The Best Young British Novelists, E.L. Konigsburg, and endangered sounds

This week’s links highlight several new literary events, including some poetry seminars available to anyone with an Internet connection. Don’t forget our fun finds, either - lots of great inspirations and interesting pieces there too!

News, Reviews, and Interviews

Do you believe that April is the best month? If you’re a poetry lover, you just might! 

Words Withour Borders has anthologized past issue “Spain’s Great Untranslated Writers,” and it’s now available for purchase.

Granta recently named its 20 picks for the best young British novelists.

In response to proposed arts funding in the UK, the BBC issued this editorial in defense of the arts.

We are very saddened to hear of the recent passing of E. L. Konigsburg, who was an NSK Neustadt Prize nominee in 2005.

Columbia University’s Word for Word program is an English-German translation letter exchange that now has an anthology.

Ai Weiwei recently wrote a new essay attacking the Chinese government for its censorship efforts.

The Gurdian recently published an excerpt from Dying for the Truth, a new book that goes undercover inside the Mexican drug war.

For Your Calendar

The PEN World Voices Festival starts on April 29 and runs until May 5 in NYC.

Luxury fashion designer brand Prada is hosting an essay contest until June 18.

The University of Iowa is offering online poetry seminars this summer, available to anyone with an Internet connection.

The Asian American Writers’ Workshop will be honoring Salman Rushdie with a lifetime achievement award in NYC on May 6.

Fun Finds and Inspiration

Norway and jazz: two things you wouldn’t think go together. So how do they do it?

You can now listen to a recording of Aleksandar Hemon reading from The Book of My Life at the PEN American Center website.

A quiz on the origins of “etymological posers” at the Telegraph is more difficult than you might think.

A Better World Books reader bought a used copy of Strength to Love by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., only to find an amazing treasure inside. 

Of course you know about endangered animals, but did you know there was such a thing as endangered sounds?

Yahoo! Answers might not be the best place to try to get real advice, but the advice given for this poetry question was pretty amusing.

At Japanese Literature in English, you can search through hundreds of Japanese titles that have been translated into English.