25 years ago, the Berlin Wall came down. 9 November might seem like a good date to celebrate German reunification, but because the same day in 1938 saw the burning of synagogues and destruction of Jewish property across Germany, they…
Blog Archives
The space between: After the Berlin Wall fell
Tagged with: 9 November 1989, Berlin Wall, books, German, history, Jewish, Literature, Michael Hulse, Russian, Russian Disco, Translation, Wladimir Kaminer
Posted in books, history, international, literature
Posted in books, history, international, literature
Suspended Sentences: New translation of Modiano
A new translation of 2014 Nobel Laureate Patrick Modiano’s stories, Suspended Sentences, comes out next month. The translator, Mark Polizotti, also happens to be publisher in chief of MoMa. These novellas are needed: Modiano in English and in print is very hard to…
Tagged with: books, cinema, Flemish, French, history, Literature, Louise Colpijn, Mark Polizotti, Nobel Prize for Literature, Patrick Modiano, Second World War, Suspended Sentences, Translation
Posted in books, cinema, history, literature, translation
Posted in books, cinema, history, literature, translation
Finland: Cool or Weird?
Finland is this year’s guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair. This opens up Finnish literature to a German-speaking and global audience, with lots of great authors and over 60 translators in attendance. Finnland: Cool. I have to say, I DON’T like the…
Tagged with: David Hackston, Finnish, Finnish Weird, Finnland:Cool, Frankfurt Book Fair 2014, German, Johanna Sinisalo, Lola Rogers, Salla Simukka, Timo Parvela, Tove Jansson, Translation
Posted in books, literature, translation
Posted in books, literature, translation
Banned Books Week: Censored! Pippi and Tintin
This week (21-27 September) is Banned Books Week. It’s a chance – particularly in the States – to celebrate the freedom to read. What gets banned isn’t always what you expect, and it’s very contextual. In this regard, the Finnish Library Channel’s calendar…
Tagged with: banned Books Week, Belgian, Bible, Finnish, French, Pippi Longstocking, Russian, Swedish, Tintin
Posted in Banned Books Week, books, international
Posted in Banned Books Week, books, international
Scotland: “If only hitting on the right judgment/were instinctive to humankind!”
Today Scotland votes on independence. As a Welsh neighbour who lived in Scotland for half a decade, I’d love to be voting, but it’s not for me to decide. It’s still a good day to read some Scottish Gaelic poetry, though.…
Tagged with: An Tuil/The Flood, Book of the Dean of Lismore, Gaelic, German, Katherine Whyte Grant, Meg Bateman, Poetry, Ronald Black, Scotland, Scottish Referendum, Translation
Posted in books, international, literature, poetry, Scotland Referendum, translation
Posted in books, international, literature, poetry, Scotland Referendum, translation
Williams translating Williams
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has a new book of poems out this month, first presented at the Edinburgh Book Festival, where I got my hands on a copy. The Other Mountain, published by Carcanet, includes a couple of…
Tagged with: books, Edinburgh Book Festival, Literature, Poetry, Rowan Williams, The Other Mountain, Translation, Waldo Williams, Wales, Welsh
Posted in books, Edinburgh Festival, faith, literature, poetry, translation, Uncategorized
Posted in books, Edinburgh Festival, faith, literature, poetry, translation, Uncategorized
as red as blood
In preparation for my next Finnish exam, I’ve been devouring teen literature; the action is usually breathless enough to compensate for my slower reading pace. But when I went to take Ilkka Auer’s Ice-Witch ones back and get As Red…
Tagged with: As Red As Blood, books, Fantasy, Finnish, Ilkka Auer, Literature, Owen Witesman, Salla Simukka, Snow White, Translation
Posted in books, translation
Posted in books, translation
freedom is the best thing: Tove is 100!
Tove Jansson was born 100 years ago today. If you live in Finland, you won’t have missed the anniversary Moomin mugs (with donations to UNICEF), the large and splendid retrospective of her work at the Ateneum national art gallery, or the…
Tagged with: Ateneum, Finnish, ICA, Moomins, Tove Jansson, Tuula Karjalainen, Work and Love
Posted in books, Illustration, international, literature, Tove Jansson Centenary, translation
Posted in books, Illustration, international, literature, Tove Jansson Centenary, translation
stories from home: books for unaccompanied migrant children
Reading stories in translation opens up the world to places you could never go to. For some people however, the place they can never go to is back home. More and more children are migrating into the US from Latin…
