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The finalists for the Best Translated Book Award have been announced, and the ten fiction finalists are:
- Agaat by Marlene Van Niekerk, translated from the Afrikaans by Michiel Heyns
- Georg Letham: Physician and Murderer by Ernst Weiss, translated from the German by Joel Rotenberg
- The Golden Age by Michal Ajvaz, translated from the Czech by Andrew Oakland
- Hocus Bogus by Romain Gary (writing as Émile Ajar), translated from the French by David Bellos
- The Jokers by Albert Cossery, translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis
- A Life on Paper by Georges-Olivier Chateaureynaud, translated from the French by Edward Gauvin
- The Literary Conference by César Aira, translated from the Spanish by Katherine Silver
- On Elegance While Sleeping by 'Viscount' Lascano Tegui, translated from the Spanish by Idra Novey
- The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson, translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal
- Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky
(I am one of the nine judges for the prize; eight of the ten titles I voted to be a finalist made it (needless to say (and I'm still shocked !), one of the two that didn't was the other Cossery,
A Splendid Conspiracy.))
A few notes and observations:
- with six languages represented there is a fairly decent spread here; French is, unsurprisingly, the language with the most texts in the final ten (three)
- notable books (i.e. that got lots of review coverage and praise) from the longlist that didn't make it include
To the End of the Land by David Grossman and
I Curse the River of Time by Per Petterson, as well as
Microscripts by Robert Walser.
- three of the twenty-five longlisted titles also made the fifteen-title-strong
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize longlist, but only one --
Visitation -- made it through to the BTBA finals
- two of the finalists were named on all the judges ballots; seven of the twenty-five longlisted titles were not named on any of them
The winner will be announced 29 April.
At the Words without Borders' weblog, Dispatches, Susan Bernofsky, Jonathan Cohen, and Edith Grossman offer 'some thoughts for reviewers of literary translations', in On Reviewing Translations.
They've announced
the winner of the Warwick Prize for Writing (theme: 'colour'), and it is Dazzled and Deceived: Mimicry and Camouflage, by Peter Forbes.
See also the Yale University Press, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
They've announced that The Jump Artist, by Austin Ratner, has taken the $ 100,000 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature in fiction, with A Curable Romantic by Joseph Skibell the $ 25,000 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature Choice Award runner-up.
This is yet more validation for the editorial hand at The Jump Artist-publisher Bellevue Literary Press, as they take yet another important literary prize -- very impressive indeed.
The Jump Artist is not under review at the complete review at this time, but see the Bellevue publicity page, or get you copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
I won't point out that Nobel laureate Kertész Imre's Fiasco was reviewed at the complete review way back in 2002 (oh, whoops ...) but now the book has finally also come out in English (yay, Melville House !); I haven't seen Tim Wilkinson's translation, but I have faith that it does the great Kertész justice.
Adam Kirsch's review at Tablet seems to be the first review of the English translation, but I certainly hope it gets its due -- and can only commend it to you.
Boston Bibliophile offers a Publisher Spotlight: Europa Editions Interview with Editor-in-Chief Michael Reynolds.
Europa Editions have a very impressive list, with many books in translation; many of their titles are under review at the complete review.
Conversational Reading has Six Questions for Anna Moschovakis on The Jokers by Albert Cossery (since she translated that book).
The Jokers -- and the other Cossery published last year, A Splendid Conspiracy -- is on the longlist for the Best Translated Book Award -- and remember that the shortlist will be announced ... tomorrow.
(I'm one of the judges, and, as you can guess, if I had my way both Cosserys would be on that shortlist .....
Did they make it ?
You'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out .....)
At a mere US $ 175,000 the Premio Alfaguara de Novela is an also-ran by Spanish-language literary (cash) prize standards (though of course still dwarfing the major UK and especially US prizes), but it is relatively prestigious; previous winners under review at the complete review include Red April by Santiago Roncagliolo (2006) and Margarita, How Beautiful the Sea by Sergio Ramírez (1998).
They've announced that this year's prize goes to El ruido de las cosas al caer, by Juan Gabriel Vásquez -- selected from 608 titles (I remind you again of how many few submissions the major US/UK prizes are willing to consider ...).
(The run-down of where the submissions come from also gives an interesting picture of the Spanish-language writing scene: Spain leads the way (231), Argentina (105) and Mexico (99) are in a close race for second, while for example Chile is far down the list with a mere 19 submissions.)
See also the brief AP report.
The only Juan Gabriel Vásquez-title under review at the complete review is The Informers.
The Guardian continues its series of having "literary editors reflect on the literary scene in their countries" with Le Monde's Raphaële Rérolle discussing What they're reading in France -- though in fact she offers a broader overview of the publishing and literary scene, rather than really saying much about what's being read in France.
Still, it's fairly interesting, as she notes that midlist titles' sales "have been completely squashed" -- and also that:
In newspapers the space devoted to literature is now relatively stable after a dramatic decline over the past 10 years.
As a result, critics struggle to cover the full range of books produced, caught between the need to talk about what everyone else is talking about, the need to explore types of literature that almost no one is talking about and the wish to get themselves talked about by taking up increasingly clear-cut positions.
At hlo Dóra Szekeres has a Q & A with French-writing Hungarian author Agota Kristof, We can never express precisely what we mean.
Sad to hear that:
I don't write any more, I am very ill.
This was not a conscious decision, it just happened.
I simply don't feel like it any more and have no energy for it.
And it makes no sense.
(No Kristof under review at the
complete review, but the three-novel (
The Notebook,
The Proof,
The Third Lie) collection is a good place to start; get your copy at
Amazon.com or
Amazon.co.uk.)
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Dany Laferrière's Why Must a Black Writer Write About Sex ?
His more recent I am a Japanese Writer is due out in the US soon (already available in Canada), and I'm surprised more of his older titles aren't in print -- definitely worthwhile.
It's good to see that Tom Stoppard's Arcadia is back on Broadway (it opened last Thursday; see the official site).
Reviews have been a bit mixed (see links/quotes now add to the complete review review-page), but it's a pretty hard play to ruin (though I have to admit I haven't seen an anywhere near flawless version yet (usually it's the casting that's the problem) -- but I do hope to catch this one, too.)
Serbia was the 'country focus' of this year's just completed Leipzig Book Fair, and Radio Srbija has a pre/overview article about that, Serbia at the Leipzig Book Fair -- noting that:
Since the preparations for the Leipzig fair began, 30 new books by Serbian authors, selected by German publishers, have been translated into German
Similarly, a ton of Icelandic books are being translated into German, in preparation for the Frankfurt Book Fair this fall -- why doesn't this happen with any English-language book events ?
(In part, of course, because there's a constantly ongoing effort to publish English anyway, of course; still, these book fairs seem to add a lot of incentive (and get lots of publicity -- dozens of these Serbian books have been getting reviewed in the German book sections and supplements ...).)
See also the
official Serbian page for Leipzig (just German, however).
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Umberto Eco's Confessions of a Young Novelist -- his 2008 Richard Ellmann Lectures in Modern Literature, now out from Harvard University Press.
It's terribly disappointing to hear that publisher Aflame have announced that:
Aflame Books has ceased trading and will no longer publish books.
We thank all our past contributors and wish them well.
Their ambitious list of translations had made them one of the most interesting publishers since they started up in 2005; quite a few of their titles are
under review at the
complete review.
Despite fiction in translation getting some more attention in recent years, it's apparently still hard to make a go of it relying solely on that.
In The Ethiopian Reporter Tibebeselassie Tigabu writes about The trials and tribulations of Ethiopian writers.
A lot of the usual complaints -- which even lead to misguided nostalgia for life under regimes past (particularly nasty in that country), as, for example, Mamo Wudineh says:
Back in the days, there was a fashion of carrying books and everyone used to go around to the Piazza's 'Gianna poulos', a famous book shop.
The trend changed when it comes to this generation; the books were replaced by film, the internet, and the culture of reading stopped
And the case of Sahleselassie Berhanemariam (or Sahle Selassie Berhane Mariam, as you presumably know him) apparently shows how it is now: "a time where it is more than impossible to publish a book", as:
Publishing 14 books, with eight original and six translations, including his English books the Afersata, Warrior King, Firebrands and his famous translation of Victor Hugo's work Les Misérables into Amharic as Minduban, he now has two books which are completely finished and two more in the process which are waiting to be published.
That's great to hear (well, that there are more works waiting to be published) -- Sahle Selassie is among the few Ethiopian authors whose work is available (sort of ...) in English, the three mentioned titles, published in the African Writers Series back in the day, among the few (along with Daniachew Worku's AWS-title,
The Thirteenth Sun) I have read.
(Get your copy of
The Afersata (
Amazon.com,
Amazon.co.uk) or
Firebrands (
Amazon.com,
Amazon.co.uk).)
Continuing the sexism-in-reviewing discussion that's been on-going for a few weeks now, literary editor Katy Guest asks Where are all the female reviewers ?
in the Independent on Sunday.
She notes:
Looking at the past week's books coverage in 10 major newspapers (excluding this one -- for now), we can see that 71 books by men and 37 books by women were reviewed.
Of the reviewers, 68 were men and 36 women. (One paper carried 17/20 reviews of male authors, and 18/20 male reviewers.)
And she admits:
Well, looking at my contacts book of handy reviewers, I see half a dozen men who send me neat, chronological lists of forthcoming books for review, complete with publisher, publication date and brief notes about why they'd like to review them.
There are no women who do the same.
At The Second Pass former (2003-2010)
Harper's book review editor Jennifer Szalai recently
reported a similar phenomenon:
A vast majority of the pitches I received were from men.
In fact, during seven years in that position, I could probably count on two hands the number of women who pitched me -- I'd guess that the ratio was something like nine or 10 to one.
I also noticed that if I turned down a pitch from a man, he would likely send me another pitch the following week.
Whereas women rarely pitched me again after getting a rejection.
So one hopes that at least this discussion pushes more women to at least pitch reviews.
(Come to think of it, that's something I should do too .....)
In the Deccan Herald Pradeep Sebastian reports on the Latest book haven in town, as:
With more bookstores closing down than opening, it's a sweet surprise to find a new independent bookstore springing up in Bangalore.
The store is Bookstop ! and:
Bookstop ! is stocked with not just new books but carefully handpicked titles that lean towards the literary more than the popular.
Sounds good.
In Taiwan Today Steven Crook reports that Translation projects unlock world of Taiwanese literature, noting that:
Readers in the English-speaking world have long enjoyed translations of the cream of French, German and Russian literature.
Only in the past few decades, however, have English-language editions of the best fiction written in Taiwan become available.
He points specifically to the Columbia University Press
Modern Chinese Literature from Taiwan series -- from which many titles are under review at the
complete review, including Chang Ta-chun's
Wild Kids.
At Qantara Werner Bloch profiles Egyptian author Khaled al Khamissi, in Egypt's Culture on Four Wheels, with much discussion of the current situation.
Khamissi's Taxi certainly had some appeal, and I'm curious what he'll do next.
In the Financial Times Trevor Butterworth profiles the new writers' collective Mischief + Mayhem, in 'Readers of the world unite'.
The collective is currently "composed of five writers but with aspirations to embrace up to 30".
Dale Peck is one of the members (and get's most of the air-time here):
It's time, said Peck, for a new kind of publishing.
And:
Peck's argument is that editing has been corrupted by the new commercial mandates of publishing
And Peck suggests:
"A lot of quality fiction isn't being written.
There are talented writers not writing the books that they ought to be.
I'm not going to name names -- I'm not going to accuse people of working in bad faith.
But it's my sense that there are talented writers out there who are more concerned with reputation and how that translates into sales than they are concerned with what they are actually putting on the page."
(This is something new ?)
In the Financial Times' 'Small Talk' column Anna Metcalfe has a Q & A with Galician author Manuel Rivas.
Among the responses:
What is the strangest thing you've done when researching a book ?
While I was writing Books Burn Badly I would hang the pages of the manuscript, like leaves, on washing lines so as to find the meaning of history, the secret symmetry, the golden ratio.
And:
Who would you choose to play you in a film about your life ?
I'm torn between Orson Welles and Anna Magnani
(Get your copy of
Books Burn Badly at
Amazon.co.uk (no US edition to date, apparently), or see the Vintage
publicity page.)
The Guardian is apparently going to have: "literary editors reflect on the literary scene in their countries", and they get things started with Der Spiegel's Sebastian Hammelehle explaining What they're reading in Germany.
His contribution doesn't seem to offer too good a picture/impression to me.
Among other things, they have a list of 'Germany's bestsellers' at the end of the article, and he doesn't even bother mentioning the guy who is number one (but does discuss former chancellor Helmut Schmidt, as, apparently: "Four of his non-fiction works are among the 10 most successful books of the past 10 years" (though none appear on said bestseller list ...)).
Of course, the
current bestseller lists at Der Spiegel look pretty different too.
I like the idea behind this series; I hope the future contributions are a bit more insightful.
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Isaka Kotaro's conspiracy thriller, Remote Control.
(It's also noteworthy because it's presumably the last work of fiction being published by soon-to-be-much-missed Kodansha International.)
They've announced that Three Sisters, by Bi Feiyu, has won the 2010 Man 'Asian' Literary Prize.
['Asian' because the prize unfortunately is not truly Asian, with submissions from many Asian nations, from Iran to Turkey to all the Arabic-speaking nations to the Central Asian countries ineligible for the prize.]
Bi picks up $30,000, while translators Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin will share $5,000.
One interesting titbit:
The author becomes the third Chinese writer to win the Prize in its four year history.
The three winning novels by Chinese authors have all been translated by Howard Goldblatt.
(No doubt Goldblatt is deserving and whatnot, and China is certainly having an impressive domestic literary run, but doesn't this concentration of success suggest that maybe their idea of 'Asian' maybe isn't quite ... Asian (i.e. far-reaching) enough ?)
Bi's
The Moon Opera is under review at the
complete review, but not
Three Sisters; see, however, the publicity pages from
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and
Telegram Books, or get your copy at
Amazon.com or
Amazon.co.uk.
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