March News and Highlights

Letter from Hudson Street March 2019 Dear Readers, March, one of the few months in the Roman calendar named after a Roman god (the god of war, no less), often feels like a liminal space here in the New York literary world: the book people are just beginning to stir from the relatively quiet winter, gathering strength not so much for war, as Mars would have it, but for the onslaught of readings, new books, festivals, and general revelry that comes with the spring. For now, though, it's still cold and fairly quiet here. But there's something nice about that, right? And in the meantime, we've got a quiz for you, great books, some snapshots from Amit Chaudhuri's US tour, and more below. The NYRB Staff P.S. NYRB will be at the [AWP Conference]( in Portland, Oregon, at the end of this month, from Thursday, March 28, through Saturday, March 30. Come see us at booth #3043. We'll have discounted NYRB books, a raffle, and FREE copies of The New York Review of Books. Film Adaptations: A Quiz We've featured a handful of the films adapted from books in the NYRB Classics series before, but we thought it was high time to test your knowledge. Below, you'll find a brief description of a film adaptation, along with its director and alternate title (when applicable). Just click through to see the book behind the film. Nicolas Roeg directed a 1973 adaptation of this creepy story about one couple's ill-fated trip to Venice, Italy, starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland. [?]( In the 1980s, Harold Pinter adapted this book about a chance encounter between a children's book author suffering from writer's block and a bookseller into a screenplay for director John Irvin. The writer is played by Glenda Jackson, the bookseller by Ben Kingsley. [?]( This novel about a young woman torn between her older (and amorous) caretaker and a young artist was adapted for film by the great Luis Buñuel in 1970. The movie starred Catherine Deneuve (young woman), Fernando Rey (older man), and Franco Nero (artist). [?]( Nicholas Ray's 1950 adaptation of this noir about a serial killer on the loose in Los Angeles changed the ending of the original story so that it would be less upsetting to audiences. Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame play the leads. [?]( In 1971, Joseph Losey adapted this beloved story about a school boy enlisted as a messenger between star-crossed lovers, casting Julie Christie and Alan Bates as the couple. [?]( Anne Bancroft starred in Harold Pinter's adaptation, directed by John Clayton, of this novel about a woman whose life as the wife of a philandering screenwriter and mother to several children has threatened her sanity. [?]( This novel about the dark depths of carnival life was adapted for the screen in 1947 by Edmund Goulding, who cast Tyrone Power in the starring role. Guillermo del Toro is reportedly slated to direct the next adaptation of this same book. [?]( The adaptation of this book, considered a classic of boxing fiction, was directed by John Huston, who also hired the author to write the screenplay. Stacy Keach and a young Jeff Bridges play the starring roles and Kris Kristofferson's melancholy song "Help Me Make It Through the Night" plays over the credits at the beginning and end of the movie. [?]( Congratulations to our translators! Two of our wonderful translators have won prizes for their work this past month. Congratulations to both Sophie Yanow and Richard Sieburth! Sophie Yanow was awarded the [Scott Moncrieff Prize]( for her translation of Dominique Goblet’s graphic novel Pretending Is Lying. This is the first time that a translation of a graphic novel has been awarded the Scott Moncrieff Prize. Photo credit: Victoria Heisler Richard Sieburth was awarded the [2019 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation]( for his translation of Henri Michaux’s A Certain Plume. “Tone and time are the chief catalysts of the prose poem,” wrote the panel of judges, “and Richard Sieburth has shown Henri Michaux to be a master of both.” Photo © [PEN America]( 2019 Amit Chaudhuri in the US A couple of weeks ago, Amit Chaudhuri ended his US tour for [Friend of My Youth](, the first work of contemporary fiction to be published by New York Review Books. At his reading at the new Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, Chaudhuri, who is also a celebrated singer in the classical Indian tradition, sang a couple of his original compositions. Below is an older recording of one of the songs he sang at the Center that night, "One Fine Day," as well as a couple of snapshots from his events. Chaudhuri reading at Book Culture in Manhattan on February 18. Chaudhuri signing books at The Center for Fiction in Brooklyn on February 20. March with Henry David Thoreau Our monthly foray into Thoreau's [The Journal: 1837–1861](. This time, a very brief entry from March 9, 1852. Thoreau was thirty-four years old. March 9. A warm spring rain in the night. 3 P.M.—Down the railroad. Cloudy but springlike. When the frost comes out of the ground, there is a corresponding thawing of the man. Again it rains, and I turn about. The sound of water falling on rocks and of air falling on trees are very much alike. Though cloudy, the air excites me. Yesterday all was tight as a stricture on my breast; to-day, all is loosened. It is a different element from what it was. March Books [MAX HAVELAAR OR, THE COFFEE AUCTIONS OF THE DUTCH TRADING COMPANY]( by Multatuli [UNCERTAIN MANIFESTO]( by Frédéric Pajak [FANTASTIC TOYS]( A CATALOG by Monika Beisner Max Havelaar is the March selection for the [NYRB Classics Book Club](. If you join the club by March 13th, Max Havelaar will be your first selection. Upcoming Events Friday, March 15, 7pm at [Ognisko Polskie](, London, UK: Antonia Lloyd-Jones, translator of Józef Czapski's [Inhuman Land](, discusses Czapksi's art, writing, and time in the Polish army with Dr. Stanley Bill. Tuesday, March 26, 7pm at [Shakespeare & Company](, Paris, France: graphic novelist Yvan Alagbé will discuss his book [Yellow Negroes and Other Imaginary Creatures](. Darius James on Tour Join the author of [Negrophobia]( at one of these special events: Monday, March 11, 7pm at [POWERHOUSE Arena](, Brooklyn, NY with Michael Gonzales Tuesday, March 12, 7:30pm at the [Free Library of Philadelphia]( with Gene Seymour Wednesday, March 13, 7pm at [Politics and Prose at Union Market](, Washington, DC Saturday, March 30, 7pm at [Northshire Bookstore](, Manchester Center, VT Did you hear? We're having a [big sale]( right now! In the Press “Ozerov’s [poems] provide a formula for reading life as art. Closing the book, I found myself viewing my own interactions with Ozerov’s empathetic eye. If literature cannot inspire this kind of empathy, what can?” —Amelia Glaser, [Times Literary Supplement](, on Lev Ozerov's Portraits Without Frames "In this social-media era, when we are more intent than ever on isolating things that offend and outrage, Negrophobia revels in its own outrageousness, and thus is more of a tonic now than it was almost three decades ago." —Gene Seymour, [Bookforum]( "It is sunshine in the shape of a book." —Sjón, [Vulture](, on Tove Jansson's The Summer Book Meanwhile, in the office... Last week, we mailed out the latest book selections to members of the [NYRB Children's Book Club](. That meant that our conference table was, for quite a while, monopolized by an explosion of envelopes. If you've ever wondered how the sausage gets made around here, this is often the case in indie publishing: it's messy—but we love it! Image at top of newsletter: NYRB offices, March 2018, credit Daniel Drake You are receiving this message because you signed up for email newsletters from NYRB. You can [choose the types of mailings you wish to receive](: [Update preferences]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( New York Review Books 435 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014 Not a subscriber? Sign up for our newsletter [here](. [Unsubscribe](