The Women’s World Cup of Literature kicks off today, with a Francophone first fixture. I wasn’t the only one to be both delighted by a world cup I really wanted to follow last year, but complain about the lack of female…
The Women’s World Cup of Literature kicks off today, with a Francophone first fixture. I wasn’t the only one to be both delighted by a world cup I really wanted to follow last year, but complain about the lack of female…
Jenny Erpenbeck’s The End of Days, translated by Susan Bernofsky, has variously been described as brutal, haunting, and dreamlike, unvarnished and the work of a miniaturist. It’s all that and more. And it’s a very fitting first German winner of…
St George is England’s patron saint – and Catalonia’s. April 23, his day is traditionally when Catalans celebrate all kinds of love, by giving red roses, as St George is supposed to have given one to the princess he saved from the…
When should you say no to translation? Sometimes saying yes can be just too dangerous – the translator is drawn into an ethical dilemma or puts their life at risk. For a fascinating discussion of this issue with experts in…
“My work is very chic, like a luggage set: the large suitcase, my novels; two medium-sized cases, my Diary and my plays; the small case, my short stories.” (Witold Gombrowicz) Danuta Borchardt’s translation of Gombrowicz’s Transatlantyk is on the PEN Translation Prize Longlist. Yet again she…
Penguin turns 80 this year, and, to celebrate, has published 80 extracts of its classics for 80p. Since I myself only recently became reunited with my Penguin 60s (yes, 60 mini books for 60p, 20 years ago, now on their…
If Paris calls London “alarmingly elegant”, it’s worth taking another look. Especially if it’s in translation from all around the globe. This month’s online issue of The White Review is a box of delights. I like to claim my favourites first,…
What was last year’s best translation? You have a few days left to cast your vote here. This poll is more democratic than most, as the short list is extended by other people’s suggestions. If you were choosing by the author name alone, the…
A thing of beauty was released into the world today. It was already there, but now more people can read it. The first five volumes of the Murty Classical Library of Indian literature are now published: 2 millennia of culture…