Announcing...the 2012 Mediterranean Reading Challenge!

This year's Eastern European Reading Challenge hasn't yet ended, but it's time to think of next year's reading challenge.  I chose to go with the Mediterranean region because not only is it topical, it's also an area where translated works are flourishing.  And it's supposed to be healthier too!

The 2012 Mediterranean Reading Challenge!

So, start planning what level you'd like to try for if you decide to enter.  The last two years of reading challenges had over 70 people from more than 20 countries participating. 



2012 Mediterranean Reading Challenge Map



 The following countries are included: Algeria, Albania, Tunisia, Spain, Morocco, Libya, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Bosnia, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Monaco, Slovenia, Crete, Cyprus, and Malta.

Need ideas to start?  You can explore at Archipelago Books (archipelagobooks.org), Peirene Press (www.peirenepress.com) or Open Letter (openletterbooks.org) to find translated fiction and poetry, as they are the preeminent publishers of translated works.

Levels:

3-Tourist

6-Explorer

9-Scholar

To enter, leave a comment on this post with your name and home country and reading goal.  Another post will be created for you to leave links to your reviews or to post titles you may want to share.  To keep things relevant, I'll add occasional news topic posts to the blog that deal with this region and may be of interest to participants.  You'll soon find a tab on the home page that will control information for the Mediterranean challenge details.  If I'm really ambitious, I may throw in a recipe or two.

Additionally, the Eastern European Reading Challenge is going to continue...there's been enough interest to keep that in play for the next year.  You'll find a new post that allows you to enter if you haven't already.

http://www.worldatlas.com/

According to the World Atlas site, the Mediterranean "is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia, and in the south by Africa. This 969,100 sq. mile body of water is approximately 2,300 miles in length, and has a maximum depth of 16,896 ft. Major subdivisions include the Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea, Balearic Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, Ionian Sea and Ligurian Sea."


For purposes of Spain, the Catalonian region is included. Extra points if you can find works from the islands of Cyprus, Sardinia, Malta, or Sicily!

Some ideas:

A Mind at Peace                                                                   Death in Spring
by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar                                                      by Mercè Rodoreda
translated from the Turkish by Erdag Göknar                          (http://www.openletterbooks.org/)
(http://www.archipelagobooks.org/)


Open Letter Books



White Masks

by Elias Khoury

translated from the Arabic by Maia Tabet                                    
(http://www.archipelagobooks.org/)

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Please join this year's challenge and see if we can discover new regions and cultures, while helping support the efforts of small presses and translators to make global literature accessible to all.

Sign up now and share your finds!