Writers respond to the US election, the Neustadt Prize’s impact on readers and students, and more

November 11, 2016

by WLT

Students from the OU School of Drama who participated in the 2016 Neustadt Festival.

News, Reviews, and Interviews

Via PEN America, writers including Alexander Chee, Negin Farsad, Aleksandar Hemon, and Claire Messud respond to the United States election results.

“This is a pretty powerful opportunity.” Open Letter Books publisher Chad Post writes about the 2016 Neustadt Festival and the unique and deep impact the Neustadt Prize has on readers and students.

“Everything I write seeks answers to the question ‘who am I, where am I, and whose am I?’” Read Dubravka Ugrešić’s acceptance speech for the Neustadt Prize.

The winners of the 2016 Prison Writing Contest have been announced. Twenty-two were first-time recipients, and seven were women.

WLT executive director R. C. Davis spoke about the history of Mexican-American culture and the influence of Indigenous cultures at OU’s Unity Symposium forum.

The National Post discusses how the Giller Prize, Griffin Poetry Prize, and CBC’s Canada Reads have boosted the public’s awareness of translation in Canada.

“Such willingness to exploit gender for power has an insidious influence.” Recent Neustadt juror Miguel Syjuco critiques machismo and chauvinism in Philippines politics and around the world.

Brazilian writer João Guimarães Rosa’s Grande Sertão: Veredas is “widely considered to be the greatest work of Brazilian fiction,” and it will soon be translated into English for the first time.

C. E. Morgan, Susan Faludi, and Jason Reynolds were honored last Thursday at the third annual Kirkus Prizes ceremony in Austin, Texas.

Via Literary Hub, recent Neustadt Prize finalist Aminatta Forna writes about visiting the Museum of Broken Relationships and “the many ways in which the heart can break.”