Daily Headlines: February 5, 2010

* Chile: The late Chilean author Roberto Bolaño’s first unpublished book entitled “El Terser Reich” will be released “in the coming weeks” throughout Latin America.

* Colombia: The U.S.-Colombia free trade pact has been held up due to Colombia’s unsatisfactory human rights record yet Treasury Secretary Timothy Either claimed that the agreement would be passed this year.

* Cuba: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Cuba next week as part of an official visit aiming to deepen Russian ties to the region.

* Mexico: Former Sonora drug cartel leader Miguel Angel Caro Quintero was sentenced to seventeen years in jail yesterday.

Image – TIME
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, People’s Daily Online, Houston Chronicle, LAHT, Colombia Reports

Daily Headlines: November 5, 2009

* Chile: Chilean author Roberto Bolaño has become a posthumous literary darling but as Horacio Castellanos Moya wrote in Guernica Bolaño would’ve hated the attention.

* Nicaragua: Authorities are on the lookout for possible mudslides and flooding to be triggered by Tropical Storm Ida.

* Peru: Were drug traffickers behind the weekend attack of a controversial copper mine in northern Peru?

* Mexico: Along with the U.S. and E.U., Mexico has asked the W.T.O. to look into China’s restrictive trade practices.

Image – Guardian UK
Online Sources- Guernica, MSNBC, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Latin Americanist

Roberto Bolaño wins major literary award

Chilean author Roberto Bolaño died in 2003 though he has received plenty of posthumous praise. The English-language translation of “2666” has wowed the world of literature and high expectations continue over the recent discovery of several “lost” manuscripts.

Before passing away, Bolaño wrote in one of his journals that “I am sure I will die unpublished.” Surely he would’ve never imagined that his work would receive major awards but that was the case last week:

Death is proving no barrier to the late Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño, who…added the National Book Critics Circle award for fiction to his roster of prizes.

The esteemed American award was given to Bolaño for his epic final novel 2666, which NBCC board member Marcela Valdes described as a "sexy, apocalyptic vision of history", a "work so rich and dazzling that it will surely draw readers and scholars for ages". Accepting the posthumous award on Bolaño's behalf, his translator Natasha Wimmer recalled he had once said that "posthumous" sounded like a Roman gladiator, the Associated Press reported.

Aside from Bolaño, Mexican-American writer Juan Felipe Herrera shared best poetry honors for his work praising Chicano identity.

The awards carry no cash prize yet are very prestigious and are the top literary honor in the U.S. Dominican author Junot Diaz won the National Book Critics Circle award for fiction in 2008.

Image- LAHT
Online Sources- Guardian UK, The Telegraph, Latina, Bloomberg, CBC, The Latin Americanist

”Lost” Roberto Bolaño manuscripts discovered

Chilean author Roberto Bolaño passed away in 2003 at the age of 50. Since then, however, the literary world has fallen in love with his work; his critically acclaimed novel “2666” is a favorite to win a National Book Critics Circle Award this year.

Now comes word from the Spanish press of the discovery of previously unknown Bolaño manuscripts. Literary nerds will surely like this:

Two new novels by the Chilean author Roberto Bolaño have reportedly been found in Spain among papers he left behind after his death. The previously unseen manuscripts were entitled Diorama and The Troubles of the Real Police Officer, reported La Vanguardia.

The newspaper said the documents also included what is believed to be a sixth section of Bolaño's epic five-part novel 2666.

The Wylie Agency, the literary agency, which recently took over the Bolaño estate, declined to comment about the reports. The novels apparently came to light when piles of documents, notebooks and diaries left behind by Bolaño were being sifted through.

One of Bolaño’s diaries reportedly confessed that “I am sure I will die unpublished.” If only he knew.

Image- New York Times
Online Sources- The Telegraph, NPR, Guardian UK, The Latin Americanist

Roberto Bolaño up for posthumous honor

Chilean author Roberto Bolaño died in 2003 yet his critical reputation among literacy circles continues to grow.

The late author’s book “2666” was named as one of the National Book Critics Circle Award finalists for fiction. Bolaño was posthumously acknowledged by the National Book Critics Circle though he faces stiff competition from other finalists including first-time author M. Glenn Taylor.

“2666” was first published in Spanish in 2004 and reviewers have called it a “disturbingly original...work of art” and an “awe-inspiring three-ring extravaganza of a novel.”

Bolaño passed away too soon at the age of fifty; as he said in his acceptance speech of the 1999 Rómulo Gallegos prize:

What's true is that I am Chilean, and I am also a lot of other things. And having arrived at this point, I must abandon Jarry and Bolivar and try to remember the writer who said that the homeland of a writer is his tongue…It sounds a little demagogic, but I agree with him completely, and I know that sometimes there is no recourse left us but to get a little demagogic, just like sometimes there is no recourse left us but to dance a bolero under the light of streetlamps or a red moon.

Also named by National Book Critics Circle was Chicano poet Juan Felipe Herrera for “Half of the World in Light”.

Image- New York Times
Online Sources- New York Daily News, BBC News, Reuters, Jacket Copy, New York Times, Times Online, Guardian UK