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The Question of Red Laksmi Pamuntjak, Indonesia Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 556 pages Amba loves Bhisma, a doctor and activist, but they are driven apart by the brutal vio- lence of General Suharto’s purge of Com- munists in Indonesia in 1965. 40 years later, Amba goes in search of Bhisma on the for- mer prison colony island of Buru. This skil- ful intertwining of a love story and a politi- cal novel charts a dark chapter in Indonesia’s history and is an epitaph for its victims, mir- roring the national epic narrative, the ‘Ma- habharata’. This is the most important Indo- nesian novel this season. Cornelia Zetzsche, literary editor, critic and broadcaster Young People in Kyrgyzstan (PDF) Available in German Marc Calmbach, Heide Möller-Slawinski This publication reports on qualitative research among young people and young adults in Kyrgyzstan. It offers insights into the values, attitudes, opinions and behavioural patterns of 14- to 24-year-olds in the country, providing a robust basis for the planned development of sustainable youth work in this Central Asian country. GIZ’s Experience in the Water and Sanitation Sector in Latin America Available in English and Spanish Daniela Pavía Santolamazza, Cornelia Gerhardt, Michael Rosenauer More than 34 million people in Latin America have no access to clean drinking water, and around 110 million lack adequate sanitation. Against this backdrop, the publication provides information about GIZ’s strategies and knowledge in this area, building on more than 10 years’ experience in the region. PHoto:2015TwentiethCenturyFox(PAGE44TOPLEFT) The Madman of Freedom Square Hassan Blasim, Iraq Translated from Arabic by Jonathan Wright Comma Press, 238 pages Dead souls haunt Baghdad, where tattooed missing limbs are an everyday occurrence and everything – including language and style – is falling apart. The master of the short story here draws ‘a thousand and one knives’, the title of another story in the collection. These stories tunnel deep into a country scarred by horror after decades of war. Ilija Trojanow, author 45akzente 4/15 Munk Ricardo Piglia, Argentina Available in German, translated from Spanish by Carsten Regling Verlag Klaus Wagenbach, 256 pages There are at least four different levels at work in this novel. It starts as a campus novel: an Argentinian author is broke, arrives at an elite American university and falls in love with a star student, who then dies. The novel turns into a detective story: was the death ac- tually murder? Meanwhile, it’s also a thriller. It’s a gripping read, but the metafiction is more interesting. For example, how can I write about a pine marten that looks at you ‘spitefully and scornfully, like a little monk with a black cloak and grey hood’? Ruthard Stäblein, literary critic and editor Litprom – the Society for the Promotion of African, Asian and Latin American Literature – provided the reviews for akzente. The titles were selected from Litprom’s list of best new novels. www.litprom.de INFO