It’s quite the literary week, what with the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Frankfurt Book Fair, and the finalists for the National Book Award.
LA Times book critic David Ulin reports on Nobel winner Mo Yan:
Mo Yan, the Chinese writer best known for his 1987 novel “Red Sorghum,” has won the 2012 Nobel Prize in literature. In presenting the award, the Nobel committee cited Mo’s “hallucinatory realism,” which blends aspects of “folk tales, history and the contemporary.”
Ulin points out that while Mo is one of China’s most-banned writers, he’s also been criticized for being too close to the establishment.
In Frankfurt, the book fair continues through Oct. 14. One way to follow along from afar is through its blog. A sample from Michael Bhaskar:
Computer games developers have started becoming a feature of the Book Fair. A flurry of licensing announcements from Penguin is only the start of what will become an increasingly important relationship for both industries.
Example? Rovio went to Frankfurt to announce its firstbook app, an iOS cookbook called “Bad Piggies’ Best Egg Recipes,” paidcontent.org reports.
And, finally, you’ve got about a month to catch up on your reading if you’ve missed any of these books. Finalists for the National Book Awards were announced yesterday and included a nod to the Iraq War. From the Washington Post:
Stories about the Iraq war hold a prominent place in this year’s National Book Award nominations. “The Yellow Birds,” a debut novel by Iraq vet Kevin Powers, and “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” the first novel by Ben Fountain, are among the five finalists for the fiction award.
The other fiction finalists: Dave Eggers’ “A Hologram for the King,” Louise Erdrich’s latest, “The Round House,” and MacArthur grant recipient Junot Diaz’s “This is How You Lose Her.”
The winners will announced Nov. 14.
Dave Eggers. Really? Last book I read of his was The Heartbreaking Work of Staggering…Egomania.