Balkans

[close] A group to discuss my forthcoming novel, Speaking to No. 4 (New Europe Books, Nov. 29). The book is available for pre-order, and bookstores can already get it in early November, but shipping for individuals will start at the end of November. Where is Alma? A future husband—No. 4—is desperately seeking his fiancée, who has disappeared. To locate her, he is interviewing her three former husbands, her sister, and ex sister-in-law. Could she be hiding in a French monastery? A Japanese shukubo (temple lodging)? Or maybe she is the victim of a belief in a Balkan creation myth? From America to France and Eastern Europe to Japan, this quest for a woman who has disappeared is both a psychological mystery and a meditation on our notions of space and architectural design. As husband No. 3, the Architect, says to husband-to-be No. 4, “Think of Japanese space as a novel in which the main character is absent.”

[close] Telegram, the literary fiction imprint of Saqi Books, was founded in 2005 to publish the best in new and classic international writing, from debut novelists to established literary heavyweights. Telegram has brought cutting-edge and authoritative voices from the UK, Spain, North Africa, Korea, Hungary, France, China, the Middle East and beyond to readers with an appetite for "choice international fiction" (The Independent). Award-winning independent Saqi was started in 1983 to bridge the divide between Middle Eastern and Western cultures. Over the years, the list expanded to include writers from the Balkans, Afghanistan, Pakistan, France and the UK, with an expanding fiction list that prompted the establishment of Telegram.

[close] Many books have been written about the conflict known alternatively as the domovinski rat (“war of independence”), agresija protiv Republike BiH (“aggression against Bosnia”), and (in two acts), rat u bivšoj SFRJ (“war in the former Yugoslavia”) and albanski terorizam/NATO agresija (“Albanian terrorism/NATO aggression”) respectively, not to mention the lufta e Kosovës (“the Kosovo war”), and O maripe či anel khanikaske lačipe (“war is hell”). Or more commonly, the rat ("war"). Such books are mostly written by journalists and politicians (as concerns the view from the outside looking in), or politicians and soldiers (for the local view). But rarely do the twain meet, and as a result there is still more confusion and misinformation in the ether concerning the war, than there is clarity and resolution. But what actually happened? Please share books, in any language, that you have found cast a genuine light on the Yugoslav Wars.

[close] [ENG/FR] This is a bilingual book club to discover and discuss Eastern European Literature. We choose the books we read every other month ! Groupe de lecture bilingue pour découvrir et discuter de la littérature d'Europe de l'Est. Nouveaux livres à lire tous les 2 mois ! Liste des pays : Estonie / Lettonie / Lituanie / Pologne / Tchéquie / Slovaquie / Hongrie / Biélorussie / Ukraine / Russie / Moldavie / Roumanie / Bulgarie / Grèce / Macédoine / Serbie / Kosovo / Albanie / Monténégro / Bosnie / Slovénie / Croatie/ Chypre / Malte