Contemporary literature

As every year, the Swedish Academy pronounced its much-awaited verdict: eagerly anticipated by bookworms across the globe. This time, the jury awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature to Han Kang, shining a spotlight on a writer not necessarily familiar to the broader public. Like many readers, I rushed to the bookshops, browsed through the available titles by this newly crowned laureate, and faced a major dilemma: which of Kang’s novels should I read first? Unable to decide, I bought three of h...

A sharp observer of Polish reality and a virtuoso of language, Dorota Masłowska returns with her long-awaited novel, Magical Wound. This latest work is, in fact, a collection of loosely connected short stories. These dozen-page narratives resemble the rapid-fire nature of TikTok videos—entertaining, moving, and intriguing modern readers whose attention span is increasingly fleeting. Each story immerses the reader in a different piece of this fragmented mosaic, depicting characters struggling ...

Leïla Slimani, the renowned Franco-Moroccan writer and multiple award winner (including the prestigious Prix Goncourt), returns with the final volume of her The Country of Others trilogy, titled I Will Carry the Fire. This novel continues the story of Amin and Mathilde’s family, this time focusing on their daughter Aïcha, her husband Mehdi, and their children, Mia and Inès. The narrative spans a vast period, from Inès’ birth to Mia’s tumultuous youth, all the way to Amin’s death and Mehdi’s w...