Nothing—not even the chance to live—makes Dr. Korczak abandon the children of the Warsaw Ghetto. November 1940. A circus parade walks through the streets of Warsaw, waving a flag and singing. They are 160 Jewish children, forced by the Nazis to leave their beloved orphanage. It’s a sad occasion, but led by Doctor Korczak, their … Continue reading USBBY Outstanding International Book Pick: Mister Doctor by
Hanan Harawi (which in Quechua means “poetry from above) is an independent publishing house specializing in international poetry based in Lima, Peru. According to its founding editor, the poet John Martínez González, Hanan Harawi seeks to connect audiences to a diverse array of contemporary Latin American poets and writers ‘’without blogs, posts, or web-anthologies. While … Continue reading Hanan Harawi’s Insurrection
Uncle Tito introduces Juan to his library, which proves to be an enormous place one can easily get lost in. He uses this opportunity to hint at the existence of The Wild Book, as well as Juan’s true nature as a “Lector Princeps”. Juan receives a postcard from his estranged father; this new adventure therefore … Continue reading Excerpt: The Wild Book by Juan Villoro
English-language retellings of Jewish folktales come from many different source languages, Yiddish, Hebrew, and Ladino (the language of the Sephardic Jews) chief among them. This post will present a round-up of some of my favorite storytelling collections, whether translated or otherwise reworked from the oral tradition. Since I work in a Sephardic congregation library, I … Continue reading Jewish Storytelling Sources
In Summer 2015 and 2017 I spent time in Jordan, Israel, and Palestine doing a number of things related to my work as Middle East Studies Librarian at the Michigan State University Libraries. One of my goals was collecting comics, to add to our international comic art collection, a vast and beautifully cataloged and cared-for … Continue reading Collecting Israeli Comics
An interview about poetry, memory, and revolution with Argentinian independent publisher, returned exile and political activist Miguel Martínez Naón. (Arturo Desimone’s series on Latin American Poetry for Anomaly and formerly The Drunken Boat. Republished with permission from Anomaly.) Miguel Martínez Naón is an Argentinian editor who forms part of the independent publisher Lamás Médula, … Continue reading Notes on a Return to the Ever-Dying Lands: The Return of Naón
In this latest addition to his popular Who Built That? series, Didier Cornille presents ten of the most important bridges in the world, from the Brooklyn to the Golden Gate; from the first in cast iron to the longest in concrete; from small footbridges to the tallest in the world. Cornille introduces each engineer or … Continue reading USBBY Outstanding International Book Pick: Who Built That? Bridges by Didier Cornille
Congratulations to the citizens of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where women have achieved the freedom to drive this week! Change happens very slowly and then all of a sudden. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sowNSH_W2r0 Manal Al-Sharif driving on the streets of Saudi Arabia Manal Al-Sharif was the very public face of the #Women2Drive campaign in the Kingdom of … Continue reading ‘Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman’s Awakening’ by Manal Al-Sharif
**WINNER OF THE 2017 MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE**The award-winning and internationally acclaimed author of the To the End of the Land now gives us a searing short novel about the life of a stand-up comic, as revealed in the course of one evening’s performance. In the dance between comic and audience, with barbs flying back and forth, a … Continue reading Title Pick: A Horse Walks Into A Bar by David Grossman
Bruce Rutledge and Yuko Enomoto founded Chin Music Press in 2002 while living in Tokyo. At the time, media conglomerates were swallowing up publishing companies, greatly reducing the opportunities for risky books to get into print. The time was ripe for small presses to fill the gap, especially with contemporary and edgy literature from Japan. … Continue reading Publisher Spotlight: Chin Music Press
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 