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I can insert flags for new posts and they show up. But it seems like the flag icons for every other post have turned into question marks!

The title for the New York Times obit pretty much says it all: "'Colossus' of Poetry Criticism." A somewhat more interesting piece (without a paywall) can be found in an article in "The Harvard Gazette" which wrote, last year, about her being honored for a lifetime of achievement.

While we have a thread for African Literature--which, frankly, strikes me as odd since we don't have one for European Literature or Asian Literature--I believe that what follows more properly belongs in a long-overdue thread devoted to Nigeria and its many excellent authors. Of course, having...

From the New York Times: "N. Scott Momaday, whose portrayal of a disaffected World War II veteran’s journey to spiritual renewal in his novel “House Made of Dawn” won a Pulitzer Prize, the first for a Native American author, heralding a more prominent place in contemporary literature for Native...

I just discovered this interesting little piece in the NYT of December 16, 2023: "A Tuscan Retreat Where ‘Literature is the Primary Value’" From her idyllic estate, Beatrice Monti della Corte oversees a writer’s residency that has provided inspiration, camaraderie, and leisurely, wine-fueled...

Not much I can say or need be said; you can find an obituary here; there is a somewhat lengthier one (behind a paywall, I suspect) in the New York Times.

There were other winners in other categories but these may be of especial interest: Winner, Fiction Hardcover $30.00 Blackouts (National Book Award Winner) By Justin Torres “I wanted it to feel like stepping off the...

Poet, translator, winner of awards, author of stunning translations (I read his translation of Gilgamesh and thought that it read beautifully). You can find obituaries in many places, including here.

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to Jon Fosse. The Norwegian writer was honored “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.”

The Syrian novelist died at the very early age of 59. He wrote everything from screenplays to poetry as well as a number of well-regarded novels. In Praise of Hatred was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction. No Knives in the Kitchens of This City won the 2013 Naguib...

"Gita Mehta, whose books examined the impact of Western culture on modern India and vice versa, bringing an Indian and a woman’s perspective to subject matter that was long the province of white men, died on Saturday at her home in New Delhi." You can find her obituary in the New York Times...

“You are my voice in English,” Gabriel García Márquez told her. Not a bad recommendation. She translated everyone from Cervantes to Fuentes and, of course, Gabo. I love the way the obituary in the New York Times ends: "Despite her international reputation, Dr. Grossman hated to travel. But...

This is taken from the New York Times's series about literature from various places (usually cities) around the world. For those from outside the USA, Appalachia is a unique, exceptional region too often looked down by those from elsewhere in the country. This is slightly excerpted but well...

How much do you know about World War Two? My guess is that your knowledge is proportional to your age. That seems natural. My grandfathers served in World War One but they were a generation removed. I didn’t hear their stories about that war. I didn’t learn much about that war until I was older...

"By the Book" is a feature in the New York Times every week. Although it focused on "serious" writers when it began years ago, it has increasingly involved celebrity writers (or just celebrity non-writers). For those who do not know, this week's interviewee is Olga Tokarczuk's English-language...

From the New York Times Essay Translating Tolstoy While Inciting Revolution By Jennifer Wilson* June 28, 2023 “Have you ever killed anybody?” a journalist asked the visitor from Russia. The reply, The New York Times reported the next day, was a no as emphatic as you would expect from someone...

Perhaps I should not be surprised that there is no thread dedicated to this writer since she tends to be less well-known than the "big names." Still, she has been writing well-received, high quality short stories for a long, long time. I first recall coming across and reading her work probably...

Online courses have exploded on the internet. Although I have known about them for a number of years, I never before had the time to really devote myself to exploring what was available, much less to take any courses. Since January, however, I have taken a couple different courses, one a...

One of the most important translators from German to English of our time. Translator of many major works by Thomas Mann, Arno Schmidt, and Gunter Grass--to name just a few.

"Kenzaburo Oe, a giant of Japanese writing and winner of the Nobel prize in literature, has died aged 88. Spanning fiction and essays, Oe’s work tackled a wide range of subjects from militarism and nuclear disarmament to innocence and trauma, and he became an outspoken champion for the voiceless...