Stories about Literature from June, 2006
The Global Voices Show #2
Episode #2 of the Global Voices Show has landed! In this edition we feature excerpts from the following podcasts: XiaoQiao (Singapore) Africa Files: The Pulse (Canada/South Africa) BahasaPod (Indonesia) Kazakhstan Stories (Kazakhstan) Free Talk with Oon Yeoh (Malaysia) JameedKast (Jordan) The Kamla Bhatt Show (India) Radio Open Source (USA/Serbia &...
Russia: G8 Security and Domestic Issues
Domestic politics seems to somewhat interfere with the attempts of St. Petersburg police to provide security for the upcoming G8 Summit (July 15-17). LJ user aneta_spb, a journalist, retells a friend's story (RUS): There's been much noise in the [state-funded] mass media about pre-Summit security, about fighting xenophobes, fascists and...
Guyana, Barbados: Happy birthday, Carter and Lamming
Geoffrey Philp sends birthday greetings to two major West Indian writers: the late Guyanese poet Martin Carter, and the Barbadian novelist George Lamming.
Cambodia: Book on Cambodian History
Andy in his blog talks about a new book on Cambodian history “A book arrived through my letterbox today for review, namely John Tully's A Short History of Cambodia : From Empire To Survival, courtesy of Australian publishers Allen & Unwin. Thanks guys. Its a 270-page book intended for tourists,...
Hong Kong: Chinese author porn
Roland Soong at EastSouthWestNorth translates an essay making waves on a Chinese BBS recently written by a woman calling herself the Franz Kafka of China. In a bid to draw readers to her works, Daiqin (黛秦) provided some illustrations: photos of her naked and in a bra. Readership rocketed.
Jamaica, UK: Celebrating Zadie's win
JT at the Caribbean Beat Weblog celebrates Zadie Smith's winning the Orange Prize for Fiction: “Zadie Smith is British but counts as Caribbean on account of her Jamaican mother and the multicultural world she lives in. . . . Don't worry about the critics who make much of this book...
The Kannada Context: Hear the nature of voices
The amplification of small sound bytes effects a joyful reverberation in a large room. I got a few mails/comments for my last post, The Kannada Context: Exclusive Identity and Other Stories. I also got to know interesting people. It is nice to see the feedback from a small, yet vibrant,...
Japan: Literary reader published
FG blogger Mulboyne takes a look at the recently-published book ‘Japan: A Traveler's Literary Companion‘ and the stories in it which, the blogger writes, “like the country and the people, are beautiful and compelling.”
Latin America: Blogeratura
Liz Henry introduces Blogeratura, “a Spanish-language blog site for ‘independent literature.'”
Barbados: Kamau Braithwaite wins poetry prize
On the occasion of Barbadian poet Edward Kamau Braithwaite's winning the Griffin Poetry Prize, Geoffrey Philp celebrates by “re-purposing” material from the Griffin Prize web site in a post on which the poet himself leaves the following comment: “My dear Master Blogger, Since yr fabulous b/day present to mwe in...
This week in Israel: what goin’ on?
Well, it seems that not a lot of note is going on in Israel these days. That, at least, appears to be the tacit consensus of the Israeli blogosphere. In the absence of major events like elections, suicide bombings and important holidays, local bloggers are turning to more prosaic issues....
Poland: Poet Juliusz Slowacki
Our Man in Gdansk writes about a Polish poet Juliusz Slowacki and his work called Anhelli.
Dominica: Jean Rhys’ house
On a recent visit to Dominica, Francomenz goes out of her way to photograph the childhood home of renowned Dominican writer Jean Rhys, which is “now a guest house, right in the middle of the busy capital. When I jumped out of the car and dodged traffic to get just...
Latest in the Francophone African Blogosphere
PAN-AFRICAN For the United States of Africa Le Pangolin is fervently advocating for the dissolution of the current borders that separate African countries and that, he believes, weaken each individual African country: Je suis pour des Etats-Unis d’Afrique par zone géographique ou linguistique, car cela va permettre d’impliquer l’ensemble des...
Caribbean: Marking the start of the hurricane season
“What is it about us that loves to celebrate everything?” asks Florida-based Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp, who uploads a podcast of a poem to mark the June 1 start of the hurricane season. Simon T posts a photo of a perfect Cayman Islands sunset at Flickr, giving it the title...
Russia: Limonov and Copyright
Russia is notorious for its disregard for copyright laws. According to anti-piracy organizations, it is the second-biggest source of pirated software, music and film in the world. China is the first. The discussion translated below (RUS) takes on the issue of piracy in a somewhat ironic vein: Sergei Maximishin (LJ...
China: Old festival, new name
Known in the West mainly for its colorful dragon boat races, yesterday's Duan Wu (端午) Festival has its origins with Qu Yuan (屈原), a renowned and respected corruption-fighting poet whose political passion, many claim, was equalled only by his homosexuality. As the story goes, his unrequited love for the king,...
Argentina: More Borges
“I have committed the worst sin of all That a man can commit. I have not been Happy….” That is from Borges’ poem “El remordimiento” [Remorse], which Jeff Barry reviews in his 12th of “30 Days with Borges”. The trilingual blog Trendy Palermo Viejo has photos of Borges’ childhood home...
Caribbean: Good writing
Jamaican poet Geoffrey Philp writes on his blog about a family recipe for chicken soup, and gets an e-mail suggesting he contribute something to the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. Which prompts him to think about the craft of writing: “Any con man can tell you a sad...
