Back to work after two weeks off, and the post brought a paper copy of @thetls.bsky.social with my 'Letter from Monmouth' plus a real life letter in response, from dear colleague Geoffrey Strachan, translator of Andreï Makine, Jérôme Ferrari and others! What a nice way to get back to the keyboard...

www.linkedin.com/posts/louise...

The World According to Matisse (The World According To) | Louise Rogers Lalaurie

Happy Publication to THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MATISSE! My selection and translations of choice morsels from the artist's letters, interviews and broadcasts, paired with his paintings, drawings and prin...

linkedin.com

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/w... A jolly nice thumbs up here at 7'38", to all literary translators, from @richardosman1.bsky.social And an excellent overview of what we do :) Lovely, too, to hear him rattle off the names of some of his, and trounce AI while he's at it. Proper perked me up!

When Award Shows Go Wrong

Podcast Episode · The Rest Is Entertainment · 19/02/2026 · 28m

podcasts.apple.com

airmail.news/sh/DXhdzq An enjoyable piece about Knausgaard, but whose author genuinely seems to think he writes in English? Please credit the translator, Martin Aitken. 🙏🏻 @airmail.news

The Cult of Karl Ove Knausgaard

He can bring grown men to tears with a single sentence.

airmail.news

Also, note that Maduro is in a detention centre *in New York* (NYC?) and not, as might have been imagined, in a closely guarded attic maid's room at Mar a Lago. Is this calculated to try and put a thorn in Mamdani's side?

Louise Rogers Lalaurie@louiserl.bsky.social · 7mo ago

So Trump stamped his feet & shook his tiny fists & hollered long & loud that he wanted the Nobel Peace Prize but they gave it to an opponent of Maduro in Venezuela & then Trump arrests Maduro & says *he'll* be in charge, not her. Seems likely that's at least as important to him as petrodollars etc?

So Trump stamped his feet & shook his tiny fists & hollered long & loud that he wanted the Nobel Peace Prize but they gave it to an opponent of Maduro in Venezuela & then Trump arrests Maduro & says *he'll* be in charge, not her. Seems likely that's at least as important to him as petrodollars etc?

And very delighted to be there! Subscribers can read the full piece, but as with practically all Wittkop's writing, don't say we didn't warn you ...

Russell Williams@rwilliamsparis.bsky.social · 9mo ago

"Slightly deaf, she leans in and out, and pivots to her fellow interviewees with ferocious energy, enthusiasm and, at times, disdain" Delighted to have @louiserl.bsky.social on Gabrielle Wittkop in the new issue of @thetls.bsky.social www.the-tls.com/literature/l...

So sad to hear this yesterday. Laurent was my neighbour across the water, I enjoy the view of the beautiful modernist house he restored every day. RIP

Libération@liberation.fr · last yr.

⚫ Mort de l’essayiste Laurent Kupferman, artisan de la panthéonisation de Joséphine Baker

So glad I caught not only the author & translator but also International Booker judge Anton Hur & Prizes director Gaby Wood at @hayfestival.bsky.social on Saturday! Loved Banu Mushtaq's unexpectedly hilarious anecdote of how her clearly not bothersome husband thwarted a fatwa attack at their home 🤣

The New York Times@nytimes.com · last yr.

A collection of stories about Indian Muslim women’s daily struggles with bothersome husbands, mothers and religious leaders, on Tuesday won this year’s International Booker Prize, the major award for fiction translated into English.

Did #MetGala guests take "Tailoring Black Style" too literally? The theme celebrates a Congolese (& Congolese Parisian) tradition, "La Sape", and Les Sappeurs are all about COLOUR! Clearly, though, black's the fall-back colour when cultural appropriation looms... www.ouest-france.fr/leditionduso...

Plus qu’une simple démonstration de style, la sape africaine clame « un droit d’exister » - Edition du soir Ouest-France - 16/05/2024

Le mouvement des sapeurs africains propose une autre interprétation de l’élégance, tout en couleurs et en accessoires. Mais plus qu’une mode parallèle, c’est une démarche...

ouest-france.fr

Did I just hear Amol Rajan literally tell Gary Lineker "This is the BBC, you can't criticise government policy..."? Yes, I did 😯

Can the letter now be sent by post? (NB @societyofauthors.bsky.social, don't ask for a signature/proof of delivery, they won't sign for it). Note to Meta: it's just a letter, it won't bite, you're not being served court papers or anything... (Or did you think you were?).

Joel Morris@gralefrit.bsky.social · last yr.

The irony, that Meta wouldn’t open its doors to take a 500 word letter of complaint from writers, when they’d already taken millions of words from us. Apparently they’ve got enough now. Thanks.

The irony, that Meta wouldn’t open its doors to take a 500 word letter of complaint from writers, when they’d already taken millions of words from us. Apparently they’ve got enough now. Thanks.

META could afford to do otherwise but *chose* to steal all our work. They must be made to compensate for the theft, and only use copyrighted work with express written permission going forward.

Jack Fraser@muninnherself.bsky.social · last yr.

Like pretty much every other writer, fiction or non-fiction, living or dead, Meta stole my books. “... court documents show that staff at Meta discussed licensing books and research papers lawfully but instead chose to use stolen work because it was faster and cheaper.” @societyofauthors.bsky.social

Meta, directed by Mark Zuckerberg, stole the work of millions of authors - including me - to train its AI. Truly outrageous theft. #MetaBookThieves #MakeItFair #SOADayOfAction

If the UK government agrees to a wholesale undoing of copyright, to excuse Meta's massive theft of books, art, movies etc as 'data', then the creative industries and all of us working in them are finished. All viewers and readers will get in future is unoriginal, derivative slop. #MetaBookThieves

Meta can afford it. They just prefer to steal.

On my way to protest at Meta’s London office. Why? Pirate site LibGen ripped 7.5 million books. Meta used this stolen content to train AI systems to write books #campaigning #makeITfair #DotheWriteThing @alcs.co.uk @writersguildgb.bsky.social @authorsguild.bsky.social @societyofauthors.bsky.social

...but I think the FN/RN can still field a candidate in 2027, if they can find one (Bardella), and today's ruling will probably boost support, so... #France #LePen

You should also watch Seeger singing THIS LAND... at Obama's first inauguration, w Springsteen and a Diverse, Inclusive gospel chorus 🥹

noahlz@noahlz.bsky.social · 2y ago

If you saw A Complete Unknown and were intrigued by Ed Norton's character, Pete Seeger, you should watch THE POWER OF SONG, available in full on YouTube: youtu.be/4ej7SzOEnRA?...

Australian newspaper "The Sun-Herald" opinion piece calls it out. American msm, take notes.

youtube.com/watch?v=wnvC... Saw A COMPLETE UNKNOWN & sobbed as a young Pete Seeger sang this 👇. America isn't the Trump White House & may never be greater than this (old Pete Seeger w Springsteen & a Diverse, Inclusive gospel chorus at Obama's inauguration) 👇. Hoping this can be equalled again soon.

Well Trump & esp. J.D. showed their hands in ways we can all see this afternoon. The clearly calculated good cop/bad cop trolling of Zelenskyy can still backfire... They're never going to sign anything that counters Putin's interests, as we now all know, if we didn't before (which we actually did).

...and two from the terrific @andotherstories.bsky.social ! Hurrah! 👏👏👏 thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-l...

The International Booker Prize 2025 | The Booker Prizes

The longlist of 12 or 13 books will be announced on Tuesday, 25 February 2025 at 2pm (GMT).

thebookerprizes.com

So French leads the field for the 2025 International Booker! ❤️🇫🇷📚 Three titles longlisted, including Vincent Delecroix's painful, timely SMALL BOAT, from @hoperoadpublish.bsky.social, tr. Helen Stevenson. Great to see such a fresh list of largely new names, too :) Congratulations to all 👏👏👏

youtube.com/watch?v=pIQh... This is really quite extraordinary: a notably diverse, inclusive US Army chorus belting out a call to revolution, to an assembly of State governors, in the White House. Palpably electric atmosphere. Watching and waiting...

What a great (quite long, very enjoyable) read! Based on this, I'm *really* looking forward to the International Booker judges' longlist this year ❤️🌏🌎🌍📚 thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-l...

Meet the judges: 'Reading translated fiction makes you sexy' | The Booker Prizes

We spoke to the International Booker Prize 2025 judges about their reading habits, their favourite works of translated fiction – and why more people should read it

thebookerprizes.com

Dear #BookSky can you help us find our lost audience? We left 140,00 people behind on X and we want to reconnect!

Ummm, Robert Harris just breathtakingly swept Isabella Rossellini aside on @bbcradio4.bsky.social ??