“Lusting after a Tart of Peacock Tongues”: A Conversation with Publisher Barbara Epler, by Veronica Esposito

Interviews Barbara Epler started working at New Directions after graduating from college in 1984, and she has been its president and publisher since 2011. In 2015 Poets & Writers awarded Epler their Editor’s Prize, and in 2016 Words Without Borders gave her the Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature. Veronica Esposito: You became editor-in-chief with New Directions almost twenty-five years ago, in 1996. What are some of the biggest changes in the translation world since then? Barbara Epler: Without yet being a large enough share of what’s published in America overall, there has been a great growth in the amount and quality of translations appearing here. To my mind, that’s due mostly to two factors: a miraculous growth in new companies here (mostly small and agile) largely or entirely devoted to translated literature, as well as a sort of general cultural nausea about how parochial the USA tends to be. Back in the mid-1990s, great groundbreaking presses interested in translation were fairly thin on the ground. We did not yet have Archipelago, And Other Stories, Deep Vellum, Fence, Dorothy Project, New Vessel, Restless, Nightboat, New York Review of Books Classics, Open Letter, Other Press, Two Lines, Tilted Axis, Ugly Duckling, Wakefield, Wave, and more (apologies to houses I am forgetting!). Back in 1996, all these marvelous publishers were still a gleam in their founders’ eyes. Of course, back then... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2021-01-11 14:39:22 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "“Lusting after a Tart of Peacock Tongues”: A Conversation with Publisher Barbara Epler, by Veronica Esposito"


Notable Literary Deaths in 2023

To the members of the literary community we lost this year, we say a last thank you, and goodbye. You will be missed. * “Belated literary star” Edith Pearlman, who broke out with Binocular Vision at the age of 74, died on January 1. She was 86. Suzy McKee Charnas, award-winning author of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-12-14 09:51:11 UTC ]
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Fresh Off a National Book Award Win, Omnidawn Looks Toward the Holidays

This year, the nonprofit publisher won its first National Book Award for Craig Santos Perez's poetry collection 'from unincorporated territory [åmot].' Its publisher, Rusty Morrison, forecasts solid sales for that title, and others, this holiday season. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-12-04 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Year of the Rabbit: Why We’re Seeing So Many Bunnies on Books

The bunny is having its book cover moment. If you don’t believe me, head to your closest bookstore and look for recent award winners: you’ll find Bora Chung’s Cursed Bunny, recently shortlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature, cozied up next to last year’s winner for... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-11-29 09:51:35 UTC ]
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A Redacted Past Slowly Emerges

This year’s winner of the National Book Award for Fiction, Justin Torres’s Blackouts is a complex story about recovering the history of erased and ignored gay lives. Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2023-11-16 19:12:00 UTC ]
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Justin Torres, Author of ‘Blackouts,’ Wins National Book Award for Fiction

Ned Blackhawk received the nonfiction award, with “The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-11-16 12:36:45 UTC ]
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On Literary Empathy and the Performative Reading of Palestinian Authors

The literary community holds onto empathy as a dear goal while navigating the complexities of the human experience through the eyes of characters from diverse backgrounds. Readers worldwide have long celebrated the promise of empathy as a conduit for profound understanding, and reading from... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-11-16 09:49:02 UTC ]
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Jenny Erpenbeck on Spying, Lying, and Eros

Montréal is a city of parallel universes, often most at ease ignoring each other. Across linguistic, cultural, and generational orbits, it’s also a city that’s shown tremendous appetite for German author Jenny Erpenbeck’s work, in great part due to De Stiil, an anglophone bookstore in the heart... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-11-15 10:00:51 UTC ]
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Zibby Media Withdraws National Book Award Sponsorship over Potential for 'Hate Speech'

With several National Book Awards finalists planning to call for a ceasefire in Gaza at tomorrow's ceremony, Zibby Media has withdrawn its sponsorship of the event over what CEO Zibby Owens called the "inappropriate conduct and collusion of its nominees." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-14 05:00:00 UTC ]
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David Ferry, Poet and Translator Who Won Acclaim Late in Life, Dies at 99

After nearly 40 years as a professor, he began a new career writing poems and translating classics. He won a National Book Award when he was 86. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-11-11 18:29:17 UTC ]
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Sigrid Nunez’s Art of Noticing

The National Book Award winner smuggles profound reflections on pain and loss into novels of deceptive lightness. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-10-30 14:52:48 UTC ]
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Ananda Devi Wins the 2024 Neustadt Prize

Ananda Devi Wins the 2024 Neustadt Prize News and Events [email protected] Tue, 10/24/2023 - 18:02 Ananda Devi, winner of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature. Photo by J. F. Paga, courtesy of GrassetNORMAN, OKLA. (Tuesday, October 24,... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2023-10-24 23:02:22 UTC ]
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Oprah Announces 103rd Book Club Pick

Oprah has chosen her 103rd book club pick. It's the latest from a two-time National Book Award winner and one of our great modern writers. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-10-24 17:43:43 UTC ]
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Read the last words of writer Heba Abu Nada, who was killed last week by an Israeli airstrike.

Novelist, poet, and educator Heba Abu Nada, a beloved figure in the Palestinian literary community and the author of Oxygen is Not for the Dead, was killed in her home south of Gaza City by an Israeli airstrike on Friday. She was thirty-two years old. In her final tweet, written in Arabic on... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-24 15:54:33 UTC ]
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Lauren Groff on Writing Her Own Robinson Crusoe

Books & Books recently had the pleasure of hosting three-time National Book Award finalist and best-selling author Lauren Groff, presenting her new novel, The Vaster Wilds. The New York Times calls it “a lonely novel of hunger and survival.” The brilliant Groff reads from her adventure novel... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-20 08:11:49 UTC ]
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An Open Letter in Support of Adania Shibli From More Than 350 Writers, Editors, and Publishers

This letter was originally published by ArabLit. The shocking and tragic events that began on October 7th and are ongoing today have had repercussions all over the globe, including within the publishing world. Award-winning Palestinian author Adania Shibli, who was a finalist for the 2020... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-17 09:05:58 UTC ]
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Here are the 2023 National Book Award finalists.

Today, the National Book Foundation announced their finalists for the 2023 National Book Awards in five categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature. Five winners will be selected from the twenty-five finalists and announced on Wednesday, November... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-03 14:15:17 UTC ]
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2023 National Book Award Finalists Are Named

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Paul Harding and Cristina Rivera Garza are among the honorees. Winners will be announced next month. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-10-03 14:00:07 UTC ]
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2023 National Book Award Shortlists Announced

The National Book Foundation has announced the 2022 National Book Award longlists. Five finalists in each of the five categories will be announced at an awards ceremony on November 15. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Finalists for 2023 NBA in Young People's Literature Announced

The National Book Foundation has revealed the five finalists for the 2023 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Here’s the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction.

Today, the National Book Foundation announced the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction. The ten titles on the longlist were selected from a pool of 496 books submitted for consideration by their publishers; this year’s judges for Fiction are Steph Cha, Calvin Crosby, Silas... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-15 14:15:56 UTC ]
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