Harvill Secker International Writing Day, 27 February 2010
Foyles has joined forces with Harvill Secker to celebrate the breadth and diversity of contemporary international writing. Speakers will include A S Byatt on her life and work, Nicholas Shakespeare on the classics, Stuart Neville on crime and a rare appearance by Manuel Rivas. Ticket price includes a Harvill Secker goody bag, including a signed novel by Umberto Eco.
11.10am-12.10pm Books that Changed the World
Joseph O'Connor, Clare Clark and Nicholas Shakespeare discuss how literature has the power to change how we view the world and what this means in our media-weary age.
12.25pm-1.15pm Manuel Rivas
The celebrated Galician writer discusses his life and work in conversation with his translator Jonathan Dunne.
2.00pm-3.00pm A S Byatt
The Booker Prize-winning A S Byatt appears in conversation with Sam Leith.
3.15pm-4pm Crime Pays
Stuart Neville and Gene Kerrigan, chaired by Peter Guttridge, explore the question of why crime fiction is big business in every language.
4.15pm-5pm Lost in Translation
Is it really possible to translate a great work of fiction into another language? Or can a translation never be more than a shadow of the original? Alon Hilu , Xiaolu Guo and Tim Parks debate the perennial question of international writing, with Sarah Ardizzone in the chair.
Tickets are £18/£15 concessions. Click here for more information
Round-up of translated fiction prizes 2009
[From Times Online] The art – or craft – of translation is in good shape. New versions of the classics pour off the presses, and several smaller publishers – Hesperus, Dalkey Archive, Pushkin, Gallic and Quercus and Dedalus prominent among them – are busy commissioning translations of both new works and old. Translators tend to lament the fact that their work is either under-appreciated or only drawn attention to in order to be criticized. They have a point: the quality of their work appears to be high at the moment and, if as a nation of readers we in Britain remain insular or parochial, then there is less excuse for that than ever.
Click here to read the entire article on the Times Online website
'Best European Fiction 2010' January events at the South Bank Centre
In January Dalkey Archive will be launching the first in its annual 'Best of European Fiction' series with two exciting events at the South Bank Centre in London.
- Join Dalkey Archive and English PEN on Monday 18th January for 'A different window: reading European fiction', in which Aleksandar Hemon (editor of BEF 2010), AS Byatt and Tom McCarthy will discuss their personal readings of European writers such as Kafka and Nabokov and the impact of European fiction on their own writing. More information and tickets for this event are via the South Bank Centre
- Join contributing writers Andrej Blatnik, Jon Fosse and Christine Montalbetti on Wednesday 20th January for a discussion and readings from Best European Fiction 2010. From countries as different as Slovenia, Norway and France, their stories are united by experimentation, wit and iconoclasm. Marking the publication of newly translated stories from 32 European nations, this is a chance to celebrate the richly diverse literature being written in Europe today. More information and tickets for this event are via the South Bank Centre
English PEN's writers in translation programme supports the best in new international writing
A woman’s story in Afghanistan, the Jewish community in Baghdad, a collection of new short stories from the Arab world, and an important African memoir make the list for early 2010 support from English PEN.
Twice a year the Writers in Translation Committee of English PEN receives applications from publishers for awards to help them market, promote, champion and celebrate their translated books.
Writers in Translation is delighted to announce that the following books have received awards for early 2010 –
- Samuel Shimon (editor), Beirut 39: New Writing from the Arab World
- Atiq Rahimi, The Patience Stone
- Eli Amir, The Dove Flyer
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Dreams in a Time of War
Click here to read more about this project
The Poetry Society and The Ratiu Foundation
Corneliu M Popescu Prize for Poetry Translation 2009
And the winner is...
Professor Randall Couch took the winning prize of £1,500 for his translation of Gabriela Mistral's Madwomen.
Professor Couch flew in from America to receive his award at a prize giving ceremony at the Ratiu Family Charitable Foundation in London. 'It is a great honour and privelege to be in this company,' he commented. 'This is my first book and it's a great honour to have it recognised.'
Madwomen was selected from the shortlist by judges Elaine Feinstein and Stephen Romer.
Click here to read more about the prize
The Times Stephen Spender Prize for poetry in translation 2009
The winners and commended entries for the Times Stephen Spender Prize for poetry in translation have been announced on the Stephen Spender Memorial Trust website.
Click here to see the winners and commended entries
New imprint to promote Dutch literature
It's turning into the Year of the Dutch. Hot on the heels of the Go Dutch! promotion and tour comes news of Holland Park Press, a new imprint dedicated to publishing literary fiction and poetry in Dutch and English.
Visit the Holland Park Press website
Herta Mueller wins Nobel Prize for Literature
German author Herta Mueller has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Born in Romania, Mueller has written extensively about the harsh conditions of the Ceaucescu regime.
Her novels The Passport, Land of Green Plums and The Appointment have been translated into English.
Read more about Herta Mueller on the BBC website
London Book Fair's guest of honour for 2011
London Book Fair has announced that the market focus and guest of honour at the 2011 London Book Fair will be Russia.
The press release states: 'This decision has been taken in recognition of Russia's rapid growth in the publishing field in the past two decades, and following the success of the Russian Pavilion and Russian Literature Week, held in conjunction with The London Book Fair 2009.
'In preparation for Russia market focus and to promote collaboration in publishing, the Russian Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communication and the Russkiy Mir Fund are launching an unprecedented programme of grants to British publishers for translation of Russian literature into English.'
Deadline reminder and judges for the 2010 IFFP
The closing date for entries to the 2010 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize is 30 September 2009.
The panel for the 2010 prize comprises BBC presenter and journalist Kirsty Lang, author Tibor Fischer, translator and previous winner of the prize Daniel Hahn, Arts Council England literature officer Kate Griffin and journalist Boyd Tonkin.
Read more about the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
New publisher of Italian fiction in translation
Troubador Publishing has launched Troubador Storia, a new series showcasing Italian fiction in translation. The series launches with two classics and one contemporary novel – Honest Souls by Grazzia Deladda (trans. Jan Kozma), Don Giovanni in Sicily by Vitalino Brancati (trans. Corrada Biazzo Curry) and Techniques of Seduction by Andrea de Carlo (trans. Paula Geldenhuys).
The new imprint complements the Troubador Italian Studies series of literary, historical and cultural titles. Managing Director Jeremy Thompson says, 'There is so much excellent quality Italian literature that never makes it into English – an Italian Publishers' Association survey launched at the 2009 London Book Fair showed that the export of Italian fiction to the UK market was pitifully low. We hope this series goes some way to redressing that imbalance.'
Troubador Storia will publish up to three original translations a year. Each new title includes additional material in the form of either an introduction, author interview or foreword that sets the book in context, and highlights the importance of the text within Italian culture.
Tahar Ben Jelloun in London
Tahar Ben Jelloun was in London in June to talk about his new novel Partir (Leaving Tangier, published by Arcadia).
You can listen to him in conversation with Boyd Tonkin via interpreter Georgia de Chamberet on the Institut Francais website.
Listen to Tahar Ben Jelloun's talk
CWA International Dagger winner
The 2009 Crime Writers Association International Dagger has been awarded to The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas, translated from French by Sian Reynolds (Harvill Secker).
The other shortlisted titles were:
Shadow by Karin Alvtegen, translated by McKinley Burnett, (Canongate)
Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indriðason, translated by Bernard Scudder and Victoria Cribb (Harvill Secker)
The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson, translated by Reg Keeland (MacLehose Press)
The Redeemer by Jo Nesbø, translated by Don Bartlett (Harvill Secker)
Echoes from the Dead by Johan Theorin, translated by Marlaine Delargy (Doubleday)
Visit the Crime Writers Association website to find out more
Rainy Season now available
Daniel Hahn's translation of José Eduardo Agualusa's Rainy Season was published by Arcadia in June.
An appendix to the novel features the translator's diary, which first appeared as a blog on this website.
2009 Oxford Weidenfeld Translation Prize winner announced
Anthea Bell has won the 2009 Oxford Weidenfeld Translation Prize for her translation of Sasa Stanisic's How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone (Weidenfeld and Nicolson).
The other shortlisted titles were:
David Colmer, for Gerbrand Bakker's The Twin (Harvill Secker)
Sarah Death, for Alexander Ahndoril's The Director (Portobello Books)
Christine Donougher, for Sylvie Germain's Magnus (Dedalus Books)
Michael Hofmann, for Fred Wander's The Seventh Well (Granta Books)
Marek Tomin, for Emil Hakl's Of Kids and Parents (Twisted Spoon Press)
Guest judge Hermione Lee said:
'Anthea Bell has done a remarkable translation of an astonishing first novel by a young Bosnian-German novelist. Stanisic’s novel, sprawling, picaresque, exclamatory, surreal, and bursting with high spirits, uncovers, through its comic rush of language and images and story-telling, the appalling history of violence, cruelty, exile and loss in the Bosnian-Serbian wars of the 1990s. The translation feels free-flowing, natural and colloquial, and never flags in energy and vigour.'
Arts Council funding for translation publishers
Arts Council England has awarded a number of grants to independent publishers Bitter Lemon Press, Banipal Publishing, Peter Owen Publishers and Pushkin Press.
Moira Sinclair, Executive Director of Arts Council England, London said, 'These four publishers are producing a huge variety of work and there is bound to be something for everyone: thrillers, challenging classics, politically engaged work – some from less familiar cultures and locations. We hope all the projects will help people to discover new worlds and to enjoy recognising similar themes as well as surprising differences.'
Amanda Love Darragh wins the Rossica Prize
The 2009 Rossica Prize has been awarded to Amanda Love Darragh for her translation of Maria Galina's novel Iramifications (Glas).
The £5,000 prize, which celebrates the best new translations of high-quality literay work into English, is split between the transaltor and the publisher.
The inaugural Rossica Young Translators Prize - for the best English translation of a passage of contemporary Russian literature - was awarded to James Rann.
Colombian novel wins Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2009
The Armies, one of two Colombian novels on this year's shortlist (both translated by Anne McLean), was announced as the winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2009 at a ceremony in Tate Britain on 14 May.
The author, Evelio Rosero (who was unable to attend the event), and Anne McLean each received £5,000 and a limited edition magnum of Taittinger champagne.
To hell with translation
To Hell with Publishing is bringing new writing of all kinds by new and established writers to our attention via a proposed series of 26 themed journals. The third ('C') is called Outside and features extracts from authors 'considered "classics" in their native languages and often translated into dozens of languages around the world, but who remain unknown to the English reader' – so says editor Lisa India Baker.
Outside includes work by Francesc Seres, Helmut Krausser, Luciano Bianciardi, Albert Balasch, Alex Dermatis, Laia Fabregas, Oleg Zaionchkovsky, Mario Mendoza, Jan Arends and Fflur Dafydd.
To Hell with Journals are endorsed by Hanif Kureishi, Andrew O'Hagan and many others. You'll probably spot that many of the contributors (and the editors) have a Faber connection, but this is a distinct and fascinating venture all of its own.
Antonia Lloyd-Jones wins Found in Translation prize
Found in Translation is an annual prize given for the best translation of Polish literature to English language.
This year’s award will go to Antonia Lloyd-Jones, for her translation of Pawel Huelle’s book The Last Supper (Ostatnia wieczerza, published by Serpent’s Tail in 2008), a novel raising fundamental questions about the nature of belief in modern society.
Antonia Lloyd Jones will receive the prize from Pawel Huelle himself during the European Literature Night in the British Library on 13 May.
The book has been praised by literature critics both for Huelle’s writing and Lloyd Jones’ translation. Boyd Tonkin in the Independent wrote: 'An intelligent, intriguing and atmospheric novel worthy of its inspiration. It is admirably served by Antonia Lloyd-Jones' nuanced and readable translation'.
Barbara Wright
The distinguished translator of French literature died on 3 March 2009.
Read an obituary in the Independent
Beijing Coma wins Index on Censorship award
Ma Jian's Beijing Coma, already in the running for the 2009 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, has been awarded the TR Fyvel Book Award at the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards.
2009 International Impac Dublin Literary Award
Of the eight titles shortlisted for the 2009 Impac Award, two are translations: Roy Jacobson's The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles (Norwegian; Don Shaw and Don Bartlett) and Jean Echenoz's Ravel (French; Linda Coverdale).
International Prize for Arabic Fiction winner announced
The winner of the 2009 IPAF, Beelzebub by Yusuf Zeydan (Dar al Shorouk, Egypt), was announced on 16 March 2009 at an awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
The shortlisted titles were:
Hunger by Mohammad Al Bisati (Al Adab, Egypt)
The Unfaithful Translator by Fawwaz Haddad (Riad el Rayyes, Syrian)
The American Granddaughter by Inaam Kachachi (Al Jadid, Iraq)
Time of White Horses by Ibrahim Nasrallah (Arab Scientific Publishers, Jordan-Palestine)
The Scents of Marie-Claire by Al-Habib Al-Salmi (Al Adab, Tunisia)
Beelzebub by Yusuf Zeydan (Dar al Shorouk, Egypt)
Each shortlisted title received $10,000. The winner received an additional $50,000
Read the press release about the IPAF winner
2009 Best Translated Book Awards announced by Three Percent
Three Percent, the website based at the University of Rochester, NY to promote international literature in the US, has announced the winners of its 2009 Best Translated Book Awards.
For fiction, the award goes to Tranquility by Attila Bartis, trans. from Hungarian by Imre Goldstein.
For poetry, the award goes to For the Fighting Spirit of the Walnut by Takashi Hiraide, trans from Japanese by Sawako Nakayasu.
Neither book has a UK publisher.
Find out more about the Awards and Three Percent
Ina Rilke wins translation prize
Ina Rilke has been awarded the Flemish Cultural Prize for Translation.
Described as a true ambassador of Dutch-language literature in the Anglo-Saxon literary world, Rilke was presented with the prize (worth €12,500) at a ceremony in Hasselt, Belgium on Monday 2 February 2009.
Among her many translations, her work with Erwin Mortier was particularly singled out.
Read a review of Mortier's Shutterspeed
Read a review of Beyond Sleep by WF Hermans
Five Dials highlights the work of translators
The fifth issue of Hamish Hamilton's online quarterly Five Dials features translators Anthea Bell, Paul Wilson, Gail Armstrong and Howard Goldblatt talking about their work.
Five Dials is available to download for free at www.hamishhamilton.co.uk
Sarah Ardizzone wins Marsh Award again
On 20 January Anthony Horowitz presented Sarah Ardizzone with the Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation and a cheque for £2,000 for her translation of Toby Alone by Timothée de Fombelle (Walker Books).
Sarah Ardizzone (née Adams) was born in Brussels in 1970 and lives in London with her husband. Having originally trained at the Jacques Lecoq School in Paris, Sarah began translating books in 1997. She won the Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation (2005) for Eye of the Wolf by Daniel Pennac.
Find out more about the Marsh Award
Dalkey Archive's new Fellowships in Applied Translation
Dalkey Archive Press, at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), will be offering two or three Fellowships in Applied Translation, beginning in the fall of 2009.
The Fellowships are open to any student with at least a BA who wishes to gain practical experience and training in literary translation (from any language into English) and publishing. These fellowships are oportunities for paid training in translation and require fellows to reside in Champaign-Urbana for 12 months.
Read more about the fellowships (Adobe Acrobat .doc 40.1Kb)
Looking for translated children's fiction?
Outside In: Children's Literature in Translation was published by Milet Books in 2005. A new website, www.outsideinworld.org.uk, showcases reviews from the book as well as other information about world literature for young people.
Amazon launches Literature in Translation store
Amazon.co.uk has launched a new Literature in Translation store, highlighting hundreds of titles from 27 countries across the world. The site went live last week and is linked via the books homepage and the crime, fiction and poetry category pages. It offers spotlights on authors such as Jose Saramago and Isabel Allende, and publishers such as Gallic Books, Dedalus and Bitter Lemon Press.
Kes Nielsen, head of book buying, said that sales of the genre had been growing in recent years. "By creating a dedicated Literature in Translation section on site, we are making it easy for our customers to discover a wide selection of great books by new authors from different countries that we hope they will enjoy," he said.
"Customers will always respond to well written books, regardless of whether they were originally written in English. However there is also the appeal of reading fiction set in cities or countries that are either familiar based on travel or that are simply different to the traditional setting of most books, specifically the US and UK. It can make them all the more exciting to read."
The site will also feature a chart of its bestselling titles in translation.
German Book Prize winner announced
Uwe Tellkamp has been awarded the German Book Prize for his 1,000-page novel Der Turm (The Tower). The book chronicles the dying days of the Democratic Republic through the eyes of a middle-class soldier. Anyone fancy translating it?!
2008 Translation Prizes
Poetry dominated the 2008 Translation Prizes, which were presented by Sir Peter Stothard, editor of the Times Literary Supplement, at a ceremony in London on 29 September.
Find out more about the prizes
EU cuts subsidies to European translation centres
The Translators Association notes that 'the European Union (internal translation budget estimated at €1 billion) has decided to cut its subsidies to Europe’s translation centres, which offer residencies to literary translators and play a key role in bringing together translators and authors.
'There are more than 12 centres in Europe which enable translators to work in the countries of the authors they are translating and gain a deeper knowledge of the language and culture, to take part in translator training initiatives and public events, or simply to concentrate unhindered on their very demanding task.
'The European Council of Literary Translators Associations (CEATL) is shocked and outraged by this decision not to support the translation centres, which is in blatant contradiction with the very idea of a multilingual, multicultural Europe, where the work of literary translators is fundamental for mutual understanding, not only in literature but also in the fields of philosophy, science, the social sciences, fine arts, cinema and theatre.'
The Maias wins again
Having won the $3,000 PEN/Book of the Month Translation Prize, Margaret Jull Costa's translation of The Maias by Eça de Queiroz (Dedalus) has now been awarded the Oxford Weidenfeld Translation Prize.
Helen Dunmore, who presented the prize on 5 June, said:
'Eça de Queiroz spent eight years writing The Maias. This is a novel in the tradition of Flaubert or Dickens, in which de Queiroz anatomizes a society through a brilliant drama of a family’s decline and downfall.
'Margaret Jull Costa’s translation is supple, transparent and wonderfully paced. There seems to be no barrier at all between the reader and what the author intended. The novel shades from realism to romanticism, from satire to tragedy. The vigour and charm of the characters come across beautifully in this translation, and so does de Queiroz’s biting, sometimes despairing view of Lisbon society in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.'
UK translator wins Swedish Academy's Interpretation Prize
Sarah Death, who has been translating Swedish literature for more than twenty years and also edits the Swedish Book Review, has been awarded the Swedish Academy's Interpretation Prize.
The prize, which was first awarded in 1965, is for a body of translation work rather than a single book and can be given to a translator out of Swedish into any other language.
