A rojak* of items that caught my
eye this week…
Click here for an interview with Eka Kurniawan,
in the Jakarta Post. His novel Man Tiger
made the longlist for this year’s prestigious Man Booker International Prize - he was the first Indonesian writer ever to have been even in contention for the
prize. Alas, he didn’t make the shortlist. The winner will be
announced on May 16. Asian authors still
in contention are Han Kang (South Korea), for The
Vegetarian, (published in the
UK by Portobello Books translated by Deborah Smith) and Yan Lianke (China)
for The Four Books, (published in
the UK by Chatto & Windus, translated by Carlos Rojas)
Lahore in New York
The Lahore Literary Festival will
travel to the Asia Society New York on May 7 - 8. This is the first time that a Pakistani
literary festival will take place outside the country. For details click
here.
This week in Asian Review of
Books
See the Asian Review of Books for ever-interesting
discussion. Here are links to its newest reviews, excerpts, letters, essays,
listings, translations, news items, and round ups:
News: Literary Awards
This Orient Isle: Elizabethan England and the Islamic World by Jerry Brotton reviewed by Peter Gordon
Tong Wars: The Untold Story of Vice, Money, and Murder in New York’s Chinatown by Scott D Seligman reviewed by Bill Purves
Incarnations: India in 50 Lives by Sunil Khilnani reviewed by Nigel Collett
This Orient Isle: Elizabethan England and the Islamic World by Jerry Brotton reviewed by Peter Gordon
Tong Wars: The Untold Story of Vice, Money, and Murder in New York’s Chinatown by Scott D Seligman reviewed by Bill Purves
Incarnations: India in 50 Lives by Sunil Khilnani reviewed by Nigel Collett
Lion City lit notes / by Lucía Damacela
Asian Books Blog is based in Singapore. Our regular
column Lion City Lit explores in-depth what’s going on in the City-State,
lit-wise. Lion City lit notes provide quick updates between columns. Here Lucía
Damacela gives advance notice of a Book illustrators Gallery exhibit.
As part of the upcoming Asian Festival of Children’s Content, the Book Illustrators
Gallery (BIG) will feature published and unpublished works from local and
international illustrators and artists. This exhibition, curated by David Liew
and Susanna
Goho-Quek, is free and open to the general public. Judy Ho, BIG coordinator,
pointed out that they have received 300 illustrations submitted by creators
from Singapore and the region, and also from countries such as Afghanistan,
Brazil, Iran, Japan, Syria, South Korea, Spain, and The Netherlands. The
curators selected a total of 140 works for the exhibition, including those of
Evelyn Ghozalli, Patrick Yee, and Betty Sargeant.
Dates: May 14 to June 3, 2016, from 10:00 am to 9:00
pm (closed on May 21).
Venue:
Central Public Library, B1 Exhibition Area (100 Victoria Street 188064).
Additional
information and a sample of the showcased illustrations can be found here.
Twitter spot
Each week I make a suggestion of
an interesting Twitter account you may like to follow. This week I’m actually making two
recommendations:
@ASEANLitFest the official Account of the 3rd ASEAN Literary Festival.
Jakarta, 5-8 May, 2016
@AsiaSocietyNY if you want to follow tweets about the Lahore Literary
Festival in New York.
