Ladies and Gentlemen, the Czech writer and author of the canonical novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being is not dead. You may have thought Milan Kundera, perennial Nobel contender, had died—certainly… Read more »

“Why umbrellas?” I’ve been fielding this question ever since I started talking about an odd little project of mine: I was writing a book about umbrellas. Umbrellas in literature, I… Read more »

To have your work published in your own country, your own language is an honor few(-ish) people receive. For the first time since it was written, The Book of Laughter and… Read more »

It’s relatively rare that, when an author wins a major international prize, the main news stories on it show a photo of the author and their translator. It’s even rarer… Read more »