What is Paper Republic?

The wonderful people over at the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative have designated February as China month, and have asked us to help! So for a whole month, we'll be posting on the GLLI site and on Paper Republic. First post - for the GLLI readers - what is Paper Republic? Who are we and what … Continue reading What is Paper Republic?

17 Notable Arabic Books Coming to English in 2017

This month, GLLI will focus on Arabic literature in translation. To kick things off, ArabLit editor M. Lynx Qualey highlights 17 notable Arabic books forthcoming in English in 2017. January 2017 1) Ascension to Death, by Mamdouh Azzam, trans. Max Weiss (Haus Publishing) From the publisher: Ascension to Death, which launches Haus Publishing’s new Modern Arabic Classics series, … Continue reading 17 Notable Arabic Books Coming to English in 2017

The Bangkok Book Awards

Global literature for children exists—but how to find it and connect it with readers? A group of librarians at international schools in Bangkok have developed a new student-choice book award program that 1) helps librarians exchange info about books by authors from around the world, and 2) acquaints students with their finds. Here librarian Kim … Continue reading The Bangkok Book Awards

Excerpt: La Superba by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer

Someone who looks like a banker walks into the BNL bank on Piazza Matteoti. Someone who looks like a crook—with a broken nose, low forehead, and big, protruding ears—comes out of the police station next door, while eight carabinieri stand smoking on the pavement and laughing and acting out on a friend how they’d arrest … Continue reading Excerpt: La Superba by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer

Review: The Cat Who Came In Off The Roof by Annie M.G. Schmidt

In search of a cozy, quirky book to curl up with on a winter evening or to read out loud with a young child? The Cat Who Came in off the Roof, translated from the beloved Dutch children's classic, Minoes, may be just the ticket. Shy newspaper reporter Tibble is in trouble with his editor … Continue reading Review: The Cat Who Came In Off The Roof by Annie M.G. Schmidt

Interview with Annemarie van Haeringen, author of COCO AND THE LITTLE BLACK DRESS

By Heather Lennon Meet Annemarie van Haeringen as we chat with her about her new book, Coco and the Little Black Dress. NorthSouth Books: What inspired you to create a picture book about Coco Chanel? Annemarie: Actually, I was asked by my Dutch publisher Leopold, and the Dutch Gemeente Museum Den Haag to make a … Continue reading Interview with Annemarie van Haeringen, author of COCO AND THE LITTLE BLACK DRESS

The Hunger in Plain View by Ester Naomi Perquin

Winter Let this winter pass into another winter. No more stately brooding. No bluebird’s eggs. No driven mating or well-built nests. I want the frost to blast the ground forever with every seed or shoot that it conceals. Leave streets as gray as winter has them. The muddy slush of butchered days, two blue mittens … Continue reading The Hunger in Plain View by Ester Naomi Perquin

Book Review: A Hundred Hours of Night

During the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, the Dutch author Anna Woltz and I switched places. She was hunkered down in New York City while I followed the news from the safety (and sunny weather) of Lisbon, Portugal. But she turned her frightening experience into a page-turning novel, translated by Laura Watkinson and published by the … Continue reading Book Review: A Hundred Hours of Night

A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in a Conquered City by Anonymous

by Karen Van Drie This is a very compelling wartime diary of what a women experienced living in Berlin at the end of World War II. The keeper of this diary, which she originally published anonymously, describes the daily struggle to stay alive as her national leaders, nation-state, and city fell to an invading Soviet … Continue reading A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in a Conquered City by Anonymous

Fade to Black by Zoë Beck

WEDNESDAY 1. No one walks through London with a machete.       Unless you count the two men passing him just now. Niall had already wrapped up taking pictures of the spot where the Effra River had once emptied into the Thames, when one of the two men looked back at him. The man’s gaze lingered … Continue reading Fade to Black by Zoë Beck