· April, 2006

Stories about Literature from April, 2006

Polish Blogosphere Update

  13 April 2006

On the literary front, As the Warsaw Crow Flies notes the death of Polish author Stanislaw Lem. On Lem, Warsaw Crow writes: Having only read his novel Solaris, I can't say I'm at all familiar with his work. But from that one book it was clear just what an exceptionally...

Japan: Yasukuni shrine visits

  12 April 2006

The Japundit links to a story in which recently-elected leader of Japan's Democratic Party Ichiro Ozawa suggests “that visits to Yasukuni shrine are the main cause of problems with Japan's neighbors,” a view which Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi rejected. Next up is a review of writer Hillary Raphael's first...

Russia: Grigoriy Oster

  11 April 2006

Raffi Aftandelian of maaskva: nashimi glazami translates a few poems by the Russian children's poet Grigoriy Oster, author of the Harmful Advice: A Book for Naughty Children and Their Parents.

Ukraine: Promoting Books in Ukrainian

  11 April 2006

A group of Ukrainian LJ users concerned about the sorry state of Ukrainian-language book publishing had a lively discussion on how the situation could be improved. One blogger even drew a parallel with the Aymara language of faraway Bolivia. Below are just a few snippets of this conversation (UKR): swalllage-kits:...

Argentina: Borges & Judas

  11 April 2006

After a month-long blog break to finish a novel, Jeff Barry is back to point out that Borges wrote about Judas’ potential good side long before National Geographic.

Nigeria: Book review – The Edible Woman

  11 April 2006

Ore's notes reviews “The Edible Woman” by Margaret Atwood.…”it was an interesting concept to me – the idea of our subconcious and our bodies rejecting decisions that we are making or not making (as in Marian's case). The idea of our bodies rebelling by rejecting food was also fascinating.”

Eastern Europe: Shteyngart's “Absurdistan”

  10 April 2006

Krzysztof of Respublica Somniorum reviews Gary Shteyngart's new novel, “Absurdistan”: “In the end, it matters less where Shteyngart goes than how he gets there and the sights along the way. These include, non-inclusively: an anti-Semitic dog, an ethnic conflict over Christ’s footrest, a vodka-drenched circumcision in the “mitzvah mobile,” a...

Iran: Poet & Gravestone

Kosoof (Persian), Iran based blogger & journalist, has reported that Ahmad Shamlou's, most famous Iranian contemporary poet, gravestone has been broken for third time. Kosoof has posted photos of broken gravestone.

African women blogging this week

  9 April 2006

Everchanging World speaks out about “street harassment in Lagos“. She believes it is a serious problem and adds “And no it’s not because I was in America and got brainwashed by the feminists” She writes of her experience of going shopping with her sisters to one of Lagos's largest markets,...

Peru: Arguedas

  7 April 2006

Jon of Posthegemony makes a table of contents of the many posts he has written about Peruvian author José María Arguedas.

The Week That Was in Bahrain

Bad news travels fast , faster than tragedies and their full scope unfold. A tragic incident in Bahrain brings bloggers together to express their condolences to those who have left their dear and near ones. May their souls rest in peace.