In this article The Dog Meows, The Cat Barks Eka Kurniawan
originally published in Literary Hub
Jan 06, 2026
Read the full article here.
originally published in Literary Hub
Jan 06, 2026
After the year we’ve had, there’s no predicting anything about the year that’s to come. But whatever else might be fated to happen (to us) in 2026, there will definitely be books, and a lot of them will be good. So in a spirit of hope and joy, here are the works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that the Lit Hub staff is most excited to pick up in the (first half of the) year ahead. Happy New Year, friends. Fingers crossed for a good one.
Eka Kurniawan, tr. Annie Tucker, The Dog Meows, the Cat Barks
New Directions, March 24
Eka Kurniawan’s Beauty is a Wound is an epic, polyphonic, multi-genre novel, hyperbolic and maximalist in its description of family and love. New Directions calls this new novel Kurniawan’s most “contemporarily relevant book.” Sato Reang has an idyllic childhood until his father forces into him into a life of Islamic piety. Though he initially obeys his father, his adolescence is full of dissent. It is “a psychologically timeless story—anyone who’s ever had an overbearing parent and resented them will relate.” I’m excited for this realist but no less adventurous book. –EF
Eka Kurniawan, tr. Annie Tucker, The Dog Meows, the Cat Barks
New Directions, March 24
Eka Kurniawan’s Beauty is a Wound is an epic, polyphonic, multi-genre novel, hyperbolic and maximalist in its description of family and love. New Directions calls this new novel Kurniawan’s most “contemporarily relevant book.” Sato Reang has an idyllic childhood until his father forces into him into a life of Islamic piety. Though he initially obeys his father, his adolescence is full of dissent. It is “a psychologically timeless story—anyone who’s ever had an overbearing parent and resented them will relate.” I’m excited for this realist but no less adventurous book. –EF
Read the full article here.
Lit Hub
