This is Beirut - Literature

Love and Loss Lead the Way on the 2025 Booker Prize Shortlist

This is Beirut, 24/09 17:25 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Literature Booker Prize Shortlist 2025 Britain Culture

Three authors writing about love and loss have made the Booker Prize shortlist for the first time, among the six chosen as contenders for this year's prestigious award. The works explore "the ties that bind families together, and the moments of crisis that can pull them apart," the prize organizers said late Tuesday. The shortlist ...

France Launches Appeal to Acquire Proust’s ‘Madeleine’ Writings

This is Beirut, 17/09 18:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Literature Auction Proust France History Culture

France's National Library launched a public appeal for donations on Wednesday to acquire hundreds of unpublished documents belonging to Marcel Proust, including some showing how the famed writer settled on one of his most famous lines. Some of the roughly 900 documents were put up for show by the auction house Sotheby's on Wednesday morning and ...

The Creator of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ Returns With Ambitious New Thriller

This is Beirut, 09/09 14:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Literature Books Dan Brown US Culture

Best-selling American author Dan Brown, creator of the publishing phenomenon The Da Vinci Code, released his latest thriller Tuesday in 16 languages simultaneously. The Secret of Secrets, which runs to nearly 700 pages in English, marks Brown's return eight years after his last novel, Origin. Brown called it "by far the most intricately plotted ...

Irvine Welsh Takes Aim at ‘Brain Atrophying’ Tech Ahead of New "Trainspotting" Sequel

This is Beirut, 11/07 17:55 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Literature Irvine Welsh Trainspotting Britain Culture

Scottish author Irvine Welsh on Friday described the new sequel to his cult novel Trainspotting as an antidote to a world full of "hate and poison", as he took aim at social media, the internet and AI. Men in Love, the latest in a series of sequels, follows the same characters - Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie - as they experience the heyday of ...

Algeria court upholds writer Sansal's five-year jail term

This is Beirut, 01/07 16:43 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Literature Trial Boualem Sansal Algeria France Culture

An Algerian court on Tuesday upheld a five-year prison sentence against dual-national author Boualem Sansal, whose case has strained ties with France. Sansal, 80, was first sentenced to five years behind bars on March 27 on charges related to undermining Algeria's territorial integrity over comments made to a French media outlet. The appeals ...

Short-Cycle Prose: Georges Perec, the Washing Machine’s Poet

Bélinda Ibrahim, 27/05 17:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Georges Perec Washing Machine Writer Literature Poet Culture

A drum, a muffled sound, cycles, programs. A round door swings open onto the world’s laundry. A washing machine, yes – but for Georges Perec, it’s never just an appliance. It’s a trigger – his engine for writing. In the workshop of this master of literary constraints, even the most ordinary object can become a source of invention. ...

Salman Rushdie Says 'Pleased' With Attacker's Jail Sentence

This is Beirut, 27/05 10:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Literature Salman Rushdie Justice US London Culture

Salman Rushdie said Monday he was "pleased" with the maximum 25-year jail sentence handed to a man who tried to kill him with a knife at a New York cultural center in 2022. "I was pleased that he got the maximum available, and hopefully he uses it to reflect upon his deeds," Rushdie told BBC radio in an interview. Hadi Matar was sentenced to 25 ...

Jacqueline Harpman’s Forgotten Feminist Novel Finds New Global Fame

This is Beirut, 30/04 10:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Novel Literature Culture Writing

The reissue of I Who Have Never Known Men by Belgian author Jacqueline Harpman marks the unexpected resurgence of a feminist dystopian novel. Critically acclaimed upon its 1995 release, the book has found new life on social media in the 2020s. Following successful reissues in the UK and US, French publisher Stock is now bringing the haunting ...

Set of Shakespeare Folios to be Sold in Rare London Auction

This is Beirut, 23/04 19:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Britain Literature Auction Shakespeare Sotheby's Culture

A set of four Shakespeare folios estimated to be worth more than £3.5 million ($4.7 million) will go on sale in London next month, auction house Sotheby's said Wednesday. The First Folio, published in 1623, was the first collection of William Shakespeare's plays and is considered one of the most important books in English literature. Without ...

Frances Mayes Awarded Italian Citizenship for Literary Merit

This is Beirut, 19/04 13:00 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Author Literature US Italy

The Italian government announced Friday its decision to grant honorary citizenship to American author Frances Mayes, known globally for her best-selling memoir Under the Tuscan Sun. Officials cited “exceptional merit” as the reason behind the move. In an official statement, authorities confirmed that the Italian Council of Ministers had ...

The Freida McFadden Phenomenon Confuses French Literary Critics

This is Beirut, 16/04 14:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Movie Literature US France Thriller Culture

Why are American author Freida McFadden’s psychological thrillers selling so well in France? French literary critics are trying to understand the craze but remain doubtful about the true merit of her work. The Housemaid was the best-selling book in France in 2024, with over 600,000 copies sold. By the end of February 2025, it had crossed the ...

When Vargas Llosa Punched García Márquez: A Journalist Witness Recalls

This is Beirut, 16/04 09:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Peru Literature Llosa Mexico Marquez Culture

When journalist and novelist Elena Poniatowska headed to a film premiere in Mexico City, she had no idea she was about to witness the literary feud of the century as two future Nobel laureates came to blows. It was February 12, 1976, and Poniatowska wound up seated next to Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his wife Mercedes to watch the ...

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