WRITERS

Argentine literature is one of the most prolific and influential in the whole Spanish speaking world, that began around 1550 (with the work of Matías Rojas de Oquendo and Pedro González de Prado). Towards the end of the 19th century, modernism appears in Latin American literature. The 1990s are marked by reunion among survivors of different generations, in an intellectual …

Good Girls Don’t Wear Trousers, is an autobiographical novel by Lara Cardella (published when the author was only age 19). The novel tells the plight of a teenager, forced into the mental and cultural restrictions of Sicily in the 1980s. It became a social phenomenon, and was translated in several languages. In 1990, the book was adapted into a film …

The Dordogne? http://meetingbenches.com/2017/03/dordognes-inner-landscapes/ No part of France is so impassioned by its culinary heritage as this deeply gourmet idyll in the rural south-west. Your personal enlightenment can find one special autumn as you wander on the Saturday-morning market in Périgueux. But, complete insider’s guide to the Dordogne (including hotels, restaurants, things to do, attractions, camping and glamping sites), maybe need …

He was thinking that Icelanders are grateful to meet foreigners, who have heard of their country. And even more grateful to hear someone say, it deserves better. He was a twentieth-century Icelandic writer, influenced by modern currents in Germany and France. Halldór Laxness was born in Reykjavik, but spent his youth in the countryside. From the age of seventeen, he …

Martin Amis was born in Oxford. His father was noted English novelist Sir Kingsley Amis. As a young boy, he read nothing but comic books, untill his stepmother introduced him to Jane Austen. After teenage years spent in flowery shirts, he graduated from Exeter College, Oxford, with a “Congratulatory” First in English. His father showed no interest in his early …

He was born in Paris (France) and died in Certaldo (Tuscany, Italy). He was the son of a Tuscan merchant (his mother was probably French). His father had no sympathy for Boccaccio’s literary inclinations and sent him to Naples to learn business. Giovanni Boccaccio (1313/1375) was Italian poet, best remembered as the author of The Decameron. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdLjE0oMuDk He laid the …

Heinrich Böll was one of German foremost post-World War II writers. His work has been translated into 30 languages and he remains one of Germany’s most widely read authors. He was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature. After the WWII he returned to Cologne and began working in his family’s cabinet shop. He became a …

Lisa See is an American writer and novelist, and her books include also the novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. http://www.lisasee.com/ She was born in Paris, but has spent many years in Los Angeles (especially Los Angeles Chinatown). Her paternal great-grandfather was Chinese, which has had a great impact on her life and work. Two her novels (Snow Flower …

Australian literature has a rich history and The Secret River (novel by Kate Grenville) is a page of that history. Kate Grenville published nine books of fiction and four books about the writing process, but her best-known work remains The Secret River. Her novels have won many awards and several have been made into major feature films. She was born …

Reading Icelandic books translated to English: Even if you’ve never considered reading an 800-year-old story, some Icelandic sagas might surprise you: “Egils Saga” (by someone back in the c.1200s). You find there a colourful main character, plenty of fight scenes (both physical and verbal). Suggestion Nr. 2 and Nr.3: “Indipendent People”by Halldor Laxness you can read and “Gunnlöth’s Tale” by Svava Yakobsdottir. If …