Our past contributors have been busy! Publishing new work, organizing translation contests, accepting prizes and writing poetry and articles (read it all today, right this instant!)—the only thing they haven’t done is procrastinate.
Alain de Botton (Alain de Botton on La Rochefoucauld) saw the publication of his much-anticipated work The News: A User’s Manual, in which he “raises questions like: How come disaster stories are often so uplifting? What makes the love lives of celebrities so interesting? Why do we enjoy politicians being brought down? Why are upheavals in far off lands often so… boring?” Learn more in his interview with the New York Times.
Alexander Dickow (The Neverending Quest for the Other Shore by Sylvie Kandé, translator) is looking forward to the publication of his translations from the French of a poetry collection by Henri Droguet in March 2014. On March 5 he will be speaking about the writer and painter Max Jacob at the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris.
Amanda DeMarco (The Hay Smells Different to the Lovers Than to the Horses by Philipp Schönthaler, translator) organized New German Fiction: A Contest for Young Writers. Look out, Germanophiles: the winning work of young German fiction will be translated and published in English.
Danniel Schoonebeek’s (Two Poems) work “A Woman in the Sun” appeared in the January issue of Poetry. His poem “Ivory” is in the current issue of Indiana Review, and “Torch Song: Life of Smalls,” a collaboration with poet Allyson Paty, can be ordered as a broadside from Flying Object.
Desmond Kon’s (Five Prose Poems) recently poetry collection, The Arbitrary Sign, was published by Red Wheelbarrow Books. They write that “this poetry collection, in adding to the wealth of Singapore literature, helps to diversify it. Its effort to bridge ideas in continental philosophy and poetry demystifies the long perceived divide between the two fields of knowledge and study.” Read his interview in Kitaab to learn more.
Elisabeth Jaquette’s (The Shell by Mustafa Khalifa, translator) translation from the Arabic of Donia Maher’s short story “The Apartment in Bab el-Louk,” beautifully illustrated by Ganzeer, was published in Words Without Borders, in their February graphic novels edition.
Harry Leeds (Two Poems by Georgy Ivanov, translator) published an article about Russian Street Food in Lucky Peach Magazine. Lucky Peach also recently nominated Leeds for a James Beard Culinary Journalism award for his article on Tatar food.
Igor Štiks (An Interview with Igor Štiks) published an article in The Guardian on February 17, in which he discusses Bosnia, the effects of mass privatization, Europe’s future… and the failure of the European Union.
Joseph Cassara’s (Joseph Cassara on Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky’s Memories of the Future) short story “Eurydice” was published in Issue 54 of The Potomac Review.
Michael Stein’s (Michael Stein reviews Leonid Tsypkin’s The Bridge Over the Neroch: And Other Works) short story “Kryptonite” was published in The Missing Slate as their Story of the Week, February 14.
Todd Hasak-Lowy (Todd Hasak-Lowy on Dror Burstein) won the 2013 Risa Domb/Porjes Translation Prize for his translation from the Hebrew of Asaf Schurr’s novel Motti. According to Yaron Peleg, “Todd Hasak-Lowy’s translation […] is near-perfect pitch. His sensitivity to the subtle nuances of contemporary Hebrew idiom, coupled with his own formidable talents as a fiction writer, serves Schurr’s novel to English readers in all of its fresh and original crispness.”