Open Letter Newsletter -- August 2008

[Open Letter Newsletter]

Having problems viewing this email? Click here to view it online. The First Open Letter Book and Special Offer Welcome to the first ever Open Letter monthly newsletter. It seems like only a few months ago that the three of us (E.J. Van Lanen, Nathan Furl, and myself) moved to Rochester, NY, to start a new translation-oriented press here at the University of Rochester . . . And now we're running out of "first" things to identify. We've already had our first catalog, our first sales call, our first sale, and even our first review (a very positive piece on Nobody's Home in Kirkus Reviews). And last week, copies of our first book—the aforementioned Nobody's Home—arrived from the printer. I'm personally really excited that this first title is from Dubravka Ugresic. Although I was extremely honored by the fact that Dubravka wanted us to publish her new book, it's not all that surprising when you take into consideration the fact that E.J. and I edited her last two works, and Declan Spring (a UR alum and member of our executive committee) worked with her on another of her previous novels. Nobody's Home is a fascinating collection of witty essays, most of which revolve around the idea of life in exile. With pieces like "Flea Market," "A Suitcase," "My Hometown," "Ostalgia," "All Foreigners Beep" (which is reprinted in the latest issue of A Public Space) and "A Right to Misery" (which is available on our website), she vividly depicts contemporary life and all its tragic absurdities. It's important to note that these essays aren't theoretical, they're personal—Dubravka left what used to be Yugoslavia in 1991 after being labeled a "traitor," a "public enemy," and a "witch," and was exposed to harsh and persistent media harassment. She currently lives in Amsterdam, where she recently became an official Dutch citizen. Ugresic has a stellar reputation as a public intellectual, and was recently included in Clive James's book Cultural Amnesia. More recently, Publishers Weekly selected Nobody's Home as a "break-out book for fall 2008," based on the early reviews, the bookseller buzz, and her extensive upcoming author tour. Copies of Nobody's Home will be arriving in stores at the end of the month, but in the meantime, to celebrate the release of this first title, we're offering a special discount on our website. Through the end of August, copies are only $11.95—just click on the image to the right or visit http://catalog.openletterbooks.org/authors/1. As always, you can subscribe to the fall season and receive our first six titles for only $65. Visit http://www.openletterbooks.org/subscribe/ for more details. Dubravka Ugresic's Reading Tour Speaking of which, here's the confirmed dates for her fall events: Tuesday, September 16th, 6 PM: Reading the World Conversation Series Rush Rhees Library University of Rochester Rochester, NY In conversation with translator and author Damion Searls. Tuesday, September 23rd, 8 PM: 92nd St. Y Lexington Ave. and 92nd St. New York, NY With Breyten Breytenbach ($19/$10—visit http://tinyurl.com/6yuus7 for details) Wednesday, September 24th, 7 PM: Harvard Book Store 1256 Massachusetts Ave. Boston, MA (visit http://tinyurl.com/6qu76r for details) Tuesday, September 30th, 6 PM: 57th St. Books 1301 E. 57th St. Chicago, IL (visit http://tinyurl.com/6antfj for details) Wednesday, October 1st, 7:30 PM: Bookslut Reading Series Hopleaf Second Floor 5148 N. Clark St. With Rolf Potts (visit http://www.bookslut.com/readings.html for details.) Thursday, October 2nd: Novella Bookstore 5510 S. Kingshighway Blvd St. Louis, MO Wednesday, October 8th, 7 PM: McNally Jackson 52 Prince St. New York, NY With fellow Open Letter author Bragi Olafsson (visit http://tinyurl.com/689lz8 for details) Tuesday, October 14th: Melville House Publishing 145 Plymouth St. Brooklyn, NY In conversation with A Public Space founder and editor Brigid Hughes. More details and dates and times will be available on our website (http://www.openletterbooks.org), on Three Percent (http://www.rochester.edu/threepercent) and via Facebook. (You can become a fan of Open Letter at http://tinyurl.com/6f47zo) Over at Three Percent Hopefully most of you are aware of Three Percent, our blog and review site dedicated to covering international literature, trends in publishing and bookselling, and other literary topics. There are at least a few new posts every day, so it's worth visiting on a regular basis or subscribing to the RSS feed. One of our recent features is the Translation Database (http://tinyurl.com/5kmtfb), a downloadable spreadsheet listing all of the original translations of adult literature and poetry coming out this year. This is the only database of its kind, and has information about what language these books are translated from, which countries the authors hail from, which presses translate the most titles, and how many are works of fiction versus poetry. With just over 300 titles currently on the list (I suspect by the end of the year this will rise to approx. 325), it's also somewhat depressing . . . Thanks to the support of the University of Rochester and readers like yourself, we're doing our small part to add to that number and increase the number of literary voices that make their way into our country. Best, Chad W. Post Forthcoming Books Nobody's Home by Dubravka Ugresic On sale: September 26, 2008 Hardcover, $16.95 $11.95 Buy it now! The Pets by Bragi Ólafsson On sale: October 15, 2008 Hardcover, $14.95 Buy it now!

[Open Letter Newsletter]

Sorry for the second email, but there's an error in Bragi's October 9th event at Book Culture. Here are the correct details:

Thursday, October 9th, 7 PM:
Bragi Ólafsson with Mark Binelli
Book Culture
536 West 112th St.
New York, NY

On Aug 14, 2008, at 11:43 AM, Open Letter Newsletter wrote:

Having problems viewing this email? Click here to view it online.

THE FIRST OPEN LETTER BOOK AND SPECIAL OFFER

Welcome to the first ever Open Letter monthly newsletter. It seems like only a few months ago that the three of us (E.J. Van Lanen, Nathan Furl, and myself) moved to Rochester, NY, to start a new translation-oriented press here at the University of Rochester . . . And now we're running out of "first" things to identify. We've already had our first catalog, our first sales call, our first sale, and even our first review (a very positive piece on Nobody's Home in Kirkus Reviews). And last week, copies of our first book—the aforementioned Nobody's Home—arrived from the printer. I'm personally really excited that this first title is from Dubravka Ugresic. Although I was extremely honored by the fact that Dubravka wanted us to publish her new book, it's not all that surprising when you take into consideration the fact that E.J. and I edited her last two works, and Declan Spring (a UR alum and member of our executive committee) worked with her on another of her previous novels. Nobody's Home is a fascinating collection of witty essays, most of which revolve around the idea of life in exile. With pieces like "Flea Market," "A Suitcase," "My Hometown," "Ostalgia," "All Foreigners Beep" (which is reprinted in the latest issue of A Public Space) and "A Right to Misery" (which is available on our website), she vividly depicts contemporary life and all its tragic absurdities. It's important to note that these essays aren't theoretical, they're personal—Dubravka left what used to be Yugoslavia in 1991 after being labeled a "traitor," a "public enemy," and a "witch," and was exposed to harsh and persistent media harassment. She currently lives in Amsterdam, where she recently became an official Dutch citizen. Ugresic has a stellar reputation as a public intellectual, and was recently included in Clive James's book Cultural Amnesia. More recently, Publishers Weekly selected Nobody's Home as a "break-out book for fall 2008," based on the early reviews, the bookseller buzz, and her extensive upcoming author tour. Copies of Nobody's Home will be arriving in stores at the end of the month, but in the meantime, to celebrate the release of this first title, we're offering a special discount on our website. Through the end of August, copies are only $11.95—just click on the image to the right or visit http://catalog.openletterbooks.org/authors/1. As always, you can subscribe to the fall season and receive our first six titles for only $65. Visit http://www.openletterbooks.org/subscribe/ for more details.

DUBRAVKA UGRESIC'S READING TOUR

OVER AT THREE PERCENT

Hopefully most of you are aware of Three Percent, our blog and review site dedicated to covering international literature, trends in publishing and bookselling, and other literary topics. There are at least a few new posts every day, so it's worth visiting on a regular basis or subscribing to the RSS feed. One of our recent features is the Translation Database (http://tinyurl.com/5kmtfb), a downloadable spreadsheet listing all of the original translations of adult literature and poetry coming out this year. This is the only database of its kind, and has information about what language these books are translated from, which countries the authors hail from, which presses translate the most titles, and how many are works of fiction versus poetry. With just over 300 titles currently on the list (I suspect by the end of the year this will rise to approx. 325), it's also somewhat depressing . . . Thanks to the support of the University of Rochester and readers like yourself, we're doing our small part to add to that number and increase the number of literary voices that make their way into our country. Best,  Chad W. Post

FORTHCOMING BOOKS

Nobody's Home by Dubravka Ugresic  On sale: September 26, 2008 Hardcover, $16.95 $11.95 Buy it now!   The Pets by Bragi Ólafsson  On sale: October 15, 2008 Hardcover, $14.95 Buy it now!