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Belletrista - A site promoting translated women authored literature from around the world
Photo of Herta Muller photo of beribboned books imagedescription

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....
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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
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THE SECRET HISTORY OF MOSCOW
Ekaterina Sedia

The Secret History of Moscow is an urban fantasy set — as the title might lead you to suspect — in, and under, Moscow.
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Reviewed by Tim Jones
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SOME DREAM FOR FOOLS
Faiza Guene
Translated from the French by Jenna Johnson

This mostly-optimistic young lady is not your typical youth. She is a streetwise tomboy who has learned to take care of herself...
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Reviewed by Akeela Gaibie-Dawood
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ZUBAIDA'S WINDOW: A NOVEL OF IRAQI EXILE
Iqbal Al-Qazwini
Translated from the Arabic by Azza El-Kholy and Amira Nowaira

In her sitting room in Berlin, Zubaida watches in horror as her homeland is ravaged publicly on the TV screen during the 2003 invasion of Iraq...
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Reviewed by Akeela Gaibie-Dawood
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MY SOUL TO TAKE
Yrsa Sigurdardóttir
Translated from the Icelandic by Bernard Scudder and Anna Yates

In the starkly beautiful countryside of Iceland's west coast, a woman's body is found, badly beaten and with common sewing pins stuck in the bottom of her feet...
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Reviewed by Kate Morgan


FEMRITE and Ugandan Women Writers
Map of Uganda 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
Photo of a pile of books Our latest collection of intriguing titles for November and December.

Belletrista - Issue 2
November/December 2009

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