NYRB NEWS

Amit Chaudhuri Presents ‘Finding the Raga’ with Ben Ratliff

On April 13, 2021, Amit Chaudhuri discussed his new book, Finding the Raga: An Improvisation on Indian Music, with author Ben Ratliff. Chaudhuri also performed two songs. This virtual event is part of New York Review Books' ongoing series with Brooklyn's Community Bookstore.

Anakana Schofield Presents ‘Bina’ with Elif Batuman

On February 11, 2021, Anakana Schofield discussed her new book, Bina: A Novel in Warnings, with author Elif Batuman. This virtual event is part of New York Review Books' ongoing series with Brooklyn's Community Bookstore.

 

Katherine Silver Awarded A 2020 Society of Authors Translation Prize

Last week, Katherine Silver was announced as the winner of the Society of Authors' 2020 Premio Valle Inclàn Prize for her translation of Julio Ramón Ribeyro's The Word of the Speechless, which was published by NYRB Classics in fall 2019.

From the judges' citation: “This is an astounding book, bringing into English an undeservedly little-known Peruvian writer, whose mastery of tone—there is horror here, resignation, wild humour—is entirely matched by his translator Katherine Silver's skill in finding the right word, the right turn, to carry these complex and world-spinning stories into English.”

Another NYRB translator, Jenny McPhee, was the runner-up of the association's 2020 John Florio Prize for her work on Curzio Malaparte's The Kremlin Ball, published by NYRB Classics in spring 2018.

You can read more about the Society of Author's annual translation prizes by clicking here.

A Virtual Panel on William Gaddis's ‘The Recognitions’ and ‘J R’

On December 3, 2020, Tom McCarthy, Lydia Millet, Joshua Cohen, and Dustin Illingworth discussed the new NYRB Classics editions of William Gaddis's novels The Recognitions and 
J R. This virtual event is part of New York Review Books' ongoing series with Brooklyn's Community Bookstore.

Darryl Pinckney and Zack Graham Discuss ‘Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy‘

On November 19, 2020, Darryl Pinckney discussed the new paperback edition of his book Blackballed with writer Zack Graham. This virtual event is part of New York Review Books' ongoing series with Brooklyn's Community Bookstore.

Celia Paul and Judith Thurman Discuss ‘Self-Portrait‘

On November 12, 2020, artist Celia Paul discussed her new book, Self-Portrait, with New Yorker staff writer and author Judith Thurman. This virtual event is part of New York Review Books' ongoing series with Brooklyn's Community Bookstore.

‘Self-Portrait’ Receives Praise

The NYRB edition of Celia Paul's artistic memoir Self-Portrait, which was published earlier this month, has garnered positive reviews from writers and critics at the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, and The New York Times. You can read excerpts from the write-ups below:

“[T]hat is the duality of Paul’s life: She experiences art both as a woman and an artist. The two identities are inextricable from one another, and the tension between the two poles is electric. . . . Self-Portrait is a beautifully written bildungsroman, a “portrait of the artist” as a young woman. It is also, more uniquely, a powerful resource for artists who face the dueling responsibilities of creation and caregiving. You don’t have to be a woman or a mother to feel this friction.” —Jessica Ferri, Los Angeles Times
“Self-Portrait is not an exercise in setting the record straight, the unvarnished truth about a great man. Nor is it the work of an artist’s muse, speaking up at last. It’s an account of a life so rigorously dedicated to art and family that fame seems beside the point. . . . Self-Portrait documents a woman learning to trust—not Freud, not other artists, but herself. . . . As a writer, [Paul is] possessed of a heightened sensibility, a particular vantage on to the world. . . . Celia Paul is a more gifted writer than she has any business being; it’s almost unfair. . . . Self-Portrait reads like a novel.” —Rumaan Alam, The New Republic
“Captivating . . . Paul writes about her struggle to love someone while dedicating herself to her painting, explaining in her prologue that she hopes her book will “speak to young women artists — and perhaps to all women — who will no doubt face this challenge in their lives at some time and will have to resolve this conflict in their own ways.” . . . Self-Portrait reveals an abjection that declines to announce itself as such. . . . The arc of Paul’s story is not one of triumph, but endurance.” —Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times

‘Suppose a Sentence’ in the Press

Brian Dillon's remarkable new essay collection, Suppose a Sentence, was published in late September, and the reviews are steadily rolling in! Below you can read some notable praise from critics at The New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, and more.

“[A] record of appreciation, a rare treasure in an age that rewards bashing. . . . Dillon’s affinities prove eclectic and unexpected. He knows some authors, among them Roland Barthes, exhaustively. Others, like the jazz critic Whitney Balliett, he admits he has just discovered. He admires James Baldwin, Maeve Brennan and Annie Dillard. Best of all, he loves writers who craft sentences crooked with clauses, like Thomas Browne and Thomas De Quincey. . . . Dillon writes similarly digressive sentences. Suppose a Sentence has many rewards, but its greatest gift is its exuberant style.” —Becca Rothfield, The New York Times Book Review
“Marvelous. . . . [Dillon] is no slouch himself at crafting a phrase. . . . The product of decades of close reading, Suppose a Sentence is eclectic yet tightly shaped. Mr. Dillon has a taste for the more eccentric prose stylists, and lights with delight upon the likes of John Ruskin, who ‘insisted he knew perfectly well if, or when, he had lost his mind.’ His essay on Thomas De Quincey is a small masterpiece. . . . Mr. Dillon’s book is a record of successive enrapturings.” —John Banville, The Wall Street Journal
“In this delightful literary ramble, Dillon (Essayism), a creative writing professor at Queen Mary University of London, expounds upon remarkable sentences from a variety of voices in literature, past and present. . . . The well-chosen sentences themselves are worth the price of admission, but Dillon’s encyclopedic erudition and infectious joy in a skillful piece of writing are what stamp this as a treat for literary buffs.” —Publishers Weekly
“These chronologically arranged picks from the 17th century to today are the ‘few that shine more brightly and for the moment compose a pattern.’ The author plumbs biography, autobiography, and history to add context and background, with particular attention to each author’s literary style. . . . A learned, spirited foray into what makes a sentence tick.” —Kirkus Reviews