If you don't know about it yet - well, you will now - Dalkey Archive is bringing out an anthology of European fiction in January 2010 (edited by Aleksander Hemon, with a foreword by Zadie Smith). It features the work of thirty-five writers, some of whom are appearing in English for the first time, and the efforts of twenty-nine translators, our own Eric included.

Historically, English-language readers have been great fans of European literature, and names like Franz Kafka, Gustave Flaubert, and Thomas Mann are so familiar we hardly think of them as foreign at all. What those writers brought to English-language literature was a wide variety of new ideas, styles, and ways of seeing the world. Yet times have changed, and how much do we even know about the richly diverse literature being written in Europe today?


Best European Fiction 2010 is the inaugural installment of what will become an annual anthology of stories from across Europe. Edited by acclaimed Bosnian novelist and MacArthur “Genius-Award” winner Aleksandar Hemon, and with dozens of editorial, media, and programming partners in the U.S., UK, and Europe, the Best European Fiction series will be a window onto what’s happening right now in literary scenes throughout Europe, where the next Kafka, Flaubert, or Mann is waiting to be discovered.
I just though I'd give a rundown of the those whose work appears. For those aware of the writers in question, please do share your thoughts.

Here's the list:
Ornela Vorpsi
Antonio Fian
Peter Terrin
Jean-Philippe Toussaint
Igor Štiks
Georgi Gospodinov
Neven Ušumović
Naja Marie Aidt
Elo Viiding
Juhani Brander
Christine Montalbetti
George Konr?d
Steinar Bragi
Julian Gough
Orna N? Choile?in
Giulio Mozzi (AKA Carlo Dalcielo)
Inga Abele
Mathias Ospelt
Giedra Radvilavičiūtė
Goce Smilevski
Stephan Enter
Jon Fosse
Michal Witkowski
Valter Hugo M?e
Cosmin Manolache
Victor Pelevin
David Albahari
Peter Krišt?fek
Andrej Blatnik
Juli?n R?os
Josep M. Fonalleras
Peter Stamm
Deborah Levy
Alasdair Gray
Penny Simpson