Recent content by Nirvrithi

It is mid-day in my part of the world and we are just a few hours away from announcement. 131 pages of intense activity helped gain perspective. Came across many new names too that were added to my future reading list. Thank you all for all those pleasurable moments. Hours later, who knows, if...

Adding to the crescendo as we move closer to the announcement, my thoughts are on poets. On the year Jaan Kaplinski was my hot favourite to win, he passed away couple of months before the announcement! Let me bring in Abdulla Pashew, the Kurdish poet now living in Finland. I would be very happy...

Thank you for these insights into Iranian literature. Most of the names are unfamiliar to me. But if my memory serves me right, I have a hazy notion of having seen a couple of films based on books popular in Iran. Can you give some idea on films made out of these books? At least that can be a...

As for Salman Rushdie, I hardly forsee a chance for him. Questions of merit aside, the communal imbroglio that he generated in the wake of the publication of 'The Satanic Verses' could intervene with the 'acceptable standards' followed by the SA. Not just the Iranian fatwa against him and the...

I remember meeting Raul Zurita once at the Kochi Biennale several years ago where he had put up an art installation. One had to wade through knee deep water to reach the other end and read his poem. He called his installation "The sea of pain". As you experience it, you feel that nothing could...

Yes, the Wiki list is a mindless assemblage which doesnt make any sense as far as Nobel inclinations go. Morose Mary's shortlist, in comparion, makes much better sense although the Prize might eventually go to someone outside these lists...;)

Yes, I agree on Ko Un. As for the other two Korean names you mentioned, both are deserving. However, I would add Yi Mun-yol to the list and my first vote would go to him.

Zoran Zivkovic will turn 75 on 5th Oct. ?:oops: Does this date advancement portend something?

For a change, let us look at two Serbs who merit some attention – Svetislav Basara and Zoran Zivkovic. Both are genre -defying writers. Basara says he doesn’t like pre-fixes attached to his writing and as for Zivkovic, he says his writing doesn’t really belong to any category. Further, they both...

I appreciate this outlook on languages when we evaluate literature globally. Eclecticism is not confined to ideas and geographies; it has a great deal to do with the native language of a writer and his cultural heritage regardless of the cultural amalgam we are moving into in the digital age...

I Ida Vitale should have won a long time ago, but now that she is into her late nineties, she is almost ruled out. Advancing age could work against Antonio Gamoneda too just as for the two most deserving poets of Asian origin - Adonis and Ko Un. I know it is unfair to put Adonis and Ko Un on...

Oops!...Thanks for the correction. Yes, certainly she would have been a strong contender had she been alive. Another name that comes to mind who missed out narrowly I feel, is the Estonian poet Jaan Kaplinski. In early 2021 I thought him to be a strong choice, but a couple of months before the...

Most likey this year: Peter Nadas/ Mircea Cartarescu (Europe) Lyudmila Ulitskaya (Russia) Rodrigo Rey Rosa/ Diamela Eltit (Central & South America) Yu Mun-yol (Asia) Mia Couto/Abdallatif Laabi (Africa) I would be happy if one of the following gets the nod: Jon Fosse Hamid Ismailov Ewa Lipska...

Hi..! Missed most of the action here this year owing to some preoccupation, but did peep in occasionally though. The excitement is not as much on account of who wins it eventually, but more so for all the names thrown in, known and unknown. I don't know how serously Oksana Zabuzhko was...

If this is the final lead, then let us look at Tagore more closely: Indian, primarily poet, substantial body of work, studied partially in England, wrote mostly in his native Bengali, but also wrote in English and translated his own works into English. Now let's look at the non-European...