This woman can tell a story or two. Or a hundred. Svetlana Alexievich writes so well because she knows who to ask and how to listen. She received last year’s literature Nobel for her ‘polyphonic writings’ – but she’s not a…
Blog Archives
Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets
Tagged with: Bela Shayevich, Belarus, history, Nobel Prize, Russian, Second Hand Time, Soviet Union, Svetlana Alexievich, Translation
Posted in books, history, Nobel Prize in Literature, translation
Posted in books, history, Nobel Prize in Literature, translation
Three or four lines, and you have the whole world
Bessarabian Stamps are not postcards, but even smaller messages, from a place between so many places that you’d be forgiven for not quite remembering where it is. The author grew up in Bessarabia, on the border of what is now the Republic…
Tagged with: Bessarabia, Boris Drayluk, Bruno Schulz, Moldova, Oleg Woolf, Phoneme, Russian, Translation
Posted in books, short stories, translation
Posted in books, short stories, translation
Women’s day: translations to last all year
It’s women’s day, and time to look for the women in translation once again, at the Free Word Centre and elsewhere. The statistics are shocking as ever. But there is plenty to read if you look. Rather than lamenting, just go out…
Tagged with: Agnete Friis, Alina Bronsky, Alison Anderson, Annie Holmes, Austrian, Bela Shayevich, Belarusian, Bruce Benderson, Calais, Danish, Elisabeth dyssegaard, Emmanuelle Pagano, Finnish, French, German, Herta Müller, Jamie Bulloch, Jennifer Higgins, Johanna Sinisalo, Jovanka Kalaba, Jovanka Zivanovic, Karen Kovacik, Lene Kaaberbol, Linda Stift, Lola Rogers, Michele Halberstadt, Muriel Barbery, Olumide Popoola, Philip Boehm, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sophie Lewis, Svetlana Alexievich, Tim Mohr, Translation, Women's day
Posted in books, gender, translation
Posted in books, gender, translation
“It is time to speak out”: Svetlana Alexievich, Nobel Laureate 2015
Belarusian journalist Svetlana Alexievich has been awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize for Literature for her “Polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time.” Born in Ukraine to a Ukrainian mother and a Belarusian father, she worked as…
Tagged with: Belarusian, Jerzy Czech, Julia R Robin Whitby, Literature, Nobel Prize, Polish, Russian, Ryszard Kapuściński, Svetlana Alexievich, Translation, Ukrainian
Posted in books, literature, translation
Posted in books, literature, translation
The world through your letterbox: PEN World Bookshelf
English PEN has just announced more support for independent publishers to publish works in translation, which is great news since the independents are the ones producing the really interesting stuff. Their world bookshelf of contemporary writers in supported by the PEN…
Tagged with: Anna Politkovskaya, Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Arch Tait, Finnish, German, Jenny Erpenbeck, Johanna Sinisalo, Literature, Lola Rogers, PEN Translates, Polish, Rosa Liksom, Russian, Sarah Bernofsky, Translation, Witold Szabłowski, World Bookshelf
Posted in literature, translation
Posted in literature, translation
Workers of the world unite: you have nothing to lose in translation
Billy Bragg had a 24-hour job at a moment’s notice. He was not going to get paid for his overtime. But he was on a mission. And he made the deadline. Hear him tell the story and sing his translation.…
Tagged with: American, Billy Bragg, British, Charles Hope Kerr, Chinese, English, Eugene Pottier, Finnish, French, German, internationale, Pertti Uotila, Pete Seeger, Polish, Russian, Tagalog, Thomas Nicholas, Tiananmen Square, Translation, Welsh
Posted in international, translation
Posted in international, translation
Don’t translate this!
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…
Tagged with: Alice Guthrie, Anna Politkovskaya, Arabic, Arch Tait, Literary Translation, London Book Fair, NoPeanuts, Rebranding the Levant, Russian, Tenzin Dickie, Tibetan, Translation, TreasuryOfLives
Posted in literature
Posted in literature
The space between: After the Berlin Wall fell
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…
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
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
Victoria Lomasko: Slaves of Moscow
Published in English this month, Slaves of Moscow tells the story of twelve Kazakhstani women enslaved in a Moscow grocery store. The Kazakhstani couple who owned the shop forced them to work 20 hours a day. Some even gave birth…
Tagged with: graphic art, international, Pussy Riot, reportage, Russian, Slaves of Moscow, Thomas Campbell, Translation, Victoria Lomasko, Words without Borders
Posted in Illustration, international, literature, translation
Posted in Illustration, international, literature, translation
found in translation 