Events & News
Two Finalists for Book of the Year Award: Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh & Anima Mundi
April 2008 --- Two titles are dual contenders for ForeWord magazine's Book of the Year Award in the translation category. The winners will be announced at the end of May.
• Foreword magazine award site
Foreign Words: Book of the Year Award
February 2008 --- Foreign Words by Vassilis Alexakis, in the English translation of Alyson Waters (AHB, 2006), has been nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize for 2007. Nominations for the prize are solicited from participating libraries in major metropolitan areas of the world. The long list includes an impressive array of titles and authors. The nomination comes on the heels of the Grand Prize for the best novel, awarded by the Academie francaise, which was awarded to Mr. Alexakis for his 2007 novel Ap. J.-C.
AHB author wins award from the Academie francaise
October 2007 --- Vassilis Alexakis has received the 2007 Grand Prix from the Academie francaise for his novel Apres J.-C. Alexakis is the author of some twenty works of fiction, including Les mots etrangers, which AHB published in 2006 as Foreign Words in the English translation of Alyson Waters. Click here for a French language announcement of the award.
AHB wins local funding
September 2007 --- The Iowa Arts Council has awarded Autumn Hill Books an organizational minigrant of $1,500 to support the publication of Slobodan Novak's Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh in the English translation of Celia Hawkesworth. IAC grants are available to Iowa non-profit arts organizations and individual artists for exemplary arts projects that benefit Iowans and the needs of Iowa communities. The book is due out in November.
AHB translator Alyson Waters wins PEN grant
June 2007 --- Alyson Waters, translator of Vassilis Alexakis's Foreign Waters (AHB, 2006) received a PEN Translation fund award for her translation from the French of The Colors of Infamy, a novel by Albert Cossery. At the time of the award (in May), the novel had not yet found a publisher. It appears to have now found a home at New Directions. See a list of all the 2007 PEN Literary Awards.
Foreign Words: Book of the Year Award
June 2007 --- Foreign Words wins Silver at ForeWord magazine's 2006 Book of the Year Award in the translation category. Visit ForeWord's website for the full list.
Laundry by Suzane Adam
May 2007 --- AHB will be publishing Israeli novelist Suzane Adam's superb psychological thriller Laundry, in the translation of Rebecca McKay in early 2008.
New Titles to Come!
April 2007 --- AHB recently signed a contract to publish Susanna Tamaro's 1997 novel Anima Mundi (Spirit of the World) in the English translation of Cinzia Sartini Blum. Tamaro is probably best known to English readers for her novella Follow Your Heart. Anima Mundi has so far been translated into German, Spanish and fifteen other languages. You can visit the author's home page.
Another recent acquisition is Zoran Feric's literary mystery The Death of the Little Match Girl, which we'll publish in the translation of Tomislav Kuzmanovic. The publisher of the German translation, Folio Verlag, has referred to it as "a Balkan Twin Peaks," which seems about right to us.
Please also keep a look out in Fall 2007 for our revised version of the Croatian classic Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, by Slobodan Novak, in the masterful translation of Celia Hawkesworth.
The Silence of the Sufi Available in December
November 2006 --- You can now read excerpts of The Silence of the Sufi, which came out in December, online. Part history, part devotional meditation, The Silence of the Sufi explores the Zen-like spiritual practices of Sufi Islam. This is poet Sabit Madaliev's first full-length prose work and the first of his books to be translated into English.
Foreign Words now available in Spanish
October 2006 --- Vassilis Alexakis's award-winning novel is now available in the Spanish-language translation of Oscar Ángel Costanzo. Las Palabras Estranjeras was published in May 2006 by the Buenos Aires publisher del estante. See the review in Pagina 12.
A Castle in Romagna: Author Reading
April 2006 --- Igor Stiks will be a special guest at the University Iowa's 2006 Slavic Bazaar, Iowa City, IA, on Sunday, April 30th, where he will read from his book, A Castle in Romagna. The Bazaar, free and open to the public, will be held in the International Commons in the University Capitol Centre (in the Old Capitol Mall at Clinton St. and Washington St.) from 2 to 5 p.m. The Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, UI International Programs and the Department of Russian co-sponsor this annual event as a celebration of Slavic cultures and traditions. Need a map to get there? Please visit this site. http://www.uiowa.edu/%7Emaps/u/ucc1.htm
Listen to the author and the translator on Foreign Words
April 2006---Vassilis Alexakis, the author, and Alyson Waters, the translator, of Foreign Words read from and talk about their book on the radio. You can listen to them at http://wsui.uiowa.edu/prairie_lights.htm. Scroll down to the show of "March 31, 2006," and click on the RealAudio icon.
Foreign Words: Bilingual Reading
March 2006---In anticipation of the April 1 release of Foreign Words, by Vassilis Alexakis, translated by Alyson Waters, Autumn Hill Books would like to announce the following events. If you're in the area, please consider attending one or more! All events are co-sponsored by the Cultural Service of the French Embassy in New York.
Monday, March 20th, 12:30 to 2:30 pm - Mr. Alexakis and Ms. Waters will read from his works at an event organized by Columbia University's Maison Francaise, in New York City. For additional information, contact Samuel Skippon at ss2642@columbia.edu (212.854.4482).
Tuesday, March 21, 4:30 pm - Mr. Alexakis and Ms. Waters will read from his works at an event organized by Yale University's Department of French and the Program of Hellenic Studies. The event will be held at Luce Hall in New Haven. For more information contact, Marianne Lyden at 203.432.3423.
Wednesday, March 22, 5:30 pm -Mr. Alexakis and Ms. Waters will read from his works at an event organized by Brown University's Department of French Studies, in Providence. For more information, contact Professor Reda Bensmaia at reda.bensmaia@cox.net.
Thursday, March 23, 5 pm - Mr. Alexakis and Ms. Waters will read from his works at an event organized by the University of Connecticut's Department of French and Francophone Studies. The event will be held in room 221 of the Arjona Building on the U Conn campus in Storrs, CT. For additional information, contact Roger Celestin at rogercelestin@aol.com.
Friday, March 24, 6 pm - Mr. Alexakis and Ms. Waters will read from his works at an event co-sponsored by the Greek Embassy and Politics and Prose Bookstore. The event will be held at the Greek Embassy, 2221 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, D.C. A public reception will follow. For additional information, contact Connie Mourtoupalas at mourtoupala@greekembassy.org (202.332.2727).
Tuesday, March 28, 6 pm - Mr. Alexakis and Ms. Waters will read from his works at an event sponsored by the Greek Press Office and the Cathedral School in New York, City. A public reception will follow. For more information, contact Sonia Celestin (scelestin@cathedralschoolny.org) or Theodossis Demetracopoulis (demetrac@greeceun.org).
Friday, March 31, 7 pm - Mr. Alexakis and Ms. Waters will read from his works at Prairie Lights Bookstore. The event will be broadcast on Iowa Public Radio's "Live from Prairie Lights," which you can hear at http://wsui.uiowa.edu/prairie_lights.htm. Please tune in.
A Castle in Romagna Chosen as the Best Literature for 2005 by RebeccasReads.com
December 2005--- A Castle in Romagna has been selected as the Best of Literature pick for 2005 by Rebecca Brown of RebeccasReads.com, who calls it "a delicate and enticing tale," "passionate without sentimentality," and "exquisitely written." Check out her other selections for Best of Fiction, 2005.
A Castle in Romagna Nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize for 2006
November 2005---The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is presented annually for a novel written in English or translated into English, and its nomitations are submitted solely through libraries. Shortlist will be announced in April, 2006. We're ready to put Igor Štiks on board to Dublin in June.
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