This seems like as good a place as any to put in one of my semi-annual plugs for Writings from an Unbound Europe, published by my charming friends at Northwestern University. They oh so humbly describe their project as "the most comprehensive series of literature in translation into any language from the former Communist countries of Eastern Europe. The series makes available to the English-reading public the most interesting and vital works of contemporary prose and poetry from this region. To date, it includes titles from Bosnia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine."  Maybe DoDo can write them with some geographical corrections...  

This is where I first learned of Dubravka Ugresic, who is now one of my favorite writers.

And in the latest incidence of inevitably crossed paths, it appears Hemon is now teaching at ... Northwestern University.  

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.