area’s literary history and discovers the ever-growing distance between... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-05-07 13:18:25 UTC ]
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Book Reviews Svetlana Tomić Neva Lukić / Courtesy of Cultural Institution Blesok The recent collection of short stories by Neva Lukić, Endless Endings (Bokeh, 2018), originally written in Croatian and translated into English by Jeremy White, was... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-05-06 13:13:29 UTC ]
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Many lives are radically different right now. But birthdays, anniversaries, and public holidays come and go as before. The pink supermoon would have appeared whether we’d watched it from our windows or outdoors among a crowd of strangers. This week, Earth Day, Shakespeare’s birthday, and World... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2020-04-24 14:34:13 UTC ]
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Book Reviews Indrajit Bose The author at the Zakir Hussain Delhi College during the Bengali Literary Festival 2018 / Photo courtesy of bitanchakraborty.com Simplicity and quiet elegance never fail to impress us. The effect of a good short story often is... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-04-21 13:18:37 UTC ]
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A reviewer reflects on reading “The Moment of Tenderness,” a collection of short stories, and then returning to the 1963 novel she loved growing up. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-04-17 23:14:00 UTC ]
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A reviewer reflects on reading “The Moment of Tenderness,” a collection of short stories, and then returning to the 1963 novel she loved growing up. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-04-17 23:14:00 UTC ]
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A reviewer reflects on reading “The Moment of Tenderness,” a collection of short stories, and then returning to the 1963 novel she loved growing up. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-04-17 23:14:00 UTC ]
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As quarantine continues, we’re all noticing that we respond to lockdown differently. While many spend each day providing care, food and other necessities, those of us privileged enough to be 'stuck at home' are seeing our friends’ and family members’ behaviour change under the new... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2020-04-17 15:42:05 UTC ]
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After a six-week battle with coronavirus, the Chilean author Luis Sepúlveda has died at the age of 70. The government of Asturias, where he was living in Spain, confirmed his death today. The author had been hospitalized in late February soon after attending a literary festival in Portugal. He... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-16 18:35:05 UTC ]
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A couple of weeks ago, John Howkins wrote a piece for us on the value of invisible work. Ever since, as news of one cancelled literary festival after another has hit my inbox, it's been resonating hard. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-03 13:14:19 UTC ]
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In the midst of researching news reports and washing your hands, here is a list of 15 funny short stories and books to brighten your mood. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-03-27 10:34:44 UTC ]
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W&N is publishing Irish author Cathy Sweeney's debut collection of short stories, described as a "look at the world from a lopsided perspective", following a "heated" auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-27 07:58:19 UTC ]
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A reader who fell out of love with short story collections ponders how best to make reading short stories part of the routine again. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-03-18 10:39:38 UTC ]
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Ken Liu, the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of more acclaimed SFF short stories than you can shake a futuristic stick at, will soon be bringing his expansive imagination to the small screen. As Publishers Marketplace announced earlier today, AMC has acquired the rights to the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-13 14:30:21 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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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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This week, Karen Thompson Walker reviews Gish Jen’s new novel, “The Resisters.” In 1999, Jean Thompson wrote for the Book Review about “Who’s Irish?,” Jen’s collection of short stories about the ambitions and compromises of immigrants and their children. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-02-21 10:00:05 UTC ]
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Tuesday 10 March Omar Ghobash in Conversation with Philippe Sands11.45-12.15, English PEN Literary Salon (3E90), OlympiaOmar Ghobash is a former diplomat and the author of Letters to a Young Muslim (Picador 2018), an exploration of the complexities of life as a modern Muslim, written as a... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2020-02-17 10:55:59 UTC ]
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Khulood Al Mu’alla Khulood Al Mu’alla was chosen this year as an honorary member of the Costa Rica Poetry Foundation and advisor to the International Poetry Festival of Costa Rica. She was honoured along with three poets as part of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Poets of... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2020-01-27 10:55:59 UTC ]
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The novelist on William Blake, crying through Greta Gerwig’s Little Women and an insightful poem about teenage masturbationBorn in Bury, Greater Manchester, in 1978, Emma Jane Unsworth studied English literature at the University of Liverpool and received an MA from Manchester University’s... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-01-26 10:00:20 UTC ]
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