Independent foreign fiction prize long-list

I am slow off the mark compared with Norman over at Crime Scraps, but several crime novels are included on the long-list for this year's INDEPENDENT FOREIGN FICTION PRIZE. I was alerted to this news by email by Simon Clarke, Amazon reviewer supreme, and by Francois von Hurter of Bitter Lemon Press.

The full long-list is available at the Independent link above. Of these, the "crime" novels are: 

Claudia Piñeiro Thursday Night Widows (Miranda France; Spanish) Bitter Lemon Press

Boris Akunin The Coronation (translated by Andrew Bromfield from the Russian) Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Philippe Claudel Brodeck's Report (John Cullen; French) MacLehose Press

and, not crime but translated by Anthea Bell, the excellent translator of Andrea Maria Schenkel (The Murder Farm and Ice Cold) and other authors, who was recently awarded the OBE:

Rafik Schami The Dark Side of Love (Anthea Bell; German) Arabia Books

Julia Franck The Blind Side of the Heart (Anthea Bell; German) Harvill Secker.

From the Independent article, by Boyd Tonkin:

And, as a properly global shop-window for the range and depth of fiction in translation available in Britain, the long-list of 15 books that we have selected strikes this judge - at least - as a mixture as robust, alluring and diverse as ever. From Berlin (Julia Franck) and Calcutta (Sankar) to Buenos Aires (Claudia Piñeiro) and Baghdad (Hassan Blasim), and from a Russian historical mystery (Boris Akunin) and a Congolese low-life comedy (Alain Mabanckou) to a French wartime blockbuster (Jonathan Littell) and an Italian trio of coming-of-age novellas (Pietro Grossi), our choice accesses all areas of world fiction in form as well as theme and place.

I can highly recommend Thursday Night Widows: I reviewed it at Petrona and Karen Meek reviews it in glowing terms at Euro Crime. It's one of those deceptively light, charming and witty books which has a serious, but subtly presented, underlying message.

I have not yet read Brodeck's Report, though it is on my shelf. The novel recently featured in the Not the TV Book Club which is being organised by Kim of Reading Matters and other lit bloggers.

Comments

[Margot Kinberg]

Maxine - Thanks for this update : ). It'll be interesting to see who wins.

[Norm]

When I looked in my email box I found a note from Bitter Lemon, after I had grabbed a copy of the newspaper in the garage. Thanks for the link to the review of The Coronation by Boris Akunin I must catch up with this idiosyncratic series.

[Simon Clarke]

Maxine--You mention--the excellent translator from
the German--Anthea Bell--Interestingly--her brother
is Martin Bell-ex of BBC --Independent MP-etc-
He of the white suit.

[Jose Ignacio Escribano]

Certainly Wednesday Night Windows looks like an excellent choice, I plan to read it shortly, but Brodeck's Report was one of the best books I've read last year, absolutely superb.

[Maxine]

I had no idea that Anthea Bell is Martin's sister, Simon, thanks! I attended an interview and reading she gave, with Andrea Maria Schenkel, a year or so ago. She and I shared a taxi afterwards, and I found her a most admirable and fascinating person.

Thanks for the info on Brodeck's Report, Jose. I sure must prioritise it!

Norman - "Garage Band" - Robinson ;-)