NEW YORK (AFP) ― Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp has teamed up with HarperCollins to publish books that float his boat, some by famous and others by relatively unknown authors, the company said Tuesday.In the “Infinitum Nihil” collection “Depp will publish titles that reflect his diverse interests and passions,” HarperCollins said, in a statement released by its New York headquarters.“Infinitum Nihil will be a home for authentic, outspoken, and visionary ideas and voices, from authors

BERLIN (AFP) ― Chinese dissident author Liao Yiwu on Sunday tore into the leadership in Beijing, describing his homeland as an “inhuman empire with bloody hands” as he scooped a prestigious German book prize.The author, also known as Lao Wei, added that the Chinese state was a “massive scrap heap that must break apart” and accused the West of “colluding with the executioners under the cover of free trade.”Liao was speaking as he collected the German Book Trade Peace Prize, the country’s second h

South Korea has lifted a ban on the erotic novel “The 120 Days of Sodom” by the 18th-century French nobleman and writer the Marquis de Sade, just weeks after barring it for “extreme obscenity.”The Korea Publication Ethics Commission, a state review board, accepted an appeal by publishing house Dongsuh Press that the book had significant literary value, senior board official Jang Tag-hwan told AFP on Monday.“The commission auditors, after reviewing related documents submitted by the publisher, co

JERUSALEM (AP) ― After a long, tangled journey that Franz Kafka could have written about himself, an unseen treasure of writings by the surrealist author will be put on display and later online, an Israeli court ruled in documents released Sunday.Ownership of the papers had been in dispute after the Israeli National Library claimed them, over the wishes of two sisters who had inherited the vast collection of rare documents from their mother and insisted on keeping them.Friday’s ruling by the Tel

Literary forums featuring modern Korean literature will be held in Spain and France, according to the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea). The upcoming events in Europe follow LTI Korea’s two-day session forum held in the U.S. last week.The state-run organization kicked off its literary tour on Friday, holding its first sessions in Washington, D.C. Poet Oh Se-young and novelists Oh Jung-hee and Lee Hye-kyung attended the event, which was held at the Korean Cultural Center in Wa

It is another disappointing year for Ko Un, one of the nation’s most acclaimed living poets.He has been regarded as a potential winner for the Nobel Prize in literature by local media since 2002.As of Thursday, Korea remains the only country in Northeast Asia without a Nobel laureate in literature. Japan’s Oe Kenzaburo won the award in 1994 and now China claims a laureate in literature with Wednesday’s win by Mo Yan.“Oe Kenzaburo and Haruki Murakami have been vocal about international issues and

Like a Day of Feast, By Ko Un, (Changbi Publishers) Five poets selected 240 works by renowned poet Ko Un, who has been writing poems for the last 55 years, for publication. The newly published collection, titled “Like a Day of Feast,” is a joint project by poets Lee Si-young, Kim Seung-hee, Ahn Do-hyun, Park Seong-woo and Ko Hyeong-ryeol. Seoul National University professor emeritus Baek Nak-cheong also participated in the selection process.The collection begins with “Tuberculosis,” which is the

The Warrior’s Heart, By Eric Greitens, (Houghton Mifflin)Eric Greitens came from the humblest of beginnings to become a Rhodes scholar, a national boxing champion, a PhD, a Navy SEAL, an Iraq war veteran, a humanitarian and a bestselling author from writing about his experiences.Now the 38-year-old is back with “The Warrior’s Heart,” a young-adult adaptation of his bestselling memoir for adults, “The Heart and the Fist,” that offers living proof of its tag line: Becoming a Man of Compassion and

By Claire Lee Looking at her paintings is almost like watching a documentary about early 20th-century Korea. From a wedding feast in Korea’s countryside in 1921 to a picturesque night sky in Wonsan, Gangwon Province, British painter Elizabeth Keith (1887-1956)’s works exhibit her obvious attachment and understanding of Korean culture and its people. Some of her paintings, especially the portraits of the ordinary, are almost journalistic in nature, capturing the essence of her subjects. She drew