Congratulations to all five shortlisted translators for this year's Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize! www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/ku...

A thinker for our time.

Hannah Arendt by Thomas Meyer, translated by @shelfrisch.bsky.social, reexamines one of the most influential political minds of the twentieth century. On sale 8/11.

Learn more: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/609267...

#HannahArendt

Some dog is getting shot tonight.

FDA won’t review Moderna application for first mRNA-based flu vaccine The decision, which shocked company officials, comes as the FDA says it will take a stricter approach to federal vaccine approvals.

So the feds ARE NOT considering an mRNA vaccine for the flu, which could save countless lives, but ARE backing research into whether horse dewormer can cure cancer, because the right views vaccines as elite and ivermectin as populist.

Cool.
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

My son was just laid off as Berlin bureau chief for WaPo. I grieve for the world of journalism and for where our country is headed.

Today is a dark day for American journalism. Some of the best reporters and editors around the globe have been laid off by the Washington Post. The news-consuming public will pay the price.

My job wasn't spared. It's been the honor of a lifetime to be Berlin bureau chief, if only for 6 months.

Naples 1925: A Critical Year for Philosophy – SUN NEWS AUSTIN Image: Mt. Vesuvius, near Naples This unusual book prompted a lengthy essay in The New Yorker magazine on Nov. 25, 2024. It was written by the editor of Granta, Thomas Meaney, and I will not presume to improve upon that analysis here. I will however, offer some thoughts, fractal in nature, that migh...

Naples 1925 by Martin Mittelmeier (trans. Shelley Frisch) is “highly recommended” by Sun News Austin.

Today I learned Noem's full name is Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem

Her initials are KLAN

Fitting

This @aaronwiener.bsky.social piece captures a lot of conversations I've had with Germans lately, friends and near-strangers – they've spent their lives looking at the US as an ally and model, and now feel bereft and confused. And I don't have anything comforting to say at the moment.

First victim shot dead by ICE in Minneapolis was named GOOD; today's fatal victim is named PRETTI. Who will ICE aim at next: WISE? The symbolism in these horrific acts seems inescapable.

In populist split, Trump’s fans in Europe broke with him on Greenland The European far right’s pushback showed the limits of the president’s with-me-or-against-me politics, a key obstacle to cooperation among nationalist parties.

“Unacceptable.” “Intolerable.” A “hostile act.” A “mistake.”

Trump's Greenland stance has alienated even his strongest supporters in Europe: the leaders of right-wing nationalist parties.

www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/0...

Norman Bated breath.

That news warms this future reader's heart!I *just* submitted my revised Arendt ms. after responding to production ed.'s queries & catching a few bloopers on my own--now I'm trying to figure out how to savor my free time, however temporary it turns out to be! Good luck making it to the finish line!

Is this you, putting the finishing touches on one Wilder or another??

Happy birthday, dear Ruth!!

Hannah Arendt: A Life of the Mind Hannah Arendt: A Life of the Mind [Meyer, Thomas, Frisch, Shelley] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Hannah Arendt: A Life of the Mind

My translation of Thomas Meyer's Hannah Arendt biography has entered the hallowed halls of Amazon, and will be published by Penguin in August: www.amazon.com/Hannah-Arend...

Germany’s anti-immigrant AfD party finds open door in Trump’s America Some German lawmakers want to ban Alternative for Germany, but the party has been embraced in Washington, and some of its leaders see Trump’s path to power as a road map.

A member of parliament from the right-wing Alternative for Germany party (AfD) was sure his presentation to the State Department would be canceled after news broke of a Nazi-linked serenade.

Then he got a phone call from a senior State Dept. staffer...

www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...

Remember the part in the old Peter Pan play where Peter tells the boys and girls in the audience that if they all just clap harder they can save Tinkerbell?

That's what Trump's Cabinet Meeting reminded me of. A bunch of children wildly applauding him, all in an effort to bring him back to life.

A wonderful, heartening moment for me as well when Tom Stoppard selected our Billy Wilder on Assignment book as a TLS Book of the Year! RIP Tom Stoppard.

Congratulations, Ruth!!!

David Bellos, renowned scholar of French fiction and ‘totally brilliant translator,’ dies at age 80 His work grappled with the tricky nature of interpreting between languages and embraced the potential of language itself to help us understand the human condition.

A statement about David Bellos just issued by his department: www.princeton.edu/news/2025/11...

I attended this terrific panel on the nature of truth, lies, and bullshit-- and how AI accelerates the proliferation of bullshit.

German far-right activist seeks asylum in U.S. as Trump ties deepen Social media influencer Naomi Seibt, a supporter of the nationalist AfD party, said she is being persecuted in Germany for her political views.

A prominent far-right German activist has applied for political asylum in the U.S., as the Trump administration has signaled plans to prioritize protections for White refugees and Europeans who claim they are being targeted for their populist views.

Thanks, Jeffrey-- it was quite sudden, during his sabbatical in France. Hard to wrap my mind around this.

RIP to a dear friend and eminent scholar, David Bellos.

When Donald Trump Razed the Bonwit Teller Building, He Promised the Met Its Art Deco Friezes. A New Book Details How He Pulverized Them Instead | Artnet News Read an excerpt from the book 'Art and Crime: The Fight Against Looters, Forgers, and Fraudsters in the High-Stakes Art World.'

Posting for no reason

news.artnet.com/art-world/do...

Happy birthday, Hannah Arendt!

Time magazine cover featuring a photo of Trump from a dramatically low angle HIS TRIUMPH by ERIC CORTELLESSA THE LEADER ISRAEL NEEDED by EHUD BARAK HOW GAZA HEALS

Just in case the dramatically low Leni Riefenstahl-style angle was too subtle, they used a word from her most famous movie

Last Letters: The Prison Correspondence between Helmuth James and Freya von Moltke, 1944-45 (New York Review Books Classics) Amazon.com: Last Letters: The Prison Correspondence between Helmuth James and Freya von Moltke, 1944-45 (New York Review Books Classics): 9781681373812: von Moltke, Helmuth Caspar, von Moltke, Johannes, von Moltke, Dorothea, Frisch, Shelley, Seiffert, Rachel: Books

www.amazon.com/Last-Letters...

A translation into English of EFFINGERS (by Sophie Duvernoy) is coming out next month in the US!