Belletrista

This is an archived issue of Belletrista. If you are looking for the current issue, you can find it here


Thirty-nine Arab writers under the age of 39. Akeela Gaibie-Dawood looks at the award and the women who were honored.	Carolyn Kelly in praise of Swedish author Åsa Larsson	SPECIAL FEATURE: More reviews! In keeping with our short fiction theme this month, we review anthologies.

Happy New Year, and welcome to Belletrista's exciting third issue!

In this issue we have chosen to emphasize short fiction. Author Tania Hershman has written a wonderful piece on the subject (click on "Stopping to Smell the Miniature Roses" below), and we have put together a special section of anthology reviews. We were very pleased to discover that The Guardian has recently published an article on women and short fiction, too (once again proving that great minds think alike)! Here's a link to their article; perhaps you will enjoy reading it as much as we have here at Belletrista.

We like to think we have something for every fiction reader in this issue, and we hope you will explore all the magazine has to offer—from our regular reviews and new & notable offerings, to our engaging feature pieces which explore the work of Åsa Larsson, Annie Ernaux, and the very welcome Beirut39 project.We hope you will enjoy Belletrista 3, and will be interested in reading some of the excellent books highlighted here. Please let us know what you think—your comments are always welcome!

Reviews
Below is a tantalizingly small selection of this month's reviews....

WHAT BECOMES

A. L. Kennedy

There are a few book titles out there that may suggest a line of a song, floating like a feather into my head, or even get me singing a few bars, but never has an earworm so utterly entered my brain as diligently as this one, as I found myself asking myself, in increasingly mournful and tuneless tones: What does, indeed, become of the broken-hearted?
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Reviewed by Carolyn Kelly

THE GIRL WHO FELL FROM THE SKY

Heidi W. Durrow

The Girl Who Fell From The Sky, the haunting and beautifully written debut novel from Heidi W. Durrow, is much more than a simple coming of age story. It delves into a host of serious issues including race, class, love, loss and acceptance.
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Reviewed by Barbara Steeg

WHO ATE UP ALL THE SHINGA?

Park Wah-suh

Translated from the Korean by Yu Young-nan and Stephen J. Epstein

Both a coming of age story and a tale of ordinary people trying to survive in extraordinary times, Who Ate Up All the Shinga? is an absorbing read that will appeal both to those who enjoy intriguing storytelling....
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Reviewed by Dorothy Dudek Vinicombe

GOD'S MERCY

Kerstin Ekman

Translated from the Swedish by Linda Schneck

With make-believe snow swirling around my head and imaginary wolves howling in the distance, I am reminded of Russian novels.
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Reviewed by Kathleen Ambrogi

EVERYTHING GOOD WILL COME

Sefi Atta

Sefi Atta's debut novel is a coming-of-age story set in 1970s Nigeria that tells the story of Enitan Taiwo, a middle-class girl with a father she adores and an extremely religious mother she hates.
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Reviewed by Charlotte Simpson