Sunday, April 13, 2014

Happy Vaisakhi to Sikhs in rainbow turbans & saris


 Fifteen years of the Complete Review Posted by: M.A.Orthofer

       The first reviews -- a batch of forty-five -- were posted at the complete review fifteen years ago today, on 5 April 1999. 

       Which is pretty much all I have to say -- I don't really know how to mark these (non-)occasions. 

Shortlist: NSW Premier's Literary Awards 

       They've announced the shortlists for the (Australian) NSW Premier's Literary Awards. 
       Among the categories: there's a: 'Community Relations Commission Award for a Multicultural NSW'.   The winners will be announced 19 May Three days after few hangovers ...

The Czech Magnesia Litera awards have been handed out, and as Jan Richter reports at Radio Praha, Guide to wartime Prague wins top literary award, as the non-fiction category winner, the unusual Průvodce protektorátní Prahou by Jiří Padevět also took book of the year honors. 
       The fiction category winner was Skutečná událost, by Of Kids & Parents-author Emil Hakl; see also the (Czech) Argopublicity page. 
       The translation category winner was Robert Svoboda's translation of Esterházy Péter's Celestial Harmonies (get your copy of the English translation at Amazon.com orAmazon.co.uk). 

       I'm already won over by an article that reveals that the chief rabbi (of both Prague and the Czech Republic), Karol Sidon, admits:
I couldn't read anything but what is considered lowbrow sci fi literature which I really love
       But how great to hear that he went on to write his own (and publish it under a pseudonym) -- and that, as Jan Velinger reports at Radio Praha, Prague rabbi pens literary hit of season, as the first volume of his planned tetralogy, Altschulova metoda (see the (Czech) Torst publicity page), has become a big hit 
       Sounds pretty wild -- I'd love to hear more about this.