Translation in Service of More Empathy, Less Fear: A Conversation with Megan McDowell, by Veronica Esposito

Interviews Veronica Esposito Photo by Camila Valdés Megan McDowell has translated many contemporary authors from Latin America and Spain, including Alejandro Zambra, Samanta Schweblin, and Lina Meruane. Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize, her translations have been published in the New Yorker, Tin House, the Paris Review, Harper’s, and McSweeney’s, among others. Veronica Esposito: As a translator, you’ve primarily worked with writers from Chile and Argentina, a region with a very rich literary history, and you are the primary translator for two of the standout authors to recently emerge from the Southern Cone—Alejandro Zambra and Samanta Schweblin. What is special about this region and its literatures? Megan McDowell: I’m not an academic or a critic, so I’m very reluctant to try to draw connecting lines through the literary histories of countries I live in but that aren’t mine. Every time I make a generalization, all the exceptions spring to mind. But, my assumptions or predispositions go something like this: Chilean writers tend to look inward, to play with autofiction, to write the domestic and the personal. Argentine writers tend toward the surreal, toward madness and fantasy and the uncanny. Both, I think, can get pretty experimental with form. Both have histories of dictatorship and state violence, which can rear its head in fictions in various ways. If you look at the writers I’ve translated, these... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2020-06-22 15:20:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #long history #real problem #reading books #books written #literary fiction #american literature

Other news stories related to: "Translation in Service of More Empathy, Less Fear: A Conversation with Megan McDowell, by Veronica Esposito"


“The World Wakes Up, Enlarged”: A Conversation with Dan Chiasson

AS SOON AS I picked up Dan Chiasson’s latest book of poetry, The Math Campers, I was immediately drawn into a collaborative experience in which writer and reader make meaning together. Chiasson’s lyrical ruminations can take the form of a “choose your own adventure,” but the poet skillfully... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-01-06 18:00:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


I Spy Louise Fitzhugh: A Conversation with Leslie Brody

LESLIE BRODY’S new biography, Sometimes You Have to Lie, describes the life of Louise Fitzhugh, author of the classic children’s book Harriet the Spy. Originally published in 1964 by Harper and Row, Harriet has never been out of print and has inspired multiple adaptations and spin-offs,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-01-02 13:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #children’s book #originally published #classic children


7 (More) Literary Translators You Should Know

Translating novels, short stories, and poetry into English in a way that remains true to their original form can take years, even decades of dedication. And then there is the job of persuading the Anglophone publishing world to take chances. Translators’ labor is ultimately rewarding for readers... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-12-31 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #publishing world #electric literature #original form #remains true #short stories #literary translators


US publishers welcome law against illicit streaming services

Publishers in the US have welcomed a new law passed by Congress giving the Department of Justice (DoJ) power to go after criminal streaming services. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-23 05:21:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Crabtree Up at Christian Book Services

Shane Crabtree, who joined Christian Book Services in 2018 as a manager, has been promoted to president and COO, effective January 1. Larry Carpenter will take on the role of chairman while remaining CEO of the independent publishing company. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-18 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #independent publishing


Sheikh Zayed Book Award Opens Translation Funding For All Shortlisted Works in 2021

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award announces six new translations from Arabic and offers translation grants for all its shortlisted titles. The post Sheikh Zayed Book Award Opens Translation Funding For All Shortlisted Works in 2021 appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-12-17 17:14:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #zayed book #shortlisted titles


World Literature Today’s 75 Notable Translations of 2020, by Michelle Johnson

Lit Lists Literary translation’s 2020 story is one of abundance and adaptation. Like most books published this year, dozens of new translations were published during a global pandemic. Events quickly moved from bookstores to Zoom. Writers and... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2020-12-14 20:55:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #memoir #dubravka ugrešić #fig tree


Announcing a New Publishing Project and a Call for Co-Editors: Best Translations: An Annual Anthology, by The Editors of WLT

News and Events Photo by Wendy Call / www.wendycall.com Deadline for Applications: Thursday, January 7, 2021 Call for Applications: Two series co-editors, one with expertise in Asian literatures and one with expertise in Middle Eastern and/or... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2020-12-09 14:16:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #anthology #houghton mifflin harcourt #newly published—translation #travel writing #short stories #selection process #besttranslationsanthology@gmail #short explanation #short sample #publication list #detailed letter #final measure #chosen works #original text #winning works #book form


Found in translation

Many have highlighted the potential benefits of reading translated literature, and with novels like Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, it seems that translated works are performing better than ever. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-08 00:35:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #translated works #nobel prize #olga tokarczuk #potential benefits


Alison Lurie, Pulitzer-winning novelist of mordant wit and boundless empathy, dies at 94

Her books, including “Foreign Affairs” and “The War Between the Tates,” chronicled the lives of women searching for self-knowledge and self-fulfillment. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-12-03 12:42:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #pulitzer-winning novelist #alison lurie


WATCH: Novelist C Pam Zhang in Conversation with John Freeman

Click below to watch the first virtual meeting of the Alta California Book Club, which Books Editor of Alta Journal David Ulin describes as: an opportunity for us to rethink the book club as a kind of ongoing process involving events, involving posts and interviews and discussions on the Alta... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-02 09:48:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #books editor #book club #literary hub #john freeman #pam zhang #post watch


Rider signs first English translation of Japanese classic

Ebury imprint Rider has acquired Genzaburo Yoshino's How Do You Live?, a bestselling Japanese classic about what really matters in life, publishing in English for the first time thanks to a translation by Bruno Navasky. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-30 18:04:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #english translation


Haratischvili's epic family tale wins Women in Translation Prize

The Warwick Prize for Women in Translation has been won by The Eighth Life (for Brilka) by Nino Haratischvili, translated from German by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin (Scribe). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-27 04:31:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #warwick prize #translation prize


Influx signs Miren's 'gripping' sex work novel The Service

Influx Press has signed The Service, a novel about sex work from Frankie Miren, billed as an “engaging and clear-eyed tackling of a controversial subject, wrapped up in a gripping narrative”. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-27 03:10:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #influx press #sex work


Life Isn’t a Narrative: A Conversation with JoAnn Wypijewski

JoAnn Wypijewski is a writer, editor, and journalist based in New York. From 1982 to 2000, she was an editor at The Nation magazine and co-editor, with Kevin Alexander Gray and Jeffrey St. Clair, of Killing Trayvons: An Anthology of American Violence (2014). She has written for CounterPunch,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-11-26 18:00:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #anthology #life isn


David Roche launches coaching service

Retail and publishing expert David Roche is launching a mentoring and coaching service through his company David Roche Enterprises. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-25 09:19:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


'We've always had to battle complacency': Authors Ijeoma Oluo and Emmanuel Acho in conversation

Antiracist author Ijeoma Oluo, whose latest book is 'Mediocre,' joins Emmanuel Acho, author of 'Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man,' for a frank talk. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-11-24 15:16:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #black man #uncomfortable conversations


Amazon adds X-Ray features to its music service

Amazon is bringing over a popular feature from Kindle and Prime Video to its Music service. The company announced today the Music X-Ray experience is now available for tens of millions of songs in its catalog. According to the company, this will “off... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2020-11-20 16:45:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #kindle #prime video #music service


Indian move to regulate digital media raises censorship fears

Government will oversee online news, social media and video streaming platformsIndia’s government has ordered that all online news, social media and video streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime are to be subject to state regulation, raising fears of increased censorship of digital... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-11-11 18:02:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #digital media #digital news #raising fears #amazon prime #online news


7 Literary Translators You Need to Know

Imagine bookstores, libraries and life really, without Anne Frank, The Little Prince, the Quran, and Murakami. This is what a world without literary translators would look like—our literary travels would be devoid of global textures and much, much less rich. Through the work of translators,... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-11-06 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #libraries #electric literature #english readers #anne frank #literary translators