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Belletrista - A site promoting translated women authored literature from around the world
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Carol Emshwiller's witty, endearing, and delightfully odd story, "Grandma"

"Red Blood on White Snow" an excerpt from Albanian author Ornela Vorpsi's The Country Where No One Ever Dies

Awards and Nominations: Great books for your "to be read" piles

Welcome to a new year of Belletrista! We have exciting plans for 2011, including two themed issues. In this issue we present all the things you've come to expect in an issue of Belletrista, but we are always trying to improve, and are consistently on the look-out for new ideas. In this issue we offer our readers two excerpts from new or forthcoming books as not only a way to sample what these books have to offer, but also as a means of introducing talented writers. In our New & Notable section, we have given Canadian books its own section, bringing it out from underneath the shadow of its literarily larger neighbor, the United States, to make it easier for you, our readers, to explore this country's literature. If you have something to say about any of the books or authors we feature, we invite you to visit our blog, "If Written by a Woman", and share them. Happy Reading!

Reviews
Click on 'Reviews' to see the full list of this issue's reviews...
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THE EVENT FACTORY
Renee Gladman

Most of us know the disorientation of travel to a country with a different language and customs. The simplest daily activities can become so difficult—where will we eat? How do we look for the bathroom? Reading Renee Gladman's intriguing novella Event Factory redoubles that feeling, in the story of a traveler whose experiences and behavior have an unusual orientation to everyday logic.
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Reviewed by Michael Matthew
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LOOM
Thérèse Soukar Chehade

Loom, the solitary and reclusive neighbor, is a delicious enigma who has captured the imagination of the Zaydan women, as he either slaves away in his garden or endlessly toils at constructing an igloo in the icy snow. He never lets up and is always looming just on the periphery of their home and, indeed, their minds.
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Reviewed by Akeela Gaibie-Dawood
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I WANT TO GET MARRIED!
Ghada Abdel Aal
Translated from the Arabic by Nora Eltahawy

Everyone has a dating horror story—an annoying fix-up, a disastrous dinner, or an awkward lack of conversational points. In I Want to Get Married!, Ghada Abdel Aal, an Egyptian woman quickly approaching "old maid" status, shares her quest to find a husband, showing that while marriage customs may differ across the world, dating is a universally horrible experience.
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Reviewed by Caitlin Fehir
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ISLAND BENEATH THE SEA: A NOVEL
Isabel Allende

Opening in Saint Domingue, this novel is a reflection on four decades in Zarité's life; from her meager beginnings as a child sold into slavery, to an adult woman striving for a good life for the ones she loves as she attempts to finally gain the freedom she so desires. We are introduced to her when Toulouse Valmorain, a young plantation owner from France, hires her to look over his wife. As Zarité endures her own internal battles, the island around her is rebelling.
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Reviewed by C. Lariviere
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SKYLARK FARM
Antonia Arslan

In 1915, the Young Turks, fired by an overwhelming sense of nationalism, embarked on a mission to purge Turkey of its minority citizens. Between 1914 and 1918, over one million Armenian lives were lost …
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Reviewed by Julia Mignone


CONVERSATIONS:
Book Cover: Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits
Three readers discuss Laila Lalami's novella, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits
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