Judge Rejects Google’s Deal to Digitize Books

Google’s ambition to create the world’s largest digital library and bookstore has run into the reality of a 300-year-old legal concept: copyright.


The company’s plan to digitize every book ever published and make them widely available was derailed on Tuesday when a federal judge in New York rejected a sweeping $125 million legal settlement the company had worked out with groups representing authors and publishers.

The decision throws into legal limbo one of the most ambitious undertakings in Google’s history, and it brings into sharp focus concerns about the company’s growing power over information. While the profit potential of the book project is not clear, the effort is one of the pet projects of Larry Page, the Google co-founder who is set to become its chief executive next month. And the project has wide support inside the company, whose corporate mission is to organize all of the world’s information.

“It was very much consistent with Larry’s idealism that all of the world’s information should be made available freely,” said Ken Auletta, the author of “Googled: The End of the World as We Know It.”

But citing copyright, antitrust and other concerns, Judge Denny Chin said that the settlement went too far. He said it would have granted Google a “de facto monopoly” and the right to profit from books without the permission of copyright owners.

Judge Chin acknowledged that “the creation of a universal digital library would benefit many,” but said that the proposed agreement was “not fair, adequate and reasonable.” He left open the possibility that a substantially revised agreement could pass legal muster. Judge Chin was recently elevated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, but handled the case as a district court judge.

The decision is also a setback for the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, which sued Google in 2005 over its book-scanning project. After two years of painstaking negotiations, the authors, publishers and Google signed a sweeping settlement that would have brought millions of printed works into the digital age.

The deal turned Google, the authors and the publishers into allies instead of opponents. Together, they mounted a defense of the agreement against an increasingly vocal chorus of opponents that included Google rivals like Amazon and Microsoft, as well as academics, some authors, copyright experts, the Justice Department and foreign governments.

Now the author and publisher groups have to decide whether to resume their copyright case against Google, drop it or try to negotiate a new settlement.

Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, said in an interview that it was too early to tell what the next step would be. “The judge did expressly leave the door open for a revised settlement,” he said.

Hilary Ware, managing counsel at Google, said in a statement that the decision was “clearly disappointing,” adding: “Like many others, we believe this agreement has the potential to open up access to millions of books that are currently hard to find in the U.S. today.” The company would not comment further.

Google has already scanned some 15 million books. The entire text of books whose copyrights have expired are available through Google’s Book Search service. It shows up to 20 percent of copyrighted titles that it has licensed from publishers, and only snippets of copyrighted titles for which it has no license.

The settlement would have allowed it to go much further, making millions of out-of-print books broadly available online and selling access to them. It would have given authors and publishers new ways to earn money from digital copies of their works.

Yet the deal faced strong opposition. Among the most persistent objections, raised by the Justice Department and others, were concerns that it would have given Google exclusive rights to profit from millions of so-called orphan works, books whose rights holders are unknown or cannot be found. They also said no other company would be able to build a comparable library, leaving Google free to charge high prices for its collection. And some critics said the exclusive access to millions of books would help cement Google’s grip on the Internet search market.

Judge Chin largely agreed with the critics on those points. But he suggested that substantial objections would be eliminated if the settlement applied only to books whose authors or copyright owners would explicitly “opt in” to its terms.

When the Justice Department suggested as much last year during a court hearing, Google rejected the idea as unworkable. It would leave millions of orphan works out of the agreement and out of Google’s digital library, greatly diminishing its value to Google and to the public.

“Opt-in doesn’t look all that different from ordinary licensing deals that publishers do all the time,” said James Grimmelmann, a professor at New York Law School who has studied the legal aspects of the agreement. “That’s why this has been such a big deal — the settlement could have meant orphan books being made available again. This is basically going back to status quo, and orphan books won’t be available.”

Some longtime opponents of the settlement hailed the decision, saying that they hoped it would prompt Congress to tackle legislation that would make orphan works accessible.

“Even though it is efficient for Google to make all the books available, the orphan works and unclaimed books problem should be addressed by Congress, not by the private settlement of a lawsuit,” said Pamela Samuelson, a copyright expert at the University of California, Berkeley who helped organize efforts to block the agreement.

Gina Talamona, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said in a statement that the court had reached the “right result.”

A group of publishers said they were disappointed by the decision, but believed that it provided “clear guidance” on the changes necessary for the settlement to be approved.

John Sargent, the chief executive of Macmillan, spoke on behalf of the publishers, which included Penguin Group USA, McGraw-Hill, Pearson Education, Simon & Schuster and John Wiley & Sons.

“The publisher plaintiffs are prepared to enter into a narrower settlement along those lines to take advantage of its groundbreaking opportunities,” Mr. Sargent said in a statement. “We hope the other parties will do so as well.”

He added: “The publisher plaintiffs are prepared to modify the settlement agreement to gain approval. We plan to work together with Google, the Authors Guild and others to overcome the objections raised by the court and promote the fundamental principle behind our lawsuit, that copyrighted content cannot be used without the permission of the owner, or outside the law.”

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Julie Bosman and Claire Cain Miller contributed reporting.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/technology/23google.html?ref=books#h[]

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Tragic Story of PDS HB Jassin

HB Jassin Libarary save 20,000 fiction books, 12,000 books nonfiction, and reference books and also around 600 800 drama, 16,000 clippings literature, collections such as sound recordings, handwritten manuscripts, typed manuscripts, and personal letters.

Governor of DKI Jakarta Decree which establishes the largest documentation centers of Indonesian literature throughout the world just got a budget of Rp 50 million per year has drawn anger among writers and scientists who are concerned with the legacy of literacy that was priceless.

Because SK was the Governor of DKI Jakarta, HB Jassin Literary Documentation Center (PDS HB Jassin) could be threatened with closing. Mafhumlah, with a budget of only Rp 50 million per year, that means do not suffice to pay employees and adequate treatment.

Writing in Kompasiana , writer and literary observers Djalil Linda writes, "Money is not everything. However, if the rescue efforts of Indonesian Literature masterpiece that tens of thousands of species that do not get proper financial support, this certainly makes the heart sore. And this nation feels slighted . Decree (Decree), the Governor of DKI Jakarta No. SK IV 215, dated February 16, 2011, which was signed directly by Fauzi Bowo stated clearly that the PDS HB Jassin only received Rp 50 million a year budget. "

Who was not shocked to read the letter? Moreover, funding for PDS HB Jassin which usually included in the group of funds to the Arts Council of Jakarta, Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, the Jakarta Arts Institute, and the Jakarta Arts Centre Management Board Ismai Marzuki Park is now included in "nations" and the Studio Theatre Land Water Wheel. Imagine, a place that contains tens of thousands of Indonesian Literature masterpiece is classified in the category of art studio, which is only feasible to obtain only Rp 50 million per year.

In previous years, PDS HB Jassin had received Rp 500 million each year. Then, funds dropped to Rp 300 million. Last year, the warehouse manager of the science of the artists, writers, and researchers within and outside the country has been struggling to receive funds to Rp 164 million circumcised. Now, more sprawl again ... Once again, USD 50 million received by the library!

It is clear how the Government of Indonesia, particularly the administration, that in fact it is an umbrella and a shelter for PDS HB Jassin since 1976, is now like a "sudden forget" its obligations to preserve the national heritage and culture of this very invaluable. Again, read the figure of Rp 50 million to finance 12 months to make people consider legitimate the abuse of the nation's work is in progress and may continue to take place repeatedly. I also wonder, from where the calculation of that figure for this giant library?

Is the government of Jakarta has been pretending not to know that for the cost of curing the book alone is over USD 40 million itself and maintenance by fumigation ideally performed twice a year for books not easily destroyed and eaten by moths? Not to mention the payroll 14 employees that have been so faithful to be there with a very minimal salary. They still have an excessive love of the place.

I can not imagine how many tears guliran Doctor Honoris Causa HB Jassin, Pope Literature Indonesia, which is so large for the literary merit of Indonesia, if he is still alive. As a famous author, he is also very thorough and diligent collecting thousands of documents of literature since 1932.

Various authors handwriting when it begins to write the script, biography, or scribble corrections, and correspondence of the authors of literary works also complements the work itself as goods that have become a book. Klipingan past newspaper from the era before World War II until after Indonesia's independence, plus the necessary documentation after the New Order 1966, all previously scattered in Gang Siwalan No. 3 and his home in Gang lute No. 8, his brother's house.

Leave it rest in Education and Language Development Centre, Jalan Diponegoro 82. HB Jassin not toil in vain. By deed dated June 28, 1976, HB Jassin Documentation resmilah Foundation is located in Taman Ismail Marzuki created. Thousands of the manuscript collection belonging to the Regional Government of DKI Jakarta and HB Jassin Literary Foundation Documentation. Who else if not the Governor Ali Sadikin, the governor at the time, which gives full encouragement for this noble purpose.

In addition to thousands of books, plays, pieces of newspaper that contains many literary works of authors collection HB Jassin, eventually many other Indonesian intellectuals, too, was intrigued. Busy-ramailah they donate books to add to this collection of Indonesian Literature library. The books collection professor Dr Damais some shelves, a collection of Haji Agus Salim, Mochtar Lubis collection consists of newspaper Indonesia Raya already bound from 1968 to 1974, the collection Wiratmo Soekito in the form of newspaper clippings and magazine paper, the collection of Dr. Boen Soemarjati, Imam Slamet Santoso professor's daughter, as many as six safes.

Not to mention a few professors of University of Indonesia, such as professors and doctoral Panuti Sudjiman Sri Wulan Rujiati Mulyadi, who used to give subjects of philology at the Faculty of Letters University of Indonesia, and various other figures for book lovers. Rendra handwriting when creating the concept of poetry, handwriting Chairil Anwar, Sutan Alisjahbana, Sitor Situmorang, as well as novel manuscript Pilgrimage of Iwan Simatupang, even amongst literary correspondence, all sitting there waiting destroyed if neglected care due to cost. Imagine, if complete documentation of literature in Indonesia, even in this world just goes away eventually. What a pity!

The more days; books, papers, important documents Indonesian literature increasingly swollen. Collection continues to grow more days, in conjunction with various researchers who stop by and take advantage of this knowledge repository for their thesis and dissertation. Foreign researchers from various universities in Malaysia, Australia, Germany, Holland, America, as well as innumerable. Indonesian journalists, reliable artists, lecturers, and students will understand well the "source" of information in the PDS literature their existence HB Jassin.

Mr. Jassin never dreamed like this when he was alive, "I wish on the first floor library building was special indeed Sastra Indonesia to Indonesian literature and various other areas. Floors two to Asian literature. Floors four European literature. All consists of modern literature or old literature . It was ideal, beautiful, and noble ideals of great writers of Indonesia. Really all come true?

He died 11 years ago. His desire has not been realized. Until now, even coverage to classify the parts of the literature was located on different floors, really far from the dream. What a miserable building PDS HB Jassin. A steep metal ladder and make people have to be extra careful arranging melangkahkah breath and legs, which are still modest reading room, plus storage room of books, documentation somber and filled with folders that do not shine anymore. Place an increasingly narrow and less care maximal just waiting for the masterpiece that there be a rickety slowly.

I can not imagine how "ngilernya" researchers, students hungry for literature. Imagine, up to now there are about 18,000 of fiction books, 12,000 of non-fiction books, 507 reference books, 812 books drama, author biographies 875, 16 774 clippings, 517 papers, theses and dissertations as many as 630 titles, 732 cassette tape sound, 15 video cassette tapes, is also the author of 740 photos. This data is changing from day to day and the greater number of types of collection.

Last year I was invited Rizal Ramli, former Minister of Economy, along with Afung, his wife, while books of poetry petty king of my work and various other friends was launched in the room PDS HB Jassin. I catch concern and amazement Rizal Ramli as we crawl the PDS small alley to the building before climbing the steep stairs. Many Romel, there are hangers clothesline clothes, and towels at the bottom edge of the stairs. After entering the room was modest, he looked amazed. Sad indeed! But I do not forget, Rizal Ramli, admiring the wealth of this PDS HB Jassin full of crowded Indonesian Literary works are astonishing, even the work of China Malay Literature from the 1800s still kept there.

This country is indeed ironic. On the one hand juggle hundreds of billions building a swimming pool fitted in the roof far above and a comfortable spa feels easy. Meanwhile, set aside a pocket for a rarefaction mind, maintaining the Indonesian literary masterpiece full of amazing in a building that earthy, like a stone weighing many tons it feels to run it. I imagine the mothers who usually appear in the magazine socialite with colorful Hermes bag costs only Rp 180 million, while the PDS HB Jassin will sink out of life because it is only thrown by local government of Rp 50 million! I remembered the words of HB Jassin, who happens first is my undergraduate thesis adviser, "a waste of our work means to waste our lives, our history, past, present, and our future ... in fact Documentation is a tool to extend the memory, deepen, and expand it .... "

"Will Fauzi Bowo its service range in charge of this issue will review the decree of her? Or have felt" comfortable "because the moment will appear anyway kilograms of coins as a result of collecting donations from the community who are very concerned over this merananya PDS HB Jassin ? Let us look at joint development of the next story .... "

Now, the issue of PDS HB Jassin has become a movement "moral" to save the world literature in particular, literacy and the world generally. Some writers and literary lovers have even rolling the "Coins Literature."

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Is Scandinavian literature gloomy?

I read on another thread somewhere that Scandinavian literature tends to be gloomy, depressing, or dark. I wonder whether this is because Scandinavian authors sit brooding in log cabins wondering whether to commit suicide, or to murder someone and then write a crime novel about it; or whether this has something to do with typecasting and selective translation.

Scandinavian children's books, such as those by Astrid Lindgren and Tove Jansson are certainly not morbid, though Jansson does the occasional gesture towards a doom-laden atmosphere. Jansson's stories for adults are certainly not gloomy; they are in fact quite life-enhancing. The open sea and the skerries are not a setting for gloom.

Strindberg was the antithesis of gloomy. He was angry, provocative and so on. A satirist in his prose. But even during his Inferno Crisis, he would rage rather than brood. And his late plays bring reconciliation, not a resigned morbidity.

I think that if people switched off their gloom-detectors and read more widely, they would discover that Scandinavia has quite a broad range of moods in the various national literatures represented there. There are also, quite at random, the zaniness of Kandre and Edelfeldt; the legends of Lagerlöf; the dystopia of Boye; the books by Paasilinna; the everyday stories by Grytten; the sci-fi of Ajvide Lindqvist; fay poetry by Byggmästar; the Communist-Socialist poets such as Ågren, Diktonius, Wichman; the provocateur Donner; the leading Jewish literary critic Brandes; the gay and social critical novels of Kihlman; the "hackèd him in pieces smaw" aspect of the sagas, etc., etc.

If you focus on Ingmar Bergman the filmmaker, you can slant your perception of him depending on whether you look at earlier films, such as "Shame" and "The Silence" or the rumbustuous epic "Fanny and Alexander".

And if you read only a strict diet of Lagerkvist, Borgen, maybe Vesaas, Bjørneboe, Mörne, Dagerman, then watch a series of early Bergman films, you could certainly convince yourself that Scandinavia is cold, ice-bound, deeply depressed and depressing. But would you be doing the region justice?

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this article posted by eric in world literature forum. follow this topic here

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Granta 92: The View from Africa

Africa is too large and diverse for generalizations. It has fifty-four nations, five time zones, at least seven climates, more than 800 million people and, according to the latest diligent research, maybe 14 million proverbs. South Africa and Burkina Faso have as much in common as Spain and Uzbekistan. And yet people do generalize; Africa has become the continent of moral concern.

This issue of Granta contains fresh voices from Africa, in all their differences, as well as memoir and reportage which reflect the past and present of its people.


Contents:
John Ryle, Introduction: The Many Voices of Africa (read)
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Master
Moses Isegawa, The War of the Ears
Kwame Dawes, Passport Control
Segun Afolabi, Gifted
Binyavanga Wainaina, How to write about Africa (read)
Geert van Kesteren, The Ogiek
Ivan Vladislavic, Joburg
Adewale Maja-Pearce, Legacies
Nadine Gordimer, Beethoven Was One Sixteenth Black
Helon Habila, The Witch's Dog
Daniel Bergner, Policeman to the World
Santu Mofokeng, The Black Albums
Lindsey Hilsum, We Love China (read)
John Biguenet, Antediluvian

Visit the Granta official website http://www.granta.com/back-issues/92?usca_p=t

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Granta 97: Best of Young American Novelists 2

Granta's list of the twenty-one Best Young American Novelists is out now.

The spring issue of Granta magazine, Granta 97: 'Best of Young American Novelists 2', is devoted to their new work—a revealing insight into a new generation of American writing which shows, beside its talent, what bothers and inspires the imagination of modern America.

Read extracts from Granta 97, find out about the latest 'Best of Young American Novelists' events, post a comment below and buy copies of the magazine online.

Published in the US on April 24, 2007
ISBN-1-929-001-27-4

Published in the UK on May 10, 2007
ISBN-978-0-903141-92-5

Cover image: Paul Elliman

Comments

Asadollah Amraee
March 4 06:11

Granta and its publications and lists are in fact an exercise on behalf of contemporary literature, and it makes waves in the vast sea of contemporary fiction. I came across Granta with dirty realism, before those names acquired their present status as celebrities. Due to difficult situation in my war torn country providing copies of Granta was a difficult task. Normally, it took six or seven month to get a copy. I am in debt with Granta for introducing Many good writers, among them, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McEwan, Hanif Kureishi, Ben Okri, Edwidge Danticat, Raymond Carver, Tobias Wolff and many others. Although nowadays I will be aware early on Granta publications but it is still difficult to obtain. Normally I ask a visitor or a friend going abroad to buy me a copy and I pay him or her here. But it is worthy. I have all copies of granta since Dirty Realism. I hope to get the newly published Granta soon, but I have to wait a traveling visitor to go abroad, UK or the States.

a reader
March 4 18:01

I'm not sure that you guys noticed, but a few of these people have not yet published novels. So how does that work exactly?

memoirs & lgbt reader
March 5 15:49

Which young novelist is "Missing" from your list?

David Montalvo, boy with an 'i'

While his book has not yet captured book reviewers of The New York Times, it has done more - it has captured our generation. At least for me, it's unlike any book I've read and, to the underground art world, it's a remarkable media-comprehensive, passionate book.

S. Macalester
March 7 19:55

This list should be retitled, 'Best of Young American Novelists 2, With the Particularly Glaring Omission of Chris Adrian.'

David Reid
March 10 05:57

Why is it that great new writing always winds up being nothing more than words. There never is some great stylist whose phrasing takes writing to deeper depths,and newer truths. Everytime I hear about some great new writer and I read their stuff it usually winds up being nothing special. I realize that writing is an art form that can be taught,but not everyone can do it well. I want some great word play,not something that could have been written by any idiot with a decent grasp of the English language.

Balachandar A.
March 11 14:47

I observed that one of the Granta Magazines [I think about a decade ago] carried the price tag in Indian rupees. I have not noticed the price tag in Indian currency thereafter. Why not start marketing the magazine in India in Indian currency?

Elizabeth Ziemska
March 22 05:14

Love that Gary Shteyngart. He writes ecstatically, to paraphrase Updike on Nabokov, the way prose should be written. Not that I equate Shteyngart with Nabokov.... I have not read all the writers on your best-of list, but many of the ones I have read (won't mention), seem too studied, too polished, too self-aware, their voices rubbed smooth and mechanical after too many workshops. Perhaps that's just my taste, but I prefer early Will Self, early Martin Amis, late Lethem. But I admire your magazine. It's where I first encountered Tibor Fischer (if he would only get out of his way and write something he really care about).

Diana M. L.
March 23 13:35

The problem with this issue is it's a recapitulation of what we already know: these are the folks with two-book deals and scores of awards, brightly assembled in an array of ethnicities, genders, and writing styles. Like the Pepsi-Doritos logo the issue's cover evokes, this is material safe for consumption, vetted by focus groups, preserved in advance so it won't expire for at least five years. But for the readers of Granta, who I imagine are the few thousand people who keep very close tabs on the minutiae of the literary world, this group is already an old product, with only a slightly new, improved taste.

Not that these aren't some of the best, young novelists - sure, they are. But that fact has already been decided by publishing houses and awards committees. Perhaps I was mistaken, but I thought this issue was supposed to be decided by Granta's research team - where's the evidence of the work they did? Isn't there a great writer in the vast United States who Granta recognizes as brilliant that no agent has so far? What if publication in this issue was determined by anonymous submission from published authors? There seem to be so many ways in which this bag of chips could have been less stale.

Looking back on the 1996 list, one is left to wonder what its worth is, other than confirmation of what seemed like a safe bet a decade ago? There's far too many literary stars of that generation omitted - Mary Gaitskill, Jonathan Lethem, Claire Messud, Rick Moody, David Foster Wallace, just to name the most obvious - that it begs the question of the worth of such a collection of the best, young novelists in the first place. Well, at the very least these kinds of groupings make people excited about fiction and no writer can argue with that at all.

But what about creating an issue that is dedicated to what is actually new (since determining what is 'best' is always going to be too tricky and subjective)? What if you were to create an issue called Writers You Should Know About (But Don't Already). Its contents may not all last another decade, but I'm sure the material you unearth will be fresher, and to use one last metaphor, more organic.

Floyd Turbeaux
March 23 17:19

I have enjoyed all of the folks whose work I've read. They're talented and interesting and deserve wide recognition. That said, several of have never published a novel, and won't before they turn 35. An age restriction so tight that it requires fiddling with the other nominal criteria has pushed what was already a dubious exercise into the realm of self parody. And how did you deal with the obvious social ties between some of the authors and judges?

Jeff Edmunds
March 23 22:50

Tom Bissell is not on the list! In my mind he is the best young American writer today.

A. Balachandar
March 25 14:31

I am eagerly awaiting the Granta Magazine No.97 Best of Young American Novelists 2. I find Granta Magazine unique in its own way in the subjects covered and in the contents.

I look forward to Granta Magazine on Best of Young Indian Novelists in English.

Martin McKiernan
March 26 11:05

Why do I have to wait until May for issue 97!?! I have been diagnosed with Burn Out and I will have to spend sometime at home - a fresh dose of Granta will no doubt do me a power of good, may even keep me sane!

Sushma Joshi
March 31 07:27

The problem with American writing is that it gets alarming similarly in a very short period of time. Everybody eating in MacDonald's and watching the same TV channels. Everybody writing in first person. Everybody trying to emulate the 'spare' (read: boring) prose of Carver and Hemingway. Or else they're trying to emulate great novelists from some other tradition. Everybody thinking that an immigrant story deserves a big award--never mind how tediously it is written.

It is almost as if America needs the Russian emigres to brighten up their literary world--so yes, Shteyngart takes my vote. Viva Russia! Second prize to Nicole Krauss and Anthony Doerr, and third to Daniel Alarcon. After all, where would America be without the Latin/South Americans?

Kyle Minor
April 1 20:17

Bravo to Granta, for introducing writers like Kevin Brockmeier, Christopher Coake, Yiyun Li, etc., to the broader audience they deserve.

Stuart Gray
April 7 22:19

Love the cool linear design of this site, and found it easy to navigate. I really want to subscibe to this magazine... looks great. Amazing site!

Jonathan Waite
April 10 22:58

Once again Granta publishes a issue packed with immature and unimaginative writing, by enthusiatic and talented young writers with identikit CVs.

Sadly schools of Creative Writing do not teach creativity; rather than collecting lterary awards authors need to get a life.

A more worthwhile approach would require the abolition of arbritrary discrimination by date of birth and produce an issue for new novelists, writers publishing their first fiction at any age. Maybe some of the authors might have experienced more than the inside of a classroom.

Lynn Smith
April 14 15:28

In naming best young American novelists, Granta may have overlooked young writers who write for the YA audience. M.T. Anderson's _The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: the Pox Party (2006) is a masterpiece of literature which examines slavery, and the odd phenomenon here named "the College of Lucidity," in the pre-Revolutionary American colonies. Please please please read it.

Lynn Smith
School Librarian, retired

Lynn Smith
April 14 15:41

Thank you so very much for this list. One more note on YA writers -- Illiteracy is a huge threat to our nation (USA). To combat this, my highest goal is to help kids find books which they will love reading, relating to, and thinking about. YA writers are heroes. They are providing fabulous stories and material about issues relevant to kids' lives and written in their language. In my opinion this work will be a crucial factor in turning our country and our kids away from ignorance and inertia, and towards active thinking, caring, creative, responsible life.

P. Mohanan
April 19 07:12

Truth in a trasparent narration, that is what i felt reading Akhil. How sincere and simple he is dealing with the life, which is the protoplasm of his art. I am very much attracted to his writing. I am an author of 4 novels in Malayalam language of Kerala,South India.

Jane Librizzi
April 24 18:02

I have the same quarrel with this list, as with the first one: too few women. We're often told that men don't read fiction, but men keep telling women to read fiction written by men. This leaves more than half of life out, just as the slaves always know more about the masters than the masters know about the slaves. I wish you had included Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, Jhumpa Lahiri, ,Julie Otsuka, and Julie Hecht, just to name a few.

Asher McClinton
May 2 04:55

Although your list of young writers includes prodigious talents, I fear that your selection committee has made some egregious oversights, namely Emily Barton and Marisha Pessl whose debut novel was also listed as one of the ten best books of 2006. I can't fathom how a credible list of the most formiddable and promising writers under 40 could omit these two young women who put the vast majority of your list to shame.

David Stevenson
May 6 00:16

It's been noted earlier here, but to repeat: why not just use the word "writers"? Does the word "novelist" mean anything here, as you use it? Hint: in common usage it refers to persons who have written novels.

Valintino
May 18 04:18

Hello, Your site is great.

Amy Perez
July 6 16:31

Check out the link to the 1996 list and count the number of then 'best young novelists' who are still relevant today. I got three. Should give you an idea of how this year's list of critics darlings and ethnic flavors of the month will hold up in ten years.

Aidan K
July 21 19:34

Great idea, but no Dave Eggers??? Very odd, methinks.

Visit Granta official website www.granta.com

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