Among Smith’s honors were being named a “grand master” by the Mystery Writers of America, and winning the Hammett Prize for “Havana Bay” and a Gold Dagger award for “Gorky Park.” Read more
A Master of Surrealist Fiction and a Bard for Anxious Times
Dino Buzzati’s best works evoke the fabulism, paranoia and allegory of writers like Franz Kafka, Albert Camus and Italo Calvino. Read more
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Where Authors Gossip, Geek Out and Let Off Steam
More and more writers are publishing newsletters – but which are worth your time? From Margaret Atwood to Hanif Kureishi, George Saunders to Miranda July, here’s our guide to the best. Read more
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John Martin, Devoted Publisher of Literary Rebels, Dies at 94
John Martin, an adventurous independent publisher who brought out the raucous work of the poet Charles Bukowski, as well as the writing of other offbeat literary rebels like Paul Bowles, John Fante and Wyndham Lewis, died on June 23 at his home in Santa Rosa, Calif. Read more
How One Man and His ‘Biblioburro’ Spreads Literacy in Rural Colombia
Luis Sorriano straps his books to two trusted donkeys and brings the classroom to children in hard-to-reach towns. Read more
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‘Vera, or Faith’ by Gary Shteyngart
Gary Shteyngart is one of the best comedians in literature today, and like all the great ones, his humor elucidates as much as it amuses. That’s especially true of Vera, or Faith, a richly imagined tale of a unique family in an America that is succumbing all too willingly to technology’s intrusions and the threat of oppression. Read more
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He’s One of the Finest British Novelists You’ve Never Heard Of
Benjamin Wood is one of the finest British novelists of his generation, but you’ve probably never heard of him. The 44-year-old author from Stockport has written five psychologically suspenseful books with stories that are so unique and specific, it feels like they must come directly from real life. Read more
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‘The CIA Book Club’ by Charlie English
Today, when “subversive” is the standard accolade for a campus poet, English’s book is a bracing reminder that, not so long ago, forbidden literature really could help tip the balance of history. He persuasively argues that the ferment in Poland, fueled in part by Minden’s cultural contraband, was a catalyst for the chain reaction that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the crumbling of other Eastern Bloc governments. “Soft power” wasn’t so soft. Read more
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Quirky Crime Series Revolving Around a Bookshop in London in 1946 Is Coming Soon
At the heart of Bookish is Gabriel Book, played with trademark wit and warmth by [Mark] Gatiss himself. Gabriel isn’t your average sleuth. He’s an antiquarian bookshop owner in post-war London, 1946 to be exact, whose life is as layered as the tomes lining his shelves. Imagine Sherlock Holmes with a love of first editions and a penchant for quoting obscure poets, and you’re halfway there. Gabriel’s shop on Archangel Lane is more than a business, it’s a haven for the lost, the curious, and, as it turns out, those with a knack for trouble. Read more Watch trailer
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‘Intense’ Novel About Robot Abused by Her Boyfriend/Owner Wins Arthur C. Clarke Science Fiction Award
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer is “a tightly focused first-person account of a robot designed to be the perfect companion, who struggles to become free,” said chair of judges, the academic Andrew M Butler. Read more
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