It’s a tale of two Amazons. The Internet behemoth takes consistent steps in the right direction for literature’s longevity: the Kindle is an admittedly practical e-reader, and Kindle Direct Publishing makes it stupidly easy for emerging writers to make things happen. Even at Asymptote, we begrudgingly accept Amazon’s eminence as its imprint AmazonCrossing published the most literature in translation in 2012, thereby besting many publishing houses we’d feel far more comfortable endorsing. However, the mega-corporation’s ubiquity makes independent bibliophiles (understandably) uneasy. This week’s developments underline the lit community’s love-hate sentiment: on one hand, Amazon Publishing has launched Day One, a digital literary magazine showcasing emerging authors and poets. Given its gargantuan scope (and an annual subscription cost of just $9.99!) the corporation’s foray into literary journalism might just rekindle the tradition in a digital age (pun intended). In France, however, the government staunchly defends its independent bookstores by restricting Amazon’s discount pricing.
Literary Festivals abound this week! In Singapore, the Singapore Writers Festival goes on until November 10, featuring Carol Ann Duffy, Mohsin Hamid, Kim Young-ha, Xiaolu Guo and Gao Xingjian next to past Asymptote contributors Boey Kim Cheng, Leonard Ng, Jeremy Tiang and Zhang Yueran. In Norman, Oklahoma, the Neustadt Literary Festival awarded Palestinian-American poet Naomi Shihab-Nye (pictured above) with the 2013 Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature. In Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala, Russian and Indian representatives celebrate the Russian language in a three-month literary fest starting this week. And in London, the South Asian Literary fest has just ended, spotlighting Pakistan in 2013.
…Speaking of the Neustadt Festival, Mozambican author Mia Couto has won the 2014 Neustadt International Prize for Literature (keep your eyes peeled for a translation of his writing this week)! Danish-Norweigan author Kim Leine snagged the 2013 Nordic Council Literature Prize, and Sibylle Lewitscharoff has achieved Germany’s highest literary honor by winning the 2013 Georg Büchner Prize. Even unknown writers can rejoice: Miller Oberman, third-year graduate student studying in Connecticut, joins the likes of Rita Dove and Marilyn Hacker by winning Poetry magazine’s John Frederick Nims Memorial Prize for Translation for translating an 8th-century English rune poem. Congrats to all!
Myanmar, Burma. The PEN International Center has finally opened shop in Myanmar, thanks to 15 years of efforts by writer Ma Thida. This marks PEN’s 145th outpost, and (it goes without saying, but let’s just say it anyway) a milestone in inaugurating a freer Burmese literature.
Cairo, Egypt. Bassem Youssef, Egypt’s answer to political satirist Jon Stewart (see Youssef’s Daily Show appearance here), has been suspended from the airwaves. Officially, the holdup has something to do with contract disputes, although rumor has it his mocking take on the Egyptian military is the true cause of his suspension.
Cambridge, 2013/Persia, 1010. The digitization of a daunting, 50,000-line Persian epic poem supplemented with enough visual art and history to make your head spin will continue, thanks to a 1.2-million pound gift from Iranian-American philanthropist Bita Daryabiri. The Baysonghor Shahnama website will encourage public access to “the longest poem written by a single author,” 11th-century poet Firdausi.
And finally, in case you can’t get enough of the Internet’s collective vitriol against BuzzFeed’s collaboration with Duolingo (here’s an on-point critique via Three Percent), yet another voice suggests that BuzzFeed’s translation project will hurt the dignity of foreign news.