My short story “A Nice Young Man,” which appeared in Pindeldyboz, has been translated into Farsi by Asad Amraee, and published in Atiye Weekly Magazine. I can’t read the piece, obviously, but Farsi uses Arabic characters, so I can understand a few words here and there. Any readers out there who are fluent in Farsi? Let me know what you think.
I wrote a piece for the Huffington Post about the third anniversary of the May 16 bombings in Casablanca: “Days of Terror.”
The shortlist for the 2006 Caine Prize in African Writing has been announced, and I was thrilled and honored to find out that my short story, “The Fanatic,” was included. The shortlisted stories are:
Sefi Atta (Nigeria). “The Last Trip” in Chimurenga.
Darrel Bristow-Bovey (South Africa). “A Joburg Story” in African Compass.
Muthoni Garland (Kenya). “Tracking the Scent of my Mother” in Seventh Street Alchemy.
Laila Lalami (Morocco). “The Fanatic” in Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits.
Mary Watson (South Africa). “Jungfrau” in Moss.
You can find out more about the prize in this Guardian article. The winning story will be announced on July 10, at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
I just found out that Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits is a finalist for the John Gardner Fiction Award from Binghamton University.
I’m in transit today, so please come back tomorrow for some photos and a wrap-up of the weekend’s L.A. Times Festival of Books. For Mark Sarvas’s perspective, visit TEV. Later.
The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books takes place this weekend, which means that I will be closing up shop early this week in order to travel to California. The FOB is one of my favorite book fests–it’s always singularly well organized, well attended, and has a great line up. You can view the event program here and the list of authors here. So many people, so little time! But I plan on somehow making it to all of Tod Goldberg‘s panels.
I will be doing a panel myself on Sunday; here are the details:
Sunday, April 30
10:00 AM
First Fiction: Finding a Voice
Mark Rozzo (moderator), Laila Lalami, Lisa Fugard, Adrienne Sharp and Marlon James
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
UCLA Campus
If you are in town for the fest, I also recommend you clear your schedule on Saturday night for Jim Ruland’s Vermin on the Mount, which takes place at the Mountain Bar in Chinatown. This time, readers include: Cecil Castellucci, Ron Currie, Neale DeSousa, Ben Ehrenreich, Lisa Glatt, Alexis Orgera, Salvador Plascencia, and Steve Rinella. Until then, ciao.