Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m case you need to know, The Warwick Prize for Women in Translation longlist has been announced. Loads here I haven‘t heard of. Any thoughts?

I‘ve read Tomb of Sand ❤️, Books of Jacob 📚, and Planet of Clay 😱😭 (worthy of being on the list but I can‘t say I enjoyed it). I think I have the Book of Mother on my Kobo somewhere. Any others I should dive into?

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/womenintranslation/longlist2022/

#warwickprize #wit

Sunday Reads, October 16: audiobook nonfiction; French language ecofeminism; plus early 20th century feminist fiction from Norway
https://youtu.be/gHRU9rpAtgI

#BookTube #WIT #CanLit en français

I was blown away by this autobiographical novel set in Paris in the early 20th century. The writing is so strong, so evocative, and Alberta is a singular character. She‘s clear about what she rejects, which is pretty much everything expected of her gender & class. What she doesn‘t know is exactly how to move forward creatively, but she‘s determined to figure that out. A beautiful translation from Norwegian by Elizabeth Rokken. #WIT

Book 2 of the Alberta trilogy is a heartbreaker. Alberta, her parents now dead, has moved to Paris. She leads an aimless life, fraternizing with artists, staying in seedy lodgings, scribbling on scraps of paper but unable to write in a dedicated way. But what does freedom mean? Is not doing a kind of freedom, especially for a woman? Frustrating and yet powerful too.

Hey #foodandlit friends! The August buddy read for Japan is on sale now! This sounds super cute and will also work for Women in Translation month if you like to double up on those challenges.

@Butterfinger @Texreader @Catsandbooks #Japan
#WITMonth #WIT #WomenInTranslation

Some much-needed pith from the inimitable Oscar Wilde.

Good luck today. 😅

Moa Romanova‘s graphic memoir about living with depression and an anxiety disorder is moving and even funny. She‘s young and lives in a rundown apartment in Gothenberg, Sweden, with unreliable water. The clutter & garbage pictured everywhere seem to reflect her mental struggle. But she finds hope & help from unlikely quarters. The art is unusual and striking; with minimal text. #Translation by Melissa Bowers. #WIT #comics

Maria Stepanova set out to record her Jewish family‘s history in Russia, but the more she uncovered, the more she doubted what she thought she knew. This remarkable work of literature is hard to classify: it‘s a blend of memoir, fiction, 20th c history, archival documents, & essays about art. These all come gracefully together in what turns out to be a rumination on memory & mortality. Lively & poetic #translation by Sasha Dugdale. #WIT