The Korean-language translation of French writer Marquis de Sade’s 1785 novel, “The 120 Days of Sodom,” has been officially banned in Korea, for its “extremely violent” and “disturbing” sexual content. It is the second time that the book, dealing with orgies and torture, has been banned by the government. The book was published here on Aug. 15 by local publishing house Dongsuh Press. Korea Publication Ethics Commission, a state review board, started investigating the book on Aug. 16, after a man

Drinking Diaries: Women Serve Their Stories Straight UpEdited by Leah Odze Epstein and Caren Osten Gerszberg(Seal Press)Everyone, it seems, has a drinking story, even teetotalers, and in this anthology of essays, 28 women tell theirs.“Drinking Diaries: Women Serve Their Stories Straight Up,” edited by Leah Odze Epstein and Caren Osten Gerszberg (Seal Press, 268 pages, $16), is wide-ranging, with women musing about their own drinking, their parents’ drinking and their good-for-nothing boyfriends’

ROTC Kills: PoemsBy John Koethe (Harper Perennial)In his new collection, John Koethe opens by contemplating “the impossible world from which I’m absent” with a “sudden stab of fear,” aware that the “never-ending sentences” he creates will one day actually end.At 66, Koethe has earned his moments of dread, as well as his right to look back in anger, disappointment and bitterness. “ROTC Kills” takes its provocative title from a Harvard student strike poster of 1969, whose countercultural idealism

Last fall, Chris Fischbach suggested to Hans Weyandt that his blog might make a good book. Weyandt only laughed.Fischbach was on his way to Germany to attend the Frankfurt Book Fair, and Weyandt joked, “If you bring me back some gummy bears, we’ll call it a deal.”A week or two later, Fischbach showed up again, jet-lagged, perhaps, but persistent, and holding a sticky bag of gummy bears.That is the short version of how Weyandt’s blog, “Mr. Micawber Enters the Internets,” turned into “Read This! H

Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka says writers should defend human freedoms with languageGYEONGJU, North Gyeongsang Province ― Nobel laureates and writers on Monday stressed the importance of freedom of speech and their members who are currently imprisoned, at the opening of the 78th International PEN Congress in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province.One PEN International member in Beijing, Jiao Guobiao, has been prevented by the Chinese government from attending the literary event in Gyeongju, said PEN

BERLIN (AFP) ― Germany’s former first lady, Bettina Wulff, denies she ever worked as an escort in a book to be published Wednesday, seven months after the ex-president stepped down over a political favors scandal.In a chapter entitled “The Rumours,” 38-year-old Wulff seeks to snuff out stories that have swirled about an alleged previous life suggesting she worked as call girl under the pseudonym “Lady Viktoria.” The former PR executive, who married Christian Wulff in 2008 and with whom she has a

Literary forum discusses issues concerning media and human rights with Nobel laureates GYEONGJU, North Gyeongsang Province ― The 78th International PEN Congress opened on Monday in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, kicking off a seven-day event focusing on issues of media, literature and human rights. A London-based international association of writers, PEN International has been hosting the congress, which consists of networking and literary events and lectures, in different cities around th

The Other WomanBy Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge) Myriad “other women” form an ever-widening circle of political intrigue in award-winning author Hank Phillippi Ryan’s highly entertaining hardcover debut.Politics, dirty campaigns and compromised candidates are a compelling plot foundation in any year, but especially in this presidential election year. Ryan combines both a timely tale and a multi-layered plot with gripping suspense. “The Other Woman” works well as a political thriller and romantic su

The Devil in SilverBy Victor LaValle (Spiegel & Grau)Nobody is his or her own best editor, not even the writer of this review, so you wonder whether Victor LaValle didn’t get advice about his third novel, “The Devil in Silver,” or simply chose to ignore it. It’s sad, really, because what might have been a first-rate thriller about madness, corruption and monsters in a Queens asylum is too glib to get a reader fully committed, no pun intended, although it’s a great example of how an author can be

Picture a film shoot somewhere in Canada. On one side of a swimming pool, the gear, the crew and most of the cast; on the other side, Molly Ringwald. They’re shooting the rest of the scene before her part, so she sits on a box to wait. She begins tapping on her phone, and as the hours pass, that’s all she does: Sit on the box, tapping. By the time the camera turns her way, she has finished the first draft of “When It Happens to You,” the impassioned, clever title story of her first book of ficti

When Miroslav Penkov moved to the United States from Bulgaria just short of his 19th birthday, he was so insecure about his accented English that he’d often rehearse conversations in his head. In line at the grocery store, before ordering a Coke on the airplane, even when talking to peers, Penkov turned over the phrase dozens of times.That experience of being an outsider in a foreign country would define him as a writer ― and make Penkov, 29, a rising literary star.His collection of short storie