The 2017 NSK Prize laureate, Peter Orner on loneliness, and more
News, Reviews, and Interviews
American poet, children’s book author, and translator Marilyn Nelson is the laureate of the 2017 NSK Neustadt Prize for Literature!
After accepting the 2016 Neustadt Prize at the Neustadt Festival banquet, Dubravka Ugrešić said she still looks for opportunities to “build something beautiful with words.”
Has the November issue of WLT got you searching for more women writers around the world? Check out Glossolalia’s Women Writing Brazil issue. The issue also includes fiction by recent WLT contributor Lygia Fagundes Telles, whose piece “The Green Ball,” translated by Eric M. B. Becker, appeared in our May 2016 issue.
Via NPR, listen and read about Lebanese composer Marcel Khalife, whose new album Andalusia of Love combines classical, jazz, and folk idioms with poetry.
Andrea De Carlo’s latest novel, The Imperfect Marvel, has become an Italian bestseller and tells the story of an aging rock star and a young woman who owns a gelateria. De Carlo was a juror for the Neustadt Prize in 2012, when he nominated current Nobel laureate Bob Dylan for the award.
This feature on Indian writer and Neustadt Prize laureate Raja Rao discusses his identity in “India’s original literary trinity,” how his work has been lost to obscurity, and why his return is pivotal.
This excerpt from Peter Orner’s book Am I Alone Here? Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live include his thoughts on Kafka, loneliness, and clothing-optional retreats.
The Jaipur Literature Festival is returning for its tenth year and will be January 19 – 23. The festival will celebrate “India at 70.”
The New York Times talks with Swedish author Fredrik Backman about the unexpected international success of his debut novel A Man Called Ove.
Jade Chang talks with Electric Literature about why she “won’t write a traditional immigrant novel.”
Fun Finds and Inspiration
Via Signature, a list of “10 worldwide rad women writers” you should know.
Via largeheartedboy.com, Rabih Alameddine shares a Book Notes music playlist filled with sopranos and arias for his newest novel, The Angel of History.
Mental Floss pieces together these “15 perfect metaphors” hidden in word etymologies.
Emma Watson has been participating in the Books on the Underground movement by handing out about 100 books, some with handwritten notes, around the London Underground.
