This month, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s iconic children’s book Le Petit Prince will be translated into Hassanya, a rural Arabic dialect spoken in portions of Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Senegal, and Mali. This marks the 300th translation of the book.
Little Prince, Lots of Translation
Brief Encounters with Sayrafiezadeh
Hot on the heels of our own review of Brief Encounters with the Enemy, Full-Stop publishes an interview with Saïd Sayrafiezadeh. What makes it especially interesting, however, is that their interviewer is Scott Cheshire, who also wrote our review.
Cal Massey Shows
Legendary jazz musician and composer Cal Massey receded from active performance in the 1950s in order to concentrate on composition. His works went on to be recorded by John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard and many other greats. To honor his indelible mark on jazz music and African-American culture, Fred Ho and Ben Barson will present a series of concerts in Harlem's Red Rooster restaurant. Barson also wrote a lengthy introduction to Massey's life and legacy.
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A Matter of Time
Does literature have to be timeless? Over at Electric Literature, Kevin Pickard debates pop culture references in novels. Pair with Bill Morris’s Millions essay on books about the near future.
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In Memoriam William Trevor
"To get me through a 550-page collection, the stories must be very good indeed. These are." When Lionel Shriver participated in our Year in Reading ritual several years back, she dedicated her reading diary to William Trevor, who just passed away. "Trevor’s writing is so perfect that you don’t even notice it’s perfect," she wrote. "He mainlines pure narrative directly into your veins. The words never get in the way; the words, like their author, disappear."
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You’re God Damn Right It Does
“Literature matters: Does reading make you smarter?”
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All The Pretty Snowflakes
For those of us on the east coast, this reimagining of Cormac McCarthy's The Road as The Road (Has Not Been Plowed In Thirty-Two Hours) should really hit home this morning. Bonus: The Road also made our own "Best of The Millennium" list.
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