Border crossing: How translated fiction can open up the world

The new Elena Ferrante is just one of the exciting novels in translation coming next year. Lara Feigel talks to the UK editors who are rediscovering classics and finding new audiencesThere are voices that speak to us across oceans and centuries with more intimacy than the people who surround us in our daily lives. These can speak directly with clarity and honesty: think of Elena Ferrante, whose feverishly awaited new novel The Lying Life of Adults is written from the perspective of an adolescent girl disillusioned by the “unreliable animals” inhabiting the adult world; or Natalia Ginzburg, writing in The Little Virtues that after the war “we cannot lie in our books and we cannot lie in any of the things we do”. They can speak meanderingly out of troubled nights, entering our dreams: think of Vigdis Hjorth, writing in Will and Testament that “it is terrible that someone who has been destroyed spreads destruction, and how hard that is to avoid”. Or they can speak precisely and carefully, allowing us to access our own hopes and fears by describing material surroundings in minute detail. In Territory of Light, Yūko Tsushima’s autobiographical tale of motherhood in the wake of divorce, there are long descriptions of the flat where she lives alone with her daughter: “The apartment was filled with light at any hour of the day.”From postwar Italy, from contemporary Norway, from 1970s Japan, these narrators speak of love, suffering and domestic labour. That we have access to these... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2019-11-23 08:00:49 UTC ]
News tagged with: #vigdis hjorth #long descriptions #translated works #neapolitan quartet #literary fiction #literary world

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Border crossing: How translated fiction can open up the world'


Horror novel sales boomed during year of real-world anxieties

The genre has departed from classic themes, with new books dealing with war, politics and powerlessness – and sales have risen 54% year-on-yearHorror fiction is having a moment, according to data showing 2023 was a record-breaking year for book sales in the genre.Between 2022 and 2023, sales of... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-04-04 13:22:32 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book sales #record-breaking year #biggest year #nielsen


Vernor Vinge, Innovative Science Fiction Novelist, Dies at 79

He conceived an early version of cyberspace and predicted the “technological singularity,” a tipping point at which machines would become smarter than humans. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-03-28 22:04:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #early version #tipping point #science fiction


Different Coin, Equal Sum: Translating the Kopilka Poetry of Witness and Antiwar Protest, by Yana Kane

Different Coin, Equal Sum: Translating the Kopilka Poetry of Witness and Antiwar Protest, by Yana Kane On Translation [email protected] Thu, 03/28/2024 - 08:12 Photo by chayanit / Adobe StockAfter being “struck mute” in Russian, her first... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2024-03-28 13:12:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #anthology


New Historical Fiction for Your Book Club

These historical fiction books are set during the Aztec empire, 1900s Manchuria, Meiji-era Japan, and more. Which eras do you like to rad about the most? Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-03-27 17:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book club #historical fiction


I Don’t Have To Choose Between Writing About Myself And Writing About The World

I was balancing a plate of honeydew in the green room of a book festival when I walked by a white man bemoaning the state of the publishing industry. The man wore a suit, and he spoke to a white woman; both of them looked to be in their 40s. As the man speared a […] The post I Don’t Have To... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-03-27 11:05:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #world appeared #publishing industry #white woman #electric literature #book festival


New Historical Fiction Books

This trio of new novels shows real people in their natural habitats, drawn with writerly flair. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-03-19 15:22:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #historical fiction


Lauren Groff Prepares to Open Her Bookstore—with a Little Help from Her Bookseller Friends

Fortified by advice and tips from Ann Patchett and Emma Straub, her fellow authors-turned-indie-booksellers, the author of 'Fates and Furies' and 'Matrix' readies to open her new bookstore, the Lynx, in downtown Gainesville, Fla., this spring. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ann patchett #emma straub #bookseller


The Women’s prize for fiction is a success – now it has a nonfiction sister | Kate Mosse

On International Women’s Day Kate Mosse, co-founder of the Women’s prize for fiction and bestselling author of Labyrinth, heralds a new honour Gloria Steinem said: “The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organisation but to the collective efforts... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-03-08 12:30:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #international women #human rights #bestselling author


A Bee’s-Eye View of the World

Using clever camera methods, a new photo book illuminates how honeybees see plants and flowers. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-03-08 10:00:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #s-eye view #photo book


How Chinese science fiction went from underground magazines to a Netflix blockbuster

For a few days in October 2023, the capital of the science fiction world was Chengdu, China Continue reading at ABC News

[ ABC News | 2024-02-29 02:54:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #science fiction


With the Novel Prize, Three Anglophone Publishers Team to Champion Innovative Fiction

The biennial Novel Prize comes with a $10,000 purse and simultaneous publication in North America, by New Directions; the U.K. and Ireland, by Fitzcarraldo; and Australia and New Zealand, by Giramondo. In a twist, this year, the three publishers crowned two winners. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-28 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #simultaneous publication


McDonald’s Caters to Anime Fans by Bringing a Fictional Restaurant to Life

McDonald's is giving anime and manga fans the chance to visit fictional chain WcDonald's with a campaign kicking off Feb. 26 in more than 30 markets around the world. An obvious riff off the "Golden Arches," WcDonald's has appeared in many memorable shows from anime and... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2024-02-21 14:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #manga fans #manga


Why Brené Brown’s Gospel of Vulnerability Fails the World’s Most Vulnerable

“Vulnerability is not weakness, it is our greatest measure of courage.” * “Stressed is being in the weeds, overwhelmed is being blown.” * “Disappointment is unmet expectations.” * These are the sort of catchy aphorisms you will find in the pages of self-help guru and corporate leadership trainer... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-02-21 09:55:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bren brown #recent book