Belletrista

This is an archived issue of Belletrista. If you are looking for the current issue, you can find it here


In Praise of Herta Müller: Winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature	Holiday shopping? Let us help you with the readers on your list!	Carolyn Kelly Muses about the Booker, the Frankfurt Book Fair, and the German Book Prize.

Welcome to the second issue of Belletrista! After the heady response to our launch issue, we're thrilled to be back to celebrate more astonishingly diverse works from talented women the world over. In this issue, you'll find alluring reviews of books from Mexico, Iceland, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Russia, and more. Don't miss the informative feature on the Ugandan women writers' association, Femrite, and the enlightening companion article profiling meritorious Ugandan authors. We've also, in our unique way, endeavored to shed some light on the Booker, Nobel and Giller Prizes. Finally, with the holidays in mind, we offer a host of gift suggestions to help you find the best picks for yourself, and the book-loving folk in your life. Happy (armchair) travels!

Reviews
Below are a tantalizingly small selection of this month's reviews....

BRIXTON BEACH

Roma Tearne

Visual artist and writer Roma Tearne is back with her third novel, Brixton Beach and once again, her evocative language shimmers and quivers on the page as she beautifully transfers her artistic visualizations to the written word.
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Reviewed by Joyce Nickel

FOR GRACE RECEIVED

Valeria Parrella

Translated from the Italian by Anthony Shugaar

Forget everything you think about Italy. Forget restored 15th century farmhouses, forget hunting for truffles in autumn, and forget friendly neighbours dropping by with bottles of Chianti and olive oil...
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Reviewed by Joyce Nickel

WOMAN ON THE OTHER SHORE

Mitsuyo Kakuto

Translated from the Japanese by Wayne P. Lammers

Recently translated into English, this acclaimed Japanese novel focuses on two 35-year-old women who meet and form an unlikely friendship. They are the classic polar opposites: the unmarried career woman and the homemaker ...
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Reviewed by Kathleen Ambrogi

WESTERN

Christine Montalbetti

Translated from the French by Betsy Wing

Montalbetti has written a whole novel about those tiny details which never usually get told; in fact this is a new take on the action-based Western genre...without much action.
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Reviewed by Rachel Hayes

DEPARTING AT DAWN

Gloria Lisé

Translated from the Spanish by Alice Weldon

Although Departing at Dawn is about a horrible, brutal period, it is not a book about horror and brutality. In the opening sentence, Berta watches as her lover...
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Reviewed by Andy Barnes

FEMRITE and Ugandan Women Writers

A peek into an dynamic organization created to nurture women writers and a deeper look at five of its splendid writers.

Women Writers Dominate the Giller Prize

Photo of Kim Echlin, Annabel Lyon and Alice Munro

An unprecedented ten of the twelve long-listed books were written by women writers. Three remain on the shortlist. Joyce Nickels takes us on a whirlwind tour of the authors and their books...

New Biographies of Women Authors

Photo of actor representing the Alcott family

2009 has been a great year for biographies (and at least one documentary). Check out our list.

New and Notable Books

Our latest collection of intriguing titles for November and December.

Belletrista - Issue 2
November/December 2009

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