Thank You for Not Reading (Verboden te lezen!)

Winner of the Neustadt Prize

Originally published in Dutch as Verboden te lezen! (Breda, 2001)

Thank You for Not Reading is a biting critique of book publishing: agents, subagents, & scouts, supermarket-like bookstores, Joan Collins, book fairs that have little to do with books, authors promoted because of sex appeal instead of merit, & editors trying to look like writers by having their photograph taken against a background of bookshelves. 

Nowadays, the best strategy for young authors wanted to publish is to become famous in some other capacity first—as a sports star, an actress, or an Ivana Trump.

One of the most interesting and paradoxical comparisons coming out of Ugresic's dissection of book culture is the similarity between the art of socialist realism (as prescribed by the Soviets) & the nature of the contemporary marketplace to produce & promote art that appeals to everyone. 

Thanks to cultural forces like listicles & celebrity book clubs, the publishing machine neglects literature in favor of accessible, entertaining books for the masses.

Dubravka Ugresic is a writer of novels (Baba Yaga Laid An Egg, The Ministry of Pain), short story collections (Lend Me Your Character, In the Jaws of Life) & books of essays (Nobody’s Home, Thank You for Not Reading, The Culture of Lies). Born in the former Yugoslavia, Ugresic took a firm anti-nationalistic stand when war broke out in 1991, & she was proclaimed a “traitor,” a “public enemy,” & a “witch,” & was exposed to harsh & persistent media harassent. As a result, she left Croatia in 1993 & currently lives in Amsterdam.

Celia Hawkesworth is the translator of numerous works of Serbian, Croatian, & Bosnian literature. 

Damion Searls is a translator from German, Norwegian, French, & Dutch & a writer in English.