Romanian poet Nina Cassian died one month ago today. (Here she is reading her work, and here’s a great poem she wrote in New York exile). She also translated Brecht, Molière and Shakespeare, but was especially proud of her translation of…
Blog Archives
European literature night 2014: words, pictures, and wheels
With a mission to bring new books from around the continent to the people, tonight is the sixth European literature night. In co-operation with 28 European National Institutes for Culture, the Czech organisers have brought the event to 24 cities this…
Tagged with: Belgian, bike, British Library, Czech, Europe, European Literature Night, Finnish, German, graphic novels, Iceland, Illustration, Judith Vanistendael, Kaisa Leka, Line Hoven, Literature, Lucie Lomova, Max, Polish, Spanish, Translation, Witold Szabłowski
Posted in European Literature Night, Illustration, international, literature, translation
Posted in European Literature Night, Illustration, international, literature, translation
holy languages for holy week
The holy books of Christians and Jews are a complex mixture of languages and manuscripts that gloriously overlap and contradict. There are more and more chances to see this huge diversity coming together. Two exhibitions, similar content, different title: verbum…
Tagged with: Agnes Lewis, Aramaic, Bible, codex sinaiticus, English, German, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Old English, Russian, Syriac, syriac sinaiticus, Translation, Verbum Domini exhibition
Posted in faith, international, language, translation
Posted in faith, international, language, translation
three per cent: best translated book from German 2014
Just three percent of books published in the US are in translation, and less than one percent are literary fiction and poetry. The University of Rochester is trying to change that, with its three per cent website and Best Translated…
Tagged with: Austria, books, Christa Wolf, Damion Searls, drama, Elfriede Jelinek, English, feminist, German, Language, Literature, Nobel Prize, three per cent, Translation, translator, writing
Posted in Best Translated Book Award, books, gender, international, literature, translation
Posted in Best Translated Book Award, books, gender, international, literature, translation
flying stones: the European poet of freedom 2014
The European Poet of Freedom Festival starts in Gdańsk today. The poet’s award is 100,000 złoty (about 24,000 euros), and their translator into Polish wins a tenth of that. Seven nominees, from Kazakhstan to Estonia, face some very sharp judges…
Tagged with: Contemporary, Croatian, Dorta Jagić, English, Europe, freedom, Gdańsk, German, Iren Baumann, Literature, Małgorzata Wierzbicka, Miloš Đurđević, Poetry, Polish, Ryszard Wojnakowski, Switzerland, Translation, translator
Posted in European Poet of Freedom, gender, international, literature, poetry, translation
Posted in European Poet of Freedom, gender, international, literature, poetry, translation
more gender pronouns: they
Facebook has finally broadened its pronoun options from 2 to 50. This should theoretically stop those odd posts with the “wrong” gender assignment, and make a lot of transgendered and queer people very happy. The only problem is that you have to…
silent night
The first time I noticed translation was probably while singing Christmas carols. We learnt to sing Silent Night in something resembling German and Welsh at primary school, and in learning Polish I realised that the fuzzy warm sound of carols I’d heard…
Tagged with: Christmas, Christmas Carols, English, Finnish, Franz Xaver Gruber, German, Joseph Mohr, Polish, Silent Night, Welsh
Posted in Christmas, language, translation
Posted in Christmas, language, translation
O!
‘Would it be of any use, now,’ thought Alice, `to speak to this mouse? Everything is so out-of-the-way down here that I should think very likely it can talk: at any rate, there’s no harm in trying.’ So she began:…
Tagged with: advent, Alice in Wonderland, Arvo Pärt, Bible, English, German, Language, Latin, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, o antiphons, vocative
Posted in language, translation
Posted in language, translation
translate for your life: Marcel Reich-Ranicki
Known as the “pope of literature” to Germans, and self-styled as “Germany’s literary hangman”, Marcel Reich-Ranicki was not an easy critic. He unapologetically followed Fontane’s maxim that “Schlecht ist schlecht und muß gesagt warden” (Erst leben, dann spielen. Über polnische Literatur. Wallstein 2002, p.183). His life was not easy,…
Tagged with: German, Ghetto, history, Holocaust Memorial Day, Jewish, Language, Literature, Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Polish, Translation, Warszawa
Posted in history, language, literature, translation
Posted in history, language, literature, translation
language has different eyes: die Sprache hat andere Augen
The Romanian-German writer Herta Müller is 60 today. Four years since the Times introduced her Nobel literature win with “Herta Müller – who she?” a new book about her is finally out in English. Here’s her Nobel Prize acceptance interview in…
Tagged with: German, Herta Müller, Language, Nobel Prize, Poetry, Romanian, West Berlin
Posted in language, translation
Posted in language, translation
found in translation 