With Sharjah as London Book Fair’s guest of honour in 2022, the time is nigh – nay, now – for publishers to acquire Arabic titles for translation. But where to start? Unlike other languages such as Korean or Swedish, which have robust agenting infrastructure, very few Arab authors have agents to get them through the door. As such, the majority of Arabic titles that one finds in English have been championed by a translator (not necessarily always the one on the by-line). Translators are the ones with their fingers on the pulse, their ears to the ground. They stay abreast of titles winning critical acclaim and those with an energetic fanbase. The list below of must-translate titles includes not only two of my own recommendations but those of some of my esteemed colleagues, too, because it would be unfathomable to come up with such a list without turning to them for their invaluable input.1. Inaam Kachachi’s The Outcast (Dar al-Jadeed, 2017) Luke Leafgren – winner of the 2018 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation – advocates for The Outcast, “a story of three characters whose lives intersect across continents and decades. Two are based on real people: an Iranian-Iraqi woman, Taji, one of the first female journalists in Baghdad in the 1940s; and a young Palestinian man, Mansour, who falls in love with her in Karachi before emigrating to Colombia. Through their eyes, the reader experiences many of the political and cultural events that shaped the Arab... Continue reading at 'British Council global'
[ British Council global | 2021-06-29 14:19:46 UTC ]
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Sweet Cherry is to publish 10 of Dick King-Smith's titles, with the centenary of the author's birth upcoming in 2022. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-15 06:25:31 UTC ]
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Selected by Dr Oliver Tearle English literature has a rich tradition of comic writing. From Chaucer’s ‘Miller’s Tale’ to Shakespeare’s Falstaff to the early comic novels of Smollett, Sterne, Fielding, and Swift, there are plenty of laughs to be had from the pages of the literary greats. But what... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2020-10-08 14:00:57 UTC ]
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Presented by the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, a publisher and a translator weigh in with practical insights and observations. The post Join Us for a Live Update on Translation From the Arab World appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-09-25 19:02:04 UTC ]
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A wide array of books, from literary fiction to romance to YA, have borrowed their titles from songs by The Beatles. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-07-10 10:34:48 UTC ]
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Yale University Press will publish the English translation of Bernard-Henri Lévy’s The Virus in the Age of Madness. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-02 02:19:04 UTC ]
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Traditionally, a ballad was a song that was designed to be danced to, as the etymology of the word, Provençal balada meaning ‘dance, song to dance to’, ultimately from late Latin ballare. The great British ballads – and we say ‘British’ because many of them were Scottish rather than English... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2020-06-14 14:00:45 UTC ]
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Nineteen books from 15 countries and 13 languages have won English PEN’s flagship translation awards, including the first novel from South Sudan ever to be published in the UK. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-10 01:27:30 UTC ]
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How many times have you heard someone say, ‘I don’t read poetry. I just don’t get it.’ Or perhaps, ‘Why can’t poets just come out and say what they want to say? Why say something in such a way?’ For many people, poetry is ‘difficult’. But whilst it’s true that […] The post 10 of the Most... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2020-05-30 14:00:36 UTC ]
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When we think of poems, these days most people probably automatically think of lyric poems: usually quite short poems which describe the poet’s (or an imagined speaker’s) thoughts and feelings. But from the epic poems of Homer to the Border Ballads of the Middle Ages to notable contemporary... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2020-04-29 14:00:40 UTC ]
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The sestina form is thought to have been created by Provencal troubadours – and possibly by one specific troubadour, Arnaut Daniel – in around 1200. However, it didn’t arrive in English literature until the late 1570s, when both Sir Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser, poets at the court of Queen... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2020-03-04 15:00:47 UTC ]
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The director of an Arabic book prize argues that the time has come for more Arabic works to be translated than just the 'Arabian Nights.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-02-28 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Twenty books have won English PEN’s flagship translation awards, marking the highest number of awards ever given by the programme. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-19 23:56:40 UTC ]
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Before this month's Frankfurter Buchmesse opened, a program in Frankfurt on the translation of Arabic literature looked at intentions and challenges. The post The Politics of Translation: ‘Arabic Literatures in Europe’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-10-27 02:38:21 UTC ]
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German publisher Voland & Quist a new English-language imprint for the UK and Ireland, called V&Q Books 'to help bridge the gap between Europe and the UK.' The post Germany’s Voland & Quist Opens English Translation Imprint appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-09-06 05:18:32 UTC ]
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The Matchbook Classics series by Fourth Estate brings 10 of its noted fiction titles under the same branding—and contained in a matchbox, with an unusual method of construction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bodour Al Qasimi, the founding president of the Emirates Publishers Association reflects on the last decade of book publishing in the UAE and the Arab world The post Emirates Publishers Association at 10: Driving Books’ Fast Progress in the Arab World appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A former English teacher has won a £10,000 publishing contract with Trapeze as first prize in the ‘Write your own Love Story’ competition the publisher ran with dating website eharmony to celebrate the latter’s 10th anniversary. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Translations from Portuguese, German, and Italian open the new imprint from Amazon Publishing. Releases in July, September, October. The post New Amazon Crossing Kids: Translating Picture Books Into English appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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