This is an archived issue of Belletrista. If you are looking for the current issue, you can find it here
Belletrista - A site promoting translated women authored literature from around the world
Photo of Herta Muller photo of beribboned books imagedescription

In Praise of Herta Müller: Winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature

Holiday shopping? Let us help you with the readers on your list!

Carolyn Kelly Muses about the Booker, the Frankfurt Book Fair, and the German Book Prize.

Welcome to the second issue of Belletrista! After the heady response to our launch issue, we're thrilled to be back to celebrate more astonishingly diverse works from talented women the world over. In this issue, you'll find alluring reviews of books from Mexico, Iceland, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Russia, and more. Don't miss the informative feature on the Ugandan women writers' association, Femrite, and the enlightening companion article profiling meritorious Ugandan authors. We've also, in our unique way, endeavored to shed some light on the Booker, Nobel and Giller Prizes. Finally, with the holidays in mind, we offer a host of gift suggestions to help you find the best picks for yourself, and the book-loving folk in your life. Happy (armchair) travels!

Reviews
Below are a tantalizingly small selection of this month's reviews....
Book cover
THE SECRET HISTORY OF MOSCOW
Ekaterina Sedia

The Secret History of Moscow is an urban fantasy set — as the title might lead you to suspect — in, and under, Moscow.
READ MORE

Reviewed by Tim Jones
Book cover
ZUBAIDA'S WINDOW: A NOVEL OF IRAQI EXILE
Iqbal Al-Qazwini
Translated from the Arabic by Azza El-Kholy and Amira Nowaira

In her sitting room in Berlin, Zubaida watches in horror as her homeland is ravaged publicly on the TV screen during the 2003 invasion of Iraq...
READ MORE

Reviewed by Akeela Gaibie-Dawood
Book cover
HOW TO PAINT A DEAD MAN
Sarah Hall

Imagine yourself leaping into a painting. Something Impressionistic, perhaps: rich with color so thick you skid through its juicy impasto...
READ MORE

Reviewed by Kathleen Ambrogi
Book cover
WESTERN
Christine Montalbetti
Translated from the French by Betsy Wing

Montalbetti has written a whole novel about those tiny details which never usually get told; in fact this is a new take on the action-based Western genre...without much action.
READ MORE

Reviewed by Rachel Hayes
Book cover
BRIXTON BEACH
Roma Tearne

Visual artist and writer Roma Tearne is back with her third novel, Brixton Beach and once again, her evocative language shimmers and quivers on the page as she beautifully transfers her artistic visualizations to the written word.
READ MORE

Reviewed by Joyce Nickel


FEMRITE and Ugandan Women Writers
Map of Uganda
A peek into an dynamic organization created to nurture women writers and a deeper look at five of its splendid writers.
Women Writers Dominate the Giller Prize
Photo of Kim Echlin, Annabel Lyon and Alice Munro
An unprecedented ten of the twelve long-listed books were written by women writers. Three remain on the shortlist. Joyce Nickels takes us on a whirlwind tour of the authors and their books...
New Biographies of Women Authors
Photo of actor representing the Alcott family
2009 has been a great year for biographies (and at least one documentary). Check out our list.
New and Notable Books
Photo of a pile of books
Our latest collection of intriguing titles for November and December.