This is Beirut - Literature

Boualem Sansal Elected to Belgium’s Royal Academy While Imprisoned

This is Beirut, 13/10 10:30 - Reading : less than a minute

Boualem Sansal Algeria France Literature Prize Culture

Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who has been imprisoned in Algeria for nearly a year, has been elected to the Royal Academy of French Language and Literature of Belgium, the Academy’s permanent secretary Yves Namur told AFP on Sunday. “Boualem Sansal embodies the creative spirit of the writer, which is inseparable from the freedom it ...

Hungary’s Laszlo Krasznahorkai Wins Nobel Literature Prize

This is Beirut, 09/10 14:25 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Nobel Prize Literature Laszlo Krasznahorkai Hungary Sweden Culture

The Nobel Prize in Literature was on Thursday awarded to Laszlo Krasznahorkai, considered by many as Hungary's most important living author whose works explore themes of postmodern dystopia and melancholy. The Swedish Academy honored him "for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of ...

Countdown to Nobel Literature Prize 2025: Experts Favor Western Contenders

This is Beirut, 09/10 12:10 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Literature Nobel Prize Speculations Sweden Culture

The Nobel literature prize could go to a Western author this Thursday, experts predict, though bookies have several authors from Asia as top picks even after South Korea's Han Kang last year became the first Asian woman to win. Awarding the prize to another woman this year would make history: it has never gone to a woman two years in a row, and ...

Nobel Literature Buzz Tips Swiss Postmodernist, Australians for Prize

This is Beirut, 07/10 15:05 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Nobel Prize Literature Culture Art Academy Prize

Swiss postmodernist novelist Christian Kracht and Australia's Gerald Murnane and Alexis Wright are among the favorites for the Nobel literature prize, experts told AFP ahead of the Swedish Academy's much-anticipated announcement on Thursday. The academy made history last year by choosing South Korea's Han Kang, making her the first Asian woman to ...

UK Author Jilly Cooper, Bestselling Queen of Romantic Fiction, Dies Aged 88

This is Beirut, 06/10 14:15 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Literature Jilly Cooper Obituary Britain Culture

Jilly Cooper, who has died aged 88, was the best-selling British writer whose racy novels were famously filled with sex, snobbery and fun. With suggestive titles such as Tackle!, Mount! and Score!, Cooper's books were publishing sensations, selling 11 million copies in the UK alone. Her agent Felicity Blunt said Monday that "she will ...

Love and Loss Lead the Way on the 2025 Booker Prize Shortlist

This is Beirut, 24/09 17:25 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Literature Booker Prize Shortlist 2025 Britain Culture

Three authors writing about love and loss have made the Booker Prize shortlist for the first time, among the six chosen as contenders for this year's prestigious award. The works explore "the ties that bind families together, and the moments of crisis that can pull them apart," the prize organizers said late Tuesday. The shortlist ...

France Launches Appeal to Acquire Proust’s ‘Madeleine’ Writings

This is Beirut, 17/09 18:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Literature Auction Proust France History Culture

France's National Library launched a public appeal for donations on Wednesday to acquire hundreds of unpublished documents belonging to Marcel Proust, including some showing how the famed writer settled on one of his most famous lines. Some of the roughly 900 documents were put up for show by the auction house Sotheby's on Wednesday morning and ...

The Creator of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ Returns With Ambitious New Thriller

This is Beirut, 09/09 14:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Literature Books Dan Brown US Culture

Best-selling American author Dan Brown, creator of the publishing phenomenon The Da Vinci Code, released his latest thriller Tuesday in 16 languages simultaneously. The Secret of Secrets, which runs to nearly 700 pages in English, marks Brown's return eight years after his last novel, Origin. Brown called it "by far the most intricately plotted ...

Irvine Welsh Takes Aim at ‘Brain Atrophying’ Tech Ahead of New "Trainspotting" Sequel

This is Beirut, 11/07 17:55 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Literature Irvine Welsh Trainspotting Britain Culture

Scottish author Irvine Welsh on Friday described the new sequel to his cult novel Trainspotting as an antidote to a world full of "hate and poison", as he took aim at social media, the internet and AI. Men in Love, the latest in a series of sequels, follows the same characters - Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie - as they experience the heyday of ...

Algeria court upholds writer Sansal's five-year jail term

This is Beirut, 01/07 16:43 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Literature Trial Boualem Sansal Algeria France Culture

An Algerian court on Tuesday upheld a five-year prison sentence against dual-national author Boualem Sansal, whose case has strained ties with France. Sansal, 80, was first sentenced to five years behind bars on March 27 on charges related to undermining Algeria's territorial integrity over comments made to a French media outlet. The appeals ...

Short-Cycle Prose: Georges Perec, the Washing Machine’s Poet

Bélinda Ibrahim, 27/05 17:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Georges Perec Washing Machine Writer Literature Poet Culture

A drum, a muffled sound, cycles, programs. A round door swings open onto the world’s laundry. A washing machine, yes – but for Georges Perec, it’s never just an appliance. It’s a trigger – his engine for writing. In the workshop of this master of literary constraints, even the most ordinary object can become a source of invention. ...

Salman Rushdie Says 'Pleased' With Attacker's Jail Sentence

This is Beirut, 27/05 10:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Literature Salman Rushdie Justice US London Culture

Salman Rushdie said Monday he was "pleased" with the maximum 25-year jail sentence handed to a man who tried to kill him with a knife at a New York cultural center in 2022. "I was pleased that he got the maximum available, and hopefully he uses it to reflect upon his deeds," Rushdie told BBC radio in an interview. Hadi Matar was sentenced to 25 ...

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