NYRB NEWS
'Historiae' and 'Lies and Sorcery' Shortlisted for 2024 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize
Antonella Anedda's Historiae, translated by Patrizio Ceccagnoli and Susan Stewart, and Elsa Morante's Lies and Sorcery, translated by Jenny McPhee, are shortlisted for the 2024 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize.
Paul Auster (1947–2024)
Paul Auster died late last month at the age of 77. His novels, memoirs, and poems were renowned and read all around the world. He was also a gifted translator of French literature. His first book, published in 1972, was A Little Anthology of Surrealist Poets, and he later edited and translated The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, published by NYRB Classics in 2005. He wrote a delightful and illuminating introduction to our edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Twenty Days with Julian & Little Bunny by Papa too.
‘The Wounded Age and Eastern Tales’ Named as EBRD Literature Prize Finalist
Three finalists have been announced for the 2024 EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) Literature Prize, and the list includes the recent NYRB Classic The Wounded Age and Eastern Tales by Ferit Edgü, translated from the Turkish by Aron Aji.
Sorokin Exhibition at WhiteBox Art Space
An exhibition of AI-assisted artwork by Vladimir Sorokin, BLUE LARD #cancelrussianculture, is on view until May 4, 2024 at the WhiteBox art space in New York City. Based around the writer’s notorious novel Blue Lard, recently translated into English by Max Lawton in a new NYRB Classics edition, the artwork depicts clones of famous Russian writers—from Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky to Akhmatova—in various tableaux with the titular blue lard.
Edwin Frank Interviewed in ‘The Point’
A conversation between NYRB editor Edwin Frank and the writer Scott Sherman, titled “How the Story Turns Out,” was published this week in the magazine The Point. Among other subjects, they discuss literature in translation, MFA programs, contemporary book reviewing, the survival of the novel, and the early years and inner workings of the NYRB Classics series, including the books that “got away.”
Two NYRB Titles Named as 2023 LA Times Book Prize Finalists
The finalists for the 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes have been announced, and two NYRB titles are on the list: Susie Boyt’s Loved and Missed (New York Review Books) in the Fiction category and Chantal Montellier’s Social Fiction (New York Review Comics; trans. Geoffrey Brock) in the Graphic Novel/Comics category.
David G. Compton (1930–2023)
David G. Compton, who wrote the NYRB Classic The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe under the name D. G. Compton, died in November 2023 at the age of 93, as The Guardian reports.
New Celia Paul Exhibition in Los Angeles
The Vielmetter gallery in Los Angeles is currently hosting a solo exhibition of paintings by Celia Paul, artist and author of the New York Review Books memoirs Self-Portrait and Letters to Gwen John. Titled Life Painting, the show features Paul’s portraits, landscapes, and floral still-lifes, and will run through early March.