Richard C. Morais's Blog, page 7
August 30, 2012
Foreign Publishers Buy Buddhaland Brooklyn
Foreign publishers have been slowly but steadily buying into Buddhaland Brooklyn. First to sign in was HarperCollins Publishers India. This is especially sweet to me. HarperCollins India gave me my first break in publishing, buying my little novel, The Hundred-Foot Journey, when it was a mere novella and then having me come to India for a book tour. Shortly thereafter the walls of indifference that I had met in the US and the UK crumbled, all because of the extremely generous reviews I received in India.
The classy Italian publisher, Neri Pozza, has also bought into Buddhaland Brooklyn. They, too, were among my first supporters in Europe and it’s a huge vote of confidence that this respected publisher, fighting it out in the stressed Italian economy, so believe in my skills as a writer that they have again placed a bet on my fiction.
Pretty fine, particularly since just north of the Italian border, the Pendo imprint of the great German publisher Piper Verlag, have also signed on. Pendo is the powerhouse that produced the elegant German hardback of my first novel and has come back for seconds, even before they have released the paperback of my first novel. For some reason I can’t pull Pendo’s logo off their home page, but the absence of a logo here doesn’t mean tepid excitement. Quite the opposite. It’s red-hot.
August 20, 2012
Audio of Buddhaland Brooklyn Wins Coveted Award
Feodor Chin, the talented actor-director who reads the audio of BUDDHALAND BROOKLYN, has won for us the coveted S.J.H Audiofile Earphones Award. Congrats Feodor!
Please check out his sensitive reading by Blackstone Audio.
August 19, 2012
The Washington Independent Review of Books
“Morais lovingly renders both the country inn where [Reverend] Oda grew up and the Little Calabria neighborhood in Brooklyn. Buddhaland Brooklyn is best enjoyed as a slow read. The world Morais creates for Oda and the reader is quirky and enchanting. His recurring rumination on the meaning of enlightenment and acceptance is worth savoring.” – The Washington Independent Review of Books.
To read the full review, click here.
July 21, 2012
Striking Literary Gold
A sensitive review of Buddhaland Brooklyn recently ran in Iowa’s Daily Reporter. Among other rather nice things Kate Padilla says about my little book, including calling it a “brilliant” fish-out-of-water tale, there is this generous statement:
“Morais has struck gold with this novel, which is simultaneously funny, sad, and enlightening. Even without fully understanding Buddhism, any reader can sense the meaning it holds in Seido’s life, and the overwhelming confusion he faces when he is flown out of Buddhaland and into Brooklyn.”
Click here for the full review.
July 17, 2012
BUDDHALAND BROOKLYN on Sale
Today, my novel, Buddhaland Brooklyn, goes on sale. That follows Sunday’s New York Post review, naming my little book this summer’s “Required Reading.” It has also made the July-August cover of the presitgious American Poetry Review; the punch-above-its-weight literary magazine has excerpted Buddhaland Brooklyn’s entire Chapter Ten. The literary blog, Book Hog, says, “Mr. Morais’ brilliant depiction on his wonderful cast of characters is very true to life….you will love this wonderful story.”
I hope those who enjoyed my first novel, The Hundred-Foot Journey, will give me a second chance, and those that have never read my fiction, will give Buddhaland Brooklyn a test run. Reverend Oda promises to not to waste your valuable time.
July 5, 2012
KGB Bar Lit Magazine Interview
My favorite place to read in the entire world is New York’s literary hangout, the KGB Bar on 85 East 4th Street. I’ll be reading Buddhaland Brooklyn at the KGB Bar from 7pm to 9pm on October 14th. But, in advance, the KGB’s Sunday reading director, Suszanne Dottino, slyly asked my wife, Susan Agar, to interview me for the KGB Bar Lit Magazine.
She’s a smart one, that Suzanne.
Lesson: Never let yourself be publicly interview by your wife. She’ll get stuff out of you that no-one else will get to. Here’s the full interview that just went online today.
July 1, 2012
First Lit Blogger Weighs in on BUDDHALAND BROOKLYN
“You will learn something new (although Mr. Morais explains that his novel is not a doctrinal explanation of Buddhism). You will laugh (Americans in all their crude, crazy glory, can provide great insight and sensitivity). But, most of all, you will love this wonderful story.” Book Hog review of BUDDHALAND BROOKLYN, June 30.
When the last page of a book is turned, there is usually another book patiently waiting to be opened at our elbow. Those of us who are professional scribblers feel that way about book criticism. The pages in newspapers devoted to book reviews have sadly been decimated, but in their stead have risen book-adoring lit bloggers, who have filled a critical hole in the all-important literary criticism business. They are, just like with the newspaper business of old, of varying quality – but all share, with their followers, a genuine love of reading. Bless them. They do the nation a great service, keeping the light of literature alive.
This is all a longwinded wind-up to the fact that on the nail-biting eve of BUDDHALAND BROOKLYN‘s July 17 availability, the first lit blogger in America has weighed in on my second novel. It’s Jacki, otherwise known as the Book Hog. Check her out. Please. For the good of America.
June 21, 2012
Australian Cover of BUDDHALAND BROOKLYN
My Australian publisher, Allen & Unwin,
created the eye-catching split cover for The Hundred-Foot Journey that was adopted in the U.S. and the UK and helped turn that book into an international bestseller. The talented artists at Allen & Unwin have once again created an outstanding example of cover art, in my opinion, with this warm and elegant front flap for Buddhaland Brooklyn (see above left). I can honestly say that both the Scribner cover (right) and Allen & Unwin’s efforts, each very different, are very pleasing to my eye. May both houses be rewarded for their efforts.
June 13, 2012
BUDDHALAND BROOKLYN Reading Roll Out
First wave of readings for BUDDHALAND BROOKLYN are coming in. Here the roll out so far.
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
Thursday, July 19
7:00 PM
Talk, Reading, Q&A, Signing
BARNES & NOBLE
1805 Walnut Street
Rittenhouse Square
Philadelphia, PA 19103
PIKE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Saturday, July 28
2:00 PM EST
Reading, Talk, Q&A, Signing
PIKE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
201 Broad Street
Milford, PA 18337
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
August Date/Time TBA
Talk, Reading, Q&A, Signing
GREENLIGHT BOOKSTORE
686 Fulton Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217
CHICAGO AND ENVIRONS, ILLINOIS
Thursday, September 20
7:00 PM CT
Talk, Reading, Q&A, Signing
THE BOOK STALL AT CHESTNUT COURT
811 Elm Street
Winnetka, IL 60093
CHICAGO AND ENVIRONS, ILLINOIS
September Date/Time TBA
LAKE FOREST BOOKSTORE
Market Square
680 N. Western Avenue
Lake Forest, IL 60045
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Sunday, October 14
7:00 PM EST
Reading
KGB BAR
Sunday Night Fiction
85 E. 4th Street
New York, NY 10010
WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK
November
Lunch TBA
Talk, Reading, Q&A, Signing
FRIENDS OF SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE LIBRARY
AT BRONXVILLE FIELD CLUB
40 Locust Lane
Bronxville, NY 10708
May 11, 2012
Buddhaland Brooklyn Literary Endorsement
“In exquisite prose, Buddhaland Brooklyn illuminates the hearts of wholly different cultures — an isolated Buddhist monastery; bustling New York – and also the universal truths of human life. Reverend Seido Oda’s journey from shut-down, haughty priest to compassionate religious leader is a profoundly moving one making for a complex, beautiful book that lingers in the imagination long after the last line is read.” – Robin Black, author of If I loved you, I would tell you this
