In the mail: never a great fan of middlemen in any capacity, but can't deny their influence, especially in this area, so very pleased to see @lbmcgrath.bsky.social on "Literary Agents and the Making of American Fiction", in 𝑀𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛; @princetonupress.bsky.social press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Nice to see an article on Lu Xun @nytimes.com — even if it is to report that: "The Chinese Communist Party has turned Lu Xun, a Mao-era hero who excoriated the establishment, into a bland, Disney-style character" www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/w... [$]

Don't think I could bring myself to read a Yann Martel book, but appreciate that some continue to get published, just for the reviews. E.g now David Sexton's of his latest, concluding: www.standard.co.uk/culture/book...

New review: Daniel Hahn on "The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation", in 𝐼𝑓 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝐵𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐 www.complete-review.com/reviews/tran...

Next week, Apr 15 at 5:30pm EDT, head to Eastern Michigan University to hear from Brian Bruya, co-translator of the Dialogues of Confucius! This work is the first complete English translation of the Dialogues, a rediscovered companion to the Analects This is a free, in-person event: buff.ly/psuiwVu

From the @publisherswkly.bsky.social report on a new report on: "Books in Translation: Trends and Transformations in the European Publishing Market" www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

In the mail: neat duo: another George Sand from Dedalus, a new translation of 𝐿𝑢𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑧𝑖𝑎 𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑖 www.dedalusbooks.com/our-books/bo...

Sorry to see the NEH turned--illegally, it goes without saying--into an opaque patronage fund. Neither the fund nor the funded is willing to make public the process for awarding grants. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/a...

They've announced this year's Donald Windham-Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prizes recipients news.yale.edu/2026/04/08/e... Could-have-been-but-isn't-among-them: Helen DeWitt paperpools.blogspot.com/2026/04/we-l...

Currently reading Herve le Tellier's The Name on the Wall. Surprised no UK publisher has seen fit to publish it, or his back catalogue, after the success of The Anomaly.

Tucked into this article about Jennifer Crewe retiring from @columbiaup.bsky.social is this jaw-droppingly sensational news. This is huge and wonderful ! magazine.columbia.edu/article/jenn...

2026 Dublin Literary Award shortlist announced - dublinliteraryaward.ie/features/new...

In the mail: bank holiday in the UK, but the mail delivers here, with a nice week-starting trio: certainly good to see more Héctor Abad — his novel 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑀𝑦 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡, 𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝐼𝑠 𝑊𝑒𝑙𝑙, coming from @archipelagobooks.bsky.social archipelagobooks.org/book/aside-f...

New review: Alastair Reynolds' recent 𝐻𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑦𝑜𝑛 𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 www.complete-review.com/reviews/scif...

In the mail: slow week, and only one arrival today — but it's an ARC of the latest Juan Pablo Villalobos, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑃𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑈𝑠 𝐿𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠, 𝐷𝑒𝑏𝑡 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠, 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑠 ( @andotherstories.bsky.social 7/2026), so, yes, it is (a) Good Friday. www.andotherstories.org/the-past-pur...

Not much mention of the passing of Wiesław Myśliwski in my timeline. @archipelagobooks.bsky.social has published several of his very impressive works archipelagobooks.org/book_author/...

Shortlist for @ebrd.bsky.social Literature Prize announced www.ebrd.com/home/news-an...

I wrote on AI trashing literary life, and spoke to Alex Preston about the NYT book review scandal

Shortlist for the International @thebookerprizes.com announced thebookerprizes.com/media-centre...

David Bellos Translation Prize launched ! janklowandnesbit.co.uk/prize Nice !

In the mail: exciting late(r)-in-the-day arrival bonus, a recent @academic.oup.com Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature volume, 𝐿𝑎𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐷𝑜𝑛𝑔'𝑠 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝑊𝑖𝑛𝑔 ("Passion and Desire in a Buddhist Temple") global.oup.com/academic/pro... Have really been looking forward to this.

In the mail: sensational beginning to the week with Daniel Hahn on "The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation", in 𝐼𝑓 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝐵𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐, coming from @aaknopf.bsky.social www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/743377...

Of course we've reached this point: "The Best AI Books in 2026" — recommended by ChatGPT fivebooks.com/best-books/t... 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑡𝐺𝑃𝑇 !

New review: Nobel laureate Herta Müller in conversation with Angelika Klammer about "Writing and Surviving Ceausescu's Romania", in 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 www.complete-review.com/reviews/modd...

Winners of @bookcritics.bsky.social Awards www.bookcritics.org/past-awards/...

In the mail: well-timed arrival ("Set over an Easter weekend" ...): 𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝐼𝑟𝑖𝑠 by Ruth McKee, from Dedalus www.dedalusbooks.com/our-books/bo...

Alexander Kluge ist gestern im Alter von 94 Jahren in München verstorben.

New review: Cho Yeeun's 𝑇𝑒𝑑𝑑𝑦 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑁𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝐷𝑖𝑒 www.complete-review.com/reviews/kore...

In the mail: "Stories of Mexico and Cuba as Translated by Langston Hughes" (!), 𝑇𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... Out today (in the US), from @princetonupress.bsky.social Hughes translated these in the mid-1930s; lots of new-to-me authors.

It's been like this for a couple of weeks already, *sigh*: disappointing that The Fictional Woods, one of the few interesting discussion-boards for literature has closed itself off to the public (i.e. lurkers like me who dislike signing up/registering for anything). www.tapatalk.com/groups/thefi...

Always enjoy volumes of correspondence, so I'm sorely tempted by the 1200 page Camus-Casarès letter collection behemoth coming from @aaknopf.bsky.social www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/607892...

Q & A with 𝑆𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑌𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤-author Kawakami Mieko @literaryhub.bsky.social lithub.com/mieko-kawaka... (My review of the novel: www.complete-review.com/reviews/japa... )

New review: "A Bookish History of Computing from Electronic Brains to Everything Machines" by W. Patrick McCray, 𝑅𝐸𝐴𝐷𝑀𝐸 www.complete-review.com/reviews/comp...

In the mail: excellent end of the week haul, with 2 of the 3 arrivals dialogue-volumes: Nobel laureate Herta Müller in conversation about: "Writing and Surviving Ceausescu's Romania" in 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑, from @pegasus-books.bsky.social www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Vi...

They really know how to end the week on an upbeat note @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/2897... etc.

Could this *scandal* get any sillier ? www.bbc.com/news/article...

"Book publishing has few safeguards in place to prevent the unwitting publication of a novel heavily generated by artificial intelligence." www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/b... Though it's the coming flood of witting publication I am more worried about.

Two new installments in the @Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature, published by @oxunipress.bsky.social Bi-lingual editions (Mandarin/English on facing pages) covering 3,000 years of Sinitic literatures. #literatureintranslation #chineseliteratureintranslation

In the mail: very pleased to see ARC of Joanna Kavenna's 𝑆𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛, now also coming out in the US (7/2026, from @faberbooks.bsky.social ) www.faber.co.uk/product/9780... (Came out in the UK at the beginning of the year, and reviews certainly make it sound intriguing.)

New review: Fahmida Riaz's Sasanian Empire-novel, 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑂𝑛𝑒𝑠 www.complete-review.com/reviews/urdu... (Out next week from @openletterbooks.bsky.social )

Intrigued by the fact that, among self-published titles, juvenile nonfiction (401,716 books) tops juvenile fiction (265,615 books), and by so much. (Though, yes, re. self-published titles, "juvenile" is a polite all-purpose way to describe the content of many of them.....)

A terrific novella.

"First-time English publication" ? There hasn't been enough coverage of Shahrnush Parsipur's 𝑊𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑀𝑒𝑛, but how does The Bookseller get this this wrong ? www.thebookseller.com/books/books-... (It's the second time it's been translated, and even that is from 2011.)

In the mail: a good start to the week with a nice duo. Very exciting to see the new @penguinclassicsusa.bsky.social ed./translation of 𝐴 𝑇𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑈𝑛𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑 by Lady Nijō www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/780915... (This came out in the UK last year; coming out in the US next week.)

New review: Kawakami Mieko's 𝑆𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑌𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 www.complete-review.com/reviews/japa...

In the mail: slow week at least concludes with a solid re-issue from @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social , Leslie A. Fiedler's 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑁𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑙 www.nyrb.com/products/lov...

Authors, save your first-draft typescript scrolls, they might be worth good money some day ! Jack Kerouac's "approx. 119 feet long 8 inches long by 9 inches wide" 𝑂𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝑎𝑑-scroll just went for US$12,135,000 (yes, over twelve million) www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6...