A spider web crack is a series of hairline fractures spreading out from a central point of impact. Bilal Tanweer makes this image the motif for his short story collection The Scatter Here Is Too Great. The central point of impact is a bomb blast at the Karachi Train Station in Pakistan. All the stories, eight total, radiate out from and connect back to that one point in time. Continue reading The Scatter Here Is Too Great by Bilal Tanweer
There’s a lot of talk among bloggers and reviewers about the importance of translation and International literature. Some of the most concise criticisms have been written by Tim Parks for the New York Review of Books blog. He makes good points that the idea that translation/international literature opens up cultures is exaggerated and a convincing case that literature as a whole is becoming homogenized. This … Continue reading The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad
This year it’s felt like we’ve been inundated with longlists & shortlists for literary prizes. For the most part I’ve tried to mention those that are significant to translations and international lit. There aren’t any new prizes, the same lists are being posted, still I can’t be alone in feeling burnt-out? The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature longlist came out today. It’s an interesting … Continue reading 2013 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature Longlist
I started this series – 100 Pages – for the books I can’t finish, but which I still think might have merit. Chef, shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book, falls into that category. I received my copy through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer program. So let’s rip off this band-aid quickly. Kirpal “Kip” Singh, the novel’s narrator, is dying of a brain tumor. Kip … Continue reading 100 Pages – Happily setting aside Chef by Jaspreet Singh
READER AT LARGE 