Bookplanet: Kadare wins International Booker

The prestigious international Man Booker Prize had a shortlist that included Roth, Grass, Updike, Lessing, Atwood, McEwan, Spark and Marquez, any one of whom would've made a worthy winner. Most people expected Marquez to win, but the one who got 60,000 British pounds was the Albanian writer Ismael Kadare. Hope that spurts his book sales. Reports here and here, and brief appreciation here. The Literary Saloon points out that his translations into English aren't from the Albanian, but from the French translations of the Albanian. Since he got picked over such a mightily illustrious field, he must be worth looking into. He'll probably notch the Nobel next.