Stories about Literature from July, 2006
Jamaica: R.I.P. Louise Bennett
Poet and actress Louise Bennett, popularly known as Miss Lou, perhaps the most beloved public figure in contemporary Jamaica, has died at the age of 86. At the Caribbean Beat blog, Jeremy Taylor offers a tribute. “She wrote unforgettable poems in the Jamaican ‘patois’ or ‘dialect’ which we now learn...
Thailand: Thai King's Biography
Bookish in Thailand rounds up what other bloggers are saying about a new biography on Thailand's king. Thailand usually bans books or movies that shows the monarchy in negative light. The blogger is looking forward to reading the book and says “As much as I respect the King and his...
India: Ismat Chugtai
Amardeep Singh profiles Ismat Chugtai, a female writer who broke many rules and challenged boundaries. “The anecdotes she tells and her style of telling them reinforces the sense one has of Chughtai as someone with a quick wit with an extraordinary ability to use humor to point out the truth...
African women: Call for poetry
African Women Blogs posts a call for poetry from Agenda magazine, 21 years after the Nairobi (Women's) Conference. “Contributions should reflect the contradictions, complexities, challenges and successes for African women two decades after the Nairobi conference,” the announcement says.
Hong Kong: goodbye Suzie Wong
The romance of Suzie Wong takes place in Hong Kong, an classic scence is in Star ferry pier, Central. Hong Kong government is now planning to demolish the pier. Diumanpark criticizes the government of such acts in his blog post: goodbye Suzie Wong (zh) and urges people to sign up...
Nigeria: Diane Evans tour
Ore's Notes remarks on a visit to Nigeria by author Diane Evans, who she notes is part-Nigerian.
Belarus: Outgoing U.S. Ambassador
Andrei Khrapavitski writes about George Krol, the outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Belarus.
African Women: Call for Nominations
African Women posts a call for nominations for the African Women of Distinction book and video exhibition scheduled for December 2006. The aim, the announcement says, is to profile the stories and work of 20 women in Africa who embody the essence of leadership, determination, and innovation in addressing social,...
Islam: Caged Virgin Reviewed
Palava Soup posts a review of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's book about Muslim women, The Caged Virgin, by British Muslim Fareena Alam, who is impressed neither by its central thesis nor its author's level of scholarship.
China: Journey to the West
There are some discussions about Spielberg’s plans to remake Journey to the West. However, some worries that western director will turn the Monkey King into his Hollywood cousin, King Kong. Peijin Chen puts up a report in Shanghaiist.
Trinidad & Tobago, USA: Caribeana Imperia
Caribbean Free Radio releases its 44th podcast, which comprises a series of interviews with the members of Trinidadian rapso band 3canal about the theatrical production “Caribeana Imperia”, which is now playing in Washington DC.
Albania: Links to Essay and Short Stories
Alwyn Thomson of Our Man In Tirana quotes from an essay about coverage of Albania by the British press and announces the upcoming publication of a collection of Albanian short stories.
Chile: Writing Contest
Santiago in 100 Words (ES) is an essay contest of, you guessed it, no more than 100 words about the Chilean capital. Entries are restricted to Chilean nationals.
Jamaica: Agents are agents are agents
In an entertaining allegory involving a beach house in Negril, a barman and a “rent-a-dread”, Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp contemplates the role of one of the key players in the modern publishing business: the agent.
Noma Literary Prize Awarded to Were-Were Liking
Kangni Alem writes (Fr): ” The Noma Award likes African women novelists. After Mariama Ba whose classic Une si Longue Lettre [A Long Letter] obtained the prize in 1980, the jurors of this Japanese endowed prize just awarded it to ivoiro-cameroonian novelist and playwright Were-Were Liking whose reputation as an...
Jamaica, USA: Loving America through literature
Some years ago, a young Geoffrey Philp overcomes his trepidation at passing the armed Marines guarding the US Consulate reading room in Kingston, and falls in love with American literature: “For on that evening in that reading room, America gained a friend.”
Ambivalent about Tin Tin
A New York Times article on a PBS documentary about Hergé, the Belgian creator of the comic strip character Tin Tin, raises some uncomfortable issues for Belizean-American blogger Nyazasha: “Here I am, the Brooklyn-based writer of the Global Parish, writing about places and events which open a window into a...
Senegal: Migrant workers
Black Looks posts a poem about the lives of African migrants looking for work and a better life, and Nigeria, What's New? picks it up with a link to a photo-essay on the same subject.
China: the special ticket to Tibet
HanSong, a science story writer in China posts an excrept of his fiction “the special ticket to Tibet” (zh). Joel Martinsen in Danwei has an introduction and translation.
The Syrian Blogsphere, Away from Politics
This week, we'll keep dirty Middle East politics away for a change. And focus more social side of the Syrian blogsphere. To start off with artsy Soraya, talking about the Jazz Festival that was held in the old city of Damascus this month, with live bands performing in the newly...
Iran: Top poetess support hunger strike
In Trebon we read that Mrs. Simin Behbahani, the most famous poetess in Iran, supported Akbar Ganji's, dissident journalist, hunger strike call to attract world-wide attention on Iranian political prisoners. According to the blog, Behbahani said we should do what we can to see all these innocent political prisoners out...
