Just off the press – Miguel Syjuco was awarded the prize for “Ilustrado,” which I learned, also earned him the Palanca. For the official announcement, check here.
Ilustrado begins with Crispin Salvador, lion of Philippine letters, dead in the Hudson River. His acolyte Miguel investigates the author’s demise and the disappearance of a manuscript about the [...]
A French writer, Jean-Marie Gustave L Clézio, was given the prize. See NYT. One important standard of the academy seems to be clear: obvious writing skills aside, they want someone who they think writes about universal themes, a factor that they’ve said the Americans fall short of. Hmmmm…different strokes for different folks. Actually, I think [...]
Mr. Engdahl, the secretary of the award-giving body apparently gave a recent interview to the Associated Press and said,
Europe is still the center of the literary world….The U.S. is too isolated, too insular. They don’t translate enough and don’t really participate in the big dialogue of literature. That ignorance is restraining.
The New York Times reacts [...]
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