Category Archives: News & Events

Man Booker Prize: Paul Beatty becomes first US winner for The Sellout

By Tim Masters

paul-beatty-with-the-duchess-of-cornwall

Paul Beatty with the Duchess of Cornwall. PA

Paul Beatty has become the first US author to win the Man Booker Prize with his racial satire The Sellout.

His novel tells the story of a young black man who tries to reinstate slavery and racial segregation in a suburb of Los Angeles. Continue reading

Madeleine Thien, Canada’s newest literary star, a favourite to win prestigious Man Booker Prize

Vancouver-born author won Governor General’s Award, also shortlisted for Giller Prize

By Nigel Hunt, CBC News Posted: Oct 24, 2016 2:50 PM ETLast Updated: Oct 25, 2016 8:29 AM ET

 

madeleine-thien

‘I feel like I’ve won the lottery of lotteries already,’ said Booker-nominated Canadian author Madeleine Thien, seen greeting a fan at the 2016 Vancouver Writers Festival. Thien’s latest novel is also nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Awards, the Giller Prize and other honours. (CBC)

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Karishma Vaswani: China plenum: Looking for clues on China’s economy

food-for-thought

Food for thought? What comes out of China’s Communist Party plenums is often limited.

China’s top Communist party officials are in Beijing for a four-day, behind-closed-doors meeting this week.

The plenum kicks off a big year for China, building up to next year’s party congress, a twice-a-decade event. Continue reading

Daniel Auerbach and Brett Clark: The Internet and Monopoly Capitalism

digital-disconnectRobert W. McChesney, Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism Is Turning the Internet against Democracy (New York: New Press, 2013), 299 pages, $27.95, hardcover. Continue reading

Czech president accused of scrapping Holocaust survivor medal due to Dalai Lama

By Robert Muller | PRAGUE

Czech Republic's President Milos Zeman addresses the United Nations General Assembly in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S. September 21, 2016.   REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

Czech Republic’s President Milos Zeman addresses the United Nations General Assembly in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S. September 21, 2016. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

PRAGUE Czech President Milos Zeman has decided against awarding a state medal to a Holocaust survivor after the man’s nephew, a Czech government minister, met exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama against the president’s wishes, the minister said on Friday. Continue reading

PEN INTERNATIONAL RESOLUTION ON THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

pen-logoPEN International has for many years expressed concern about serious and sweeping restrictions on freedom of expression in China, including through resolutions adopted at its annual Congresses, most recently at its 81st World Congress in October 2015.  Continue reading

Saudi Arabia must not flog Raif Badawi for blogging

Update #9 to RAN 02/13

raif-badawi20 October 2016 – PEN International is deeply concerned by news reports, as yet unconfirmed, that the Saudi government may resume the lashing punishment against blogger Raif Badawi, currently serving a 10-year sentence in Saudi Arabia. The news was announced in a statement by The Raif Badawi Foundation, which said it had received the confirmation from the same source that had notified his family about the first 50 of 1,000 lashes, which Badawi was given on 9 January, 2015. After his first flogging, Badawi’s remaining 950 lashes were postponed indefinitely on medical grounds. Continue reading

Hang Lin: Early Modern China and Northeast Asia

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