Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist

       They've announced the long list for this year's Scotiabank Giller Prize, one of the leading Canadian fiction prizes ("The first word in fiction", so their tagline ...) which has impressively upped the ante by doubling its prize money, with C$100,000 going to winner (and C$10,000 to each finalist).
       The longlist was selected from 161 entries -- which are, alas, not revealed (bad form, guys)..
       The shortlist will be announced 6 October.

 Q&A with Robbe-Grillet-translator

Oddly, while I have no problems with pseudonymous authors -- indeed I'd be (almost) perfectly fine with books being published entirely anonymously or namelessly ('almost' only because the lack of corresponding names would complicate categorization -- shelving, indices, etc.) -- but I'm slightly less comfortable with anonymous/pseudonymous translation. Part of that is probably in reaction to the fact that often translators still tend to get ignored anyway -- i.e. aren't named, even if they'd like to get and take credit for their work --, which seems patently unfair, but part of it is also that, if you're going to mess with an author's work (and that's what translators do, after all, for better and worse) you should own up to it.
       Sure 'Brooke''s excuse/explanation seems reasonable enough; still ..... (But, no, you aren't going to get any guesses out of me; if s/he chose to be 'D.E. Brooke' in public, that's their choice, and I won't pull back any curtains.)

 Another Man's City review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Ch'oe In-ho's Another Man's City, one in the latest batch of titles Dalkey Archive Press is releasing in its Library of Korean Literature-series.