recent/contemporary world lit

[septimushodge]

so i have been sticking to mostly american authors lately (per this site (http://litawards.googlepages.com/)), but i was absolutely blown away by roberto bolano's 2666 and the savage detectives. i want to read more like this - english translations of contemporary international authors.

does anyone know of a definitive list or award where i could get an idea of, say, essential recent international authors that have been translated into english?

[mal4mac]

What about UK authors? UK broadsheets like the Guardian and the Times have reviews. They are also quite good at reviewing recent German and French translations. The Booker prize is the top UK prize.

[lupe]

For Spanish-speaking writters, you may want to check the winners' list of the Cervantes price, thought there are many more fabulous contemporary authors from Spain and Latin America that never had the price.

In France, there are many prices that can give you ideas, such as the Prix Femina, the Prix de l'Academie Francaise, the Prix Goncourt, the Prix Decembre, the Prix Medicis, the Prix Renaudot and many-many others.

[March Hare]

i was absolutely blown away by roberto bolano's 2666 and the savage detectives.
Me, too.

Prix Goncourt for France is well noted in Wikipedia. It has a list of English translations.

Two Spanish language prizes are the Romulo Gallegos and the Miguel de Cervantes. Their wiki doesn't say much about English options.

[promtbr]

does anyone know of a definitive list or award where i could get an idea of, say, essential recent international authors that have been translated into english?

Well there is only one World Lit forum (http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/), but its pretty comprehensive and would answer your question.

Among the current discussions are the 2009 Nobel Prize candidates. One would assume the ones (not writing in English) would be considered essential recent international authors.

Stewart, (World Lit Forum founder) has a blog: http://www.booklit.com/blog/


and is a pretty good base of operations as he also lists most all the current lit awards.

The some of the foremost translated World Lit book publishers that will be your freinds are Dalkey Archives Press, New York Review Books, Melville House, and New Directions are linked at the blogs...

Its a big inviting puddle to jump in.