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Belletrista - A site promoting translated women authored literature from around the world
Photo of Tania Maliarchuk description description

"Canis Lupus Familiaris" a wry short story by Ukrainian author Tanya Malyarchuk.

"A Conspicuous Blossoming:" The Emergence of Prose Writing by Ukrainian Women.

Canadian Jenn Farrell's brazen collection The Devil You Know is closely examined by
Joyce Nickel.

Welcome, Belletrista readers, to another issue celebrating literature written by or about women writers from across the globe! This issue is filled to overflowing with new books, great reviews, interviews, fiction and other intriguing features. There is much to explore and enjoy here: we hope you will agree!

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Reviews
Click on 'Reviews' to see the full list of this issue's reviews...
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FIVE BELLS
Gail Jones

Circular Quay is the bus and train terminus for Sydney Harbour. The Quay is also where the ferries dock and is a busy place with its people, shops and buskers. From the Quay one can walk the concourse…
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Reviewed by Amanda Meale
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DARK DESIRES AND THE OTHERS
Luisa Valenzuela
Translated by Susan E. Clark

Dark Desires and the Others is both an erotic memoir and a meditation on writing. Taken from Valenzuela's diaries written in New York between 1979 and 1982, it is a series of essays …
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Reviewed by Andy Barnes
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AMERICA PACIFICA
Anna North

Anna North's young adult novel, America Pacifica, is a grungy, thrill-a-minute frappe of familiar dystopian elements—scuzzy landscape, crazy tyrants, social and environmental exploitation—garnished with …
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Reviewed by Jean Raber
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THE TOPLESS TOWER
Silvina Ocampo
Translated from the Spanish by James Womack

Little Leandro, nine, having displeased a gentleman visitor who may be the Devil, finds himself a prisoner in the tower which gives this story its title. He discovers a room set up with all the requisites a painter could need. He begins to paint.
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Reviewed by Tim Jones
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DILEMMAS OF DEOKIE
Carol Sammy

Deokie Ramoutar is different from the other girls in her Trinidadian village. Nineteen years old, she is more sober and thoughtful than her giddy, frivolous friends and not really interested in boys. Instead, Deokie …
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Reviewed by Charlotte Simpson
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THE BOOK OF HAPPENSTANCE
Ingrid Winterbach
Translated from the Afrikaans by Dirk and Ingrid Winterbach

When reading this novel, the words meditate, ruminate, and reflect all come to mind—a contemplation of the meaning of our lives, on loss and how we can deal with it in an increasingly secularized and fragmented world where the traditional comforts of family, religion and the "old ways" are disappearing.
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Reviewed by Tad Deffler
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THE HOTTEST DISHES OF THE TARTAR CUISINE
Alina Bronsky
Translated from the German by Tim Mohr

Rosalinda Achmetowna is a woman who delights you on the written page but would horrify you should she appear on your doorstep, suitcase in hand. She rules her home and acquaintances with an iron hand, positive of both the fact that they are utterly useless and the corollary that she knows exactly what is needed to whip everyone into shape.
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Reviewed by Tad Deffler
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LIKE BEES TO HONEY
Caroline Smailes

In her latest novel Like Bees to Honey Smailes weaves a beautiful story of redemption and renews our way of seeing the world as she does so. The storyline follows Nina, a burdened and troubled woman, as she travels from her adopted home in Liverpool to her native hometown in Malta.
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Reviewed by Flavia Baralle


Jacqueline Bishop
Photo of Jacqueline Bishop
Arlene McKanic interviews the Caribbean author, editor and poet
Anna Gavalda
Book Cover: Annabel
Read Chapter One of Anna Gavalda's recently translated novel, French Leave, a charming story of escaping to the past to find the future.
PEN Free the Word! festival in London
Pen Festival logos
Charlotte Simpson reports on this exciting literary event.
CONVERSATIONS:
Book Cover: Annabel
Three readers discuss Kathleen Winter's Award-Winning novel, Annabel
If Written By a Woman
Visit our new Belletrista blog!
The Caine Prize for African Writing 2011 – shortlist announced

The shortlist for this year’s Caine Prize has just been announced and three women are in the running for the prestigious award. This is always an exciting time of year – the Prize is a great way to discover short stories by excellent writers. Lucky for us, the Prize’s website links to a copy of …Read the Rest