Belletrista

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


US author Sigrid Nunez discusses her new novel with Joyce Nickel	TRIO: Three remarkable works by Kamila Shamsie by Caitlin Fehir	Belletrista turns one! A brief retrospective and a look ahead

With this issue, Belletrista completes its first year. We at Belletrista would like to thank those of you spread across this great blue planet who read our little 'zine and also use it as a resource for your personal reading, your bookclubs, or your classes. May we continue to endeavor to deserve your attention in the coming year! With this issue, we debut a new feature we are calling "Conversations" and also our Belletrista blog, "If Written by a Woman," an exciting venture we hope you will all be part of. There are more exciting things ahead!

Reviews
Click on 'Reviews' to see the full list of this issue's reviews...

SONG OVER QUIET LAKE

Sarah Felix Burns

Sylvia is a troubled twenty-something student, and Lydie is an eighty-two year old Tlingit woman from the Yukon who knows exactly where she stands in her life. When the two women meet …
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Reviewed by Joyce Nickel

THE BLINDNESS OF THE HEART

Julia Franck

Translated from the German by Anthea Bell

A prologue opens the novel. It is some time during World War II and a woman, Alice, abandons her seven-year old son at a railway station. The story proper begins many years earlier in the town of Bautzen … where
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Reviewed by Amanda Meale

TIGER HILLS

Sarita Mandanna

Sarita Mandanna gives us a thrilling and enthralling epic story with her debut novel Tiger Hills. A strong, poetic and fluid narrative, Mandanna writes with the kind of musicality and subtle humour that forces you to sit and read in one go.
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Reviewed by Belinda Otas

LITTLE PEUL

Mariama Barry

Translated from the French by Carrol F. Coates

The story begins in Senegal, as the young narrator is decorated with jewelry and fitted with a new dress by her mother, and then given a ritual bath. The girl has a premonition that …
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Reviewed by Darryl Morris

LOVE, ANGER, MADNESS: A HAITIAN TRIPTYCH

Marie Vieux-Chavet

Translated from the French by Rose-Myriam Rejouis and Val Vinokur

I have read several books by Haitian writers. None of them could be described as happy. Marie Vieux-Chauvet's 1967 trio of novellas (individually titled Love, Anger and Madness) is possibly the least happy of all of them. It may also be the best.
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Reviewed by Andy Barnes

CONVERSATIONS:

A discussion of Xinran's Sky Burial between three Belletrista readers.

AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS

Looking for a great book? Check out these recent award-winners!

If Written By a Woman

Visit our new Belletrista blog!

The Caine Prize for African Writing 2011 – shortlist announced

The shortlist for this year’s Caine Prize has just been announced and three women are in the running for the prestigious award. This is always an exciting time of year – the Prize is a great way to discover short stories by excellent writers. Lucky for us, the Prize’s website links to a copy of …Read the Rest

Belletrista - Issue 7
Sept/Oct 2010

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Archived Issues
Missed an issue? No problem!
- Issue 6 July/Aug 2010
- Issue 5 May/June 2010
- Issue 4 Mar/Apr 2010
- Issue 3 Jan/Feb 2010
- Issue 2 Nov/Dec 2009
- Issue 1 Sept/Oct 2009

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