The University of Iowa’s International Writers Program brought writers and photographers from Caracas and Sarajevo to tell stories together online last summer. The results of their collaboration, with translations into English, are now online. The photographers open up a window…
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…
Yesterday was St David’s Day, in self-imposed Finnish exile I’ll have to buy, not pick daffodils and sing the national anthem alone. It includes the immortal line: “O bydded i’r hen iaith barhau” (may the language endure for ever). Welsh…
Poland’s first Oscar for a ‘foreign language film’ went to Pawlikowski’s Ida this morning. Turning it from ‘foreign’ into English was not an easy process even for a film that the director, Paweł Pawlikowski, himself said in his acceptance speech…
If, like me, you still regret getting rid of your lovingly created mix cassette tapes, complete with breath of radio 1 DJ at the end of each song, even though you haven’t had anything to play them on for years,…
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…
Happy New Year! Happy birthday Asymptote! If you feel you didn’t get enough presents (and there’s still four days of Christmas left) or you didn’t make ambitious enough new year’s resolutions about reading more in as many languages as possible…
Sometimes someone makes you see something you know well in a new way. Oliver O’Brien’s Tube Tongues does just that. The UCL scholar mapped all the languages spoken at each London tube stop. It’s fascinating, and great for language learners…
found in translation 