Delighted to reveal that I have just signed a deal with US publisher @SandorfP to write a history of tourism on the eastern Adriatic coast. Provisionally entitled "Adria Blue", it is scheduled to sail into port some time in 2023/24.
Si queréis saber más sobre este excelente autor bosnio, tristemente fallecido a los 48 años, y sobre su vida y obra, marcadas por el nomadismo, el desarraigo y los excesos, tenéis un avance en este artículo de @jonnbousfield para @stray_satellite: https://t.co/TL6vbiMSEE
@sean_write I was in the crowd at that one. Thanks for the memories. I think that was the gig where Iggy Pop joined them for an encore of I Wanna Be Your Dog although on that particular detail I might be getting my chronology mangled.
@sebaldfan420 Whenever I get a Flix from Zagreb there's always a state of low-intensity warfare between those with designated seat reservations and those who don't have a seat no. and have been told to sit where they want. Neither Flix nor Zagreb bus stn care about such booking system failures
Also among 2024's best is Angela Rodel's transltn of a modern Bulgarian classic: Vera Mutafchieva's tale of C15 Ottoman prince Cem and his revolt against brother Bayezid - ingeniously presented as a case file of contemporary witness statements. @SandorfP
https://t.co/bUNsLjvDXT
So any list of 2024's best translated fiction from my neck of the woods would undoubtedly sart with this (trans. Ellen Elias Bursać; publ. @TwoLinesPress)...
One of the best Croatian novels of the 21st century is now out in English. Damir Karakaš 's Celebration (Proslava) concerns a rural community rent apart by World War II. More dark lyrical fable than historical novel, and at just over 100 pages, a masterclass in controlled impact.
This morning's bombing of Kyiv is a second part of Putin's press-conference from yesterday. Cars and buildings are still burning in 4 districts of the city. The exact number of killed and wounded is not known yet. The sounds of explosions are still ringing in the ears of kyivites
Currently reading: @amm_hunt's book on Britain's monarch-free decade, a time so bubbling with new socio-political ideas that at times it almost seems like a utopian/dystopian science-fiction novel. And the way it suddenly ends (was Restoration so inevitable?) is a story in itself
Добра ніч, dear friends. Christmas is coming! Take a look at the vertep, a unique #Ukrainian tradition: https://t.co/fqKCZ4T00v. Thank you, @KyivIndependent & @TsurkanKate for this article!
Currently reading: Stu Hennigan's searing, disturbing but empathetic account of poverty and dereliction in Leeds during the 2020 lockdowns. Surely one of the UK's key non-fiction texts of recent years, published by indie trailblazers @Ofmooseandmen
#Christmas has started in Zagreb, and it's atmospheric #christmasmarket well underway. To celebrate the 2nd advent we've knocked $2 (or local equivalent) off the price of #Croatia's Best (https://t.co/y3rSvwOifT) digital travel guide - for a week. Download now!
One for lovers of a good #christmasmarket: check out #Tallinn. With its medieval backdrop & nordic atmosphere it rivals any - as detailed in our excellent digital travel guide (https://t.co/SIRHfbGuPm). For USD$2 (or local equivalent) for a week to celebrate 2nd advent.
Currently reading: anything I can get hold of by Abdulrazak Gurnah. What took me so long? Surely the most deserving of Nobel winners of recent yrs, beautifully evoking a rich East African space, & ably crafting deeply touching decade-spanning epics in the space of 260-300 pages
Electric Dreams at @Tate Modern takes a globe-spanning look at pre-internet electronic art & computer art, including the role played by Zagreb's 60s-70s New Tendencies movt, which brought international artists together as well as nurturing the home-grown.
https://t.co/WCJEuD4vMM
@Nikola_Prevod Dunno when I will next be in Sofia but I will endeavour to insert olainyavane into conversation at every possible opportunity. Vocabulary building is so important