Stories about Literature from June, 2007
Singapore: Ancient Scripts of South East Asia
Noelbynature recommends an exhibition on Malay scripts current being hosted at the National Library in Singapore. “this is indeed a rare opportunity to see the epigraphy of ancient Southeast Asia in one collection.”
Bookcovers from Tahiti
Tahiti: Litterature, Musique et… has been posting retro covers of Tahitian novels and books about Tahitian history, culture and society.
Jamaica: Imagination
“Our imaginations determine the quality of our lives. Change, personally and nationally, occurs when the imagination is engaged in purposeful activity.” Geoffrey Philp muses about charity, imagination and risk.
Central Asia: Literature in Translation
Birds’ Books uses Uzbek author Hamid Ismailov's The Railway, one of the rare contemporary Central Asian novels translated into English, as a jumping off point for a discussion of Central Asian literature, language, translation, and the impact of modernism and the Soviet Union on Central Asia.
Serbia: Asne Seierstad's Book
Bosnia Blog and Bosnia Vault review Asne Seierstad's book about Serbia.
Jamaica: Blog Novel
Jamaican Geoffrey Philp has just finished a novel inspired by the blogosphere – and his agent thinks its “the first of its kind in fiction”.
Bahrain: Omar Al Khayam
Bahrain's Bint Battuta gives us some poetry – the famous Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam – and their various translations to digest.
Senegal: In Memory of Ousmane Sembene
Togolese writer Kangi Alem has a short tribute [Fr] to famed Senegalese filmmaker and novelist Ousmane Sembene who passed away this weekend in Dakar. “I used to read the greats of African literature in my literature textbook in the 1980s, and I imagined all these authors were dead. What it...
Senegal: Ousmane Sembéne is no more
Alexcia announces the death of Ousmane Sembéne: “Known to kenyan as the author of “God's Bits of Wood, London : Heinemann, 1995.” Senegal's Ousmane Sembéne has died at the age of 84.”
Iran:The Blood of Flowers
Homeyra writes about a new book:The Blood of Flowers written by Anita Amirrezvani.The blogger writes a young girl comes of age as a carpetmaker’s apprentice in 17th century Iran: “Everything about Iran-born, former Northern California dance critic Anita Amirrezvani’s first novel is meticulously designed: its nine-year creation; its hypnotic cadence...
Kuwait's Reputation is Gonu !
Kuwaiti bloggers were on high alert this week, awaiting news of the devastating cyclone Gonu, which has killed around 50 people in nearby Oman. Abdullatif AlOmar, who reviews this week's blogs, also tells us how they were enraged with an op-ed which appeared in a local newspaper - which they say aimed at tarnishing their country's reputation.
Benin: The Call of Voodoo
Babilown writes about a new edition [Fr] of Les Appels du Vodun (The Call of Voodoo).
Eastern & Central Europe: Children's Books in Romani
Children's books in the Romani language are a rarity, writes TOL's Romantic, but a teacher from Ukraine has recently published a few items.
Poland: “More Pope, Less Literature”
“More Pope, less literature…” This, according to the beatroot, is what Polish kids would be reading if Poland's education minister prevails.
India: On A Thousand Splendid Suns
The Middle Stage on Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. “The fictions of Khaled Hosseini portray not just a world out of joint – an Afghanistan racked first by conflict with the Soviets and then a civil war – but also, within it, families where unnatural formations are prevalent and...
Russia: Prominent Roma Scientists
TOL's Romantic posts bios of two prominent female Roma scientists – chemist Natalia Pankova and biologist Lubov Pankova – and their father, Nikolay Pankov, famous for his translation to the Romani language of Aleksandr Pushkin’s poem “Gypsies.”
Pakistan: Military Inc.
A book named Military Inc. appears to have ruffled many feathers. At Individual Counts “All this because she has done an academic case study of the Army’s corporate interests which highlights the welfare work that the khakis are doing for their own admittedly at the cost of the tax payer....
Japan: The Battle of Okinawa Again
Jeff at Jeff's Okinawa Blog reflects on the poetry of Wilfred Owen, whose poetry about World War I Jeff connects with the Battle of Okinawa (Japan). Jeff writes: “if there was ever an example of a person being meant to do something, being born for it, this is the one.”
Kuwait: Parties, Art and Telecom
With Yemenis in Kuwait celebrating their Unification Day, Kuwaiti bloggers are out in full force checking out art exhibitions, the telecoms situation, wedding parties and book censorship in this week's review of Kuwaiti blogs by Abdullatif AlOmar.
Japan: Declining Language Skills
Ampontan has translated an interview by Nishinippon Shimbun with Mieno Yasushi, the former governer of the Bank of Japan, on the topic of “the state of contemporary Japanese education and how the Japanese language […] is commonly discussed by the people who use it every day.” Of his experience with...
