Stories about Literature from August, 2007
Morocco: Books on Fez
The View From Fez shares a list of books pertaining to the grand city of Fez.
Jamaica: “Miss Lou” Fundraiser to Benefit Dean Victims
Geoffrey Philp notes that part proceeds from an upcoming tribute and fundraiser honoring the late Jamaican cultural icon Louise Bennett-Coverley, will be donated to victims of Hurricane Dean.
Bahamas: The Power of Print
“There's an email making the rounds entitled ‘Blacks Don't Read’. Being Black, I read it”: Nicolette Bethel, guest authoring at Bahama Pundit, blogs about the power of print.
Russia: “Anti-Akhmatova”
Languor Management writes about Tamara Katayeva's “600-page assault on the literary legacy Anna Akhmatova”: “This reminds me of Emma Gerstein's Moscow Memoirs, which was supposed to have debunked Nadehzda and Osip Mandelshtam's literary legacy, and really just portrayed them as particularly difficult people going through particularly hard times.”
Madagascar : Andriamanankoavy Jonny r'afa on why he writes
Malagasy Author-Musician-Sculptor Andriamanankoavy Jonny r'afa explains his art : “D'abord, à travers l'Art, entretenir et enrichir la ” Mémoire Collective ” des Malgaches. Celà reste un devoir par respect des origines. Trouver alors ce qu'il faut préserver, et les transmettre, les traduire.” “Through art, one can maintain and enrich the...
Congo: Lack of new work by Black Francophone writers
Alain Mabanckou regrets the lack of new works by Black Francophone writers at the 2007 “rentrée littéraire” in France.
Lebanon: Uproar at School in NY named after Khalil Gibran
Beirut Spring writes about an uproar surrounding a newly established public school in Brooklyn (NY), that is named after the Lebanese/Arab writer and poet Gibran Khalil Gibran. The school teaches many of its material in Arabic and has some courses on “Arab Culture”. Jewish groups demonstrated and condemned the opening...
Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago: Caribbean Review of Books
Jamaican Geoffrey Philp is excited about the latest issue of the Caribbean Review of Books, while Antilles highlights the issue's feature on Trinidadian fashion designer Meiling.
India: Mark Tully from the BBC
The Middle Stage on Mark Tully, BBC's correspondent who covered India for a long time and his book India's Unending Journey.
Romania: Esquire
The Romanian edition of Esquire is to be launched next week. Owlspotting writes: “Esquire will be a novelty on the Romanian magazine market, and the first outlet to promote long-form writing and narrative journalism. These forms are almost inexistent in Romania.”
Russia: The Strugatsky Brothers
De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis writes about the famous Soviet science fiction writers, the Strugatsky brothers: “For some reason, I was sure until recently that these books are so good that they will remain to be the favourite books of the new generations of geeks for a long time. Strangely,...
Iran:James Joyce filtered
Freekeyboard informs us that we can not anymore search James Joyce[Fa] in Google or Yahoo in Iran,because this great writer is filtered.The blogger says it is very stupid filtering.He adds Joyce was not a feminist,human rights activist or did not write anything against stoning.
Uganda: Bloggers Respond to Controversial Daily Monitor Articles
Uganda’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community has gotten a lot of press recently in the form of a number of articles written by Katherine Roubos, a 22-year-old Stanford student from the United States. Most recently, Roubos covered the first ever LGBTI press conference, a story that prompted an anti-gay rally in Kampala.
Bahrain: Getting Into Gear and Going All the Way…
Our topics range from the highbrow to the lowlife this week, with an exhortation to read more books from across the Arab world, a child’s misunderstanding of a word in a cartoon, and an encounter with a prostitute. A new blogger has just arrived in Bahrain, and another blogger has just returned from a holiday in Iran – where he experienced rather more than he had bargained on during a taxi ride... Read Ayesha Saldanha's take on Bahraini blogs for more.
Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana: West Indian Writers
Antilles quotes Ian McDonald on the achievements of West Indian writers: “Long after the contradictions and difficulties of our post-colonial societies have been forgotten, the books produced by our writers will have found a permanent place among the valuable, enduring works of man.”
Senegal: Africa according to Nicolas Sarkozy
Francophone Africa was awaiting anxiously the newly elected French President's arrival. Nicolas Sarkozy's reputation certainly preceded him in Africa. He was minister of the interior under Jacques Chirac and was responsible for quenching the revolts of disaffected youths (ones he referred to as “racaille” (scum)). Today Africa is still reeling...
Kannada: Independence, festivals and more
20 runners from 12 countries; the youngest among whom is a 23 year old American woman and the oldest, a 60 year old American man; an Indian, Sunil Jayaraj, from Kolar, Karnataka. A 95 day project, covering 4 continents, 16 countries and 24000 KMs, organised by Blue Planet Run. They...
Russia: “Mama, We're In Hell!”
A young Russian woman traveling from Helsinki to Moscow found herself in a railway traffic jam caused by the train derailment last week. She was so horrified by the sight of the Russian countryside that she called her mother on her cell phone and told her they were stuck "in hell." The blogger who posted this story has received 469 comments from his readers.
Russia: Blogger on Trial for Writing Fiction
Blogger Dmitry Shirinkin faces trial for having written on his blog that he had purchased a gun and was going to kill a few dozen people in one of the city’s colleges. According to Shirinkin, the text - posted on April 21, but made private on April 22 - was a work of fiction, "inspired" by the Virginia Tech shooting. According to the prosecutor's office, however, Shirinkin has violated Article 207 of the Russian Criminal Code by "distributing false information on a planned terrorist act." The trial is likely to take place in September; if convicted, the Russian blogger may receive a three-year prison sentence.
Trinidad & Tobago: Faith and Tolerance
Caribbean Free Radio refers to an article by Nilanjana S. Roy to make a point about tolerance – religious and otherwise – and puts in her two cents’ worth about Trinidad & Tobago's 2007/2008 Budget.
Africa: Is East Africa a literary desert?
Are there writers in East Africa?: “For many years we were made to believe that East Africa was a literary desert. Taban lo Liyong said it and regional publishers vindicated him. And they kept him vindicated for many years but we all knew it was an excuse to invest solely...
