UK Independent Presses in Publishers Weekly
The most recent issue of Publishers Weekly contains an interesting piece on the state and nature of independent publishing in the UK: “Independents,” for these purposes, are U.K. trade publishers that are not one of the Big Four (Hachette, Random House, HarperCollins and Penguin) or the Not-Quite-So-Big Three (Pan ...
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PEN World Voices Festival
The complete schedule for this year’s PEN World Voices Festival is now available online. Taking place from April 29th through May 4th, the festival includes almost 80 events and over 170 participants. Funny to think that this has only been around for four years . . . It’s quickly become the festival to attend, ...
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Eco/Rushdie Simulcast
As some of you may have noticed, there’s been an overwhelming response to the Umberto Eco/Salman Rushdie event taking place here on May 1st from 6-8pm. In fact, we had over 1,000 people register to attend in the first five days after this was announced—completely selling out the UR Alumni and Advancement ...
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Obituary: Hugo Claus
Hugo Claus, one of Belgium’s most respected writers, passed away yesterday, reportedly of euthanasia. Claus produced some 200 works during his career but was best known for his classic, The Sorrow of Belgium—a scathing attack on social injustice, stifling family relationships and Roman Catholic repression in ...
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PEN International's Free the Word! Festival
Back in December, we mentioned the celebration of world literature that PEN International was putting together to take place just prior to the London Book Fair. At that time, there weren’t many details, but now, they have a name—“Free the Word!”—and an impressive schedule of events. Running ...
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Borders for Sale
Not necessarily international lit related, but this is pretty big news (from Shelf Awareness: Borders is putting itself up for sale or may sell divisions. It has suspended its dividend. It is borrowing some $42.5 million from the hedge fund that is its largest shareholder. [. . .] [CEO George] Jones added that ...
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2008 PEN Translation Grant Recipients
The 2008 PEN Translation Fund is one of the most interesting grants out there for literary translators. Established in 2003 thanks to a gift from an anonymous donor, this fund awards $2,000-$3,000 a year to a small group of projects (usually around 10). Most years about half of the recipients already have publishers lined ...
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