Treading a Fine Line: On Translating Tove Ditlevsen’s Gift, by Michael Favala Goldman

On Translation Browsing a Copenhagen airport bookstore, a translator picks up a book. The journey between that impulse and his eventual translation of the memoir into English was both emotional and serendipitous. In the summer of 2016 I was passing through Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen with my wife, on our way home after a visit with family. We stopped to browse the bookstore, and I noticed a reprint of a book by Danish author Tove Ditlevsen called Gift, which had first been published in 1971. I hadn’t read much of her work, but I knew she was a big name, so I bought it, even though the cover was strange, a psychedelic skull on a gray background. It did not take more than a couple of sittings to devour this memoir of Tove Ditlevsen’s life from the ages of about twenty-three to thirty-five. It chronicles her rise as a best-selling author, while she also had four failed marriages, two back-alley abortions, and a five-year near-fatal addiction to the opioid Demerol. I distinctly remember laying the book down after the final page and thinking to myself, I think this is a masterpiece. This was an intuitive judgment, not a conclusion I had come to after analyzing the text. But looking back now, I think what caused me to deem this work a masterpiece is the combination of Ditlevsen’s writing style, which is concise, honest, and ironic, combined with the content of her story, which through her many troubling experiences pulls back the... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2021-04-06 13:12:22 UTC ]

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The first volume of Barack Obama’s memoir is getting a 3 million copy printing this November.

We’ve known for a while that Barack Obama would be coming out with a new memoir. Today his publisher confirmed that the book, A Promised Land, will be released soon after the November elections. The former president isn’t a stranger to the pen. His first memoir, Dreams From My Father: A Story of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-17 14:22:21 UTC ]
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Stanley Tucci food memoir pre-empted by Fig Tree

Penguin General imprint Fig Tree has bought a food memoir by actor and author Stanley Tucci in a 24-hour pre-empt. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-17 13:32:25 UTC ]
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Barack Obama's Memoir Is Finally Here — At Least The First Part Of It

"A Promised Land," to be released Nov. 17, weighs in at a whopping 768 pages. Obama said it's "a fun and informative read." Continue reading at HuffPost

[ HuffPost | 2020-09-17 12:30:43 UTC ]
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Black Childhood as Idyll: On Vivian Gibson’s “The Last Children of Mill Creek”

THIS PAST APRIL, the Cleveland-based indie press Belt Publishing released The Last Children of Mill Creek, a memoir by Vivian Gibson. At just 150 pages, the book is a spare, elegant jewel of a work, chronicling the author’s childhood growing up in segregated St. Louis in the 1950s. In 1959, when... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-09-17 12:30:03 UTC ]
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Obama’s Memoir ‘A Promised Land’ Coming in November

The former president’s publisher plans to release the book after the 2020 election and has ordered a first U.S. printing of 3 million copies. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-09-17 10:00:08 UTC ]
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Virago to publish artist Riva Lehrer's 'important' memoir

Virago has acquired Golem Girl, a memoir by artist Riva Lehrer who was born with spina bifilda, which has already won acclaim from writers including David Mitchell heralding it "a hymn to life". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-16 22:53:10 UTC ]
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Have we seen this movie before?

It’s rare for President Trump to appear on networks that aren’t Fox, and even rarer for him to engage with Americans who aren’t already aboard the Trump train, but last night he did both, traveling to Philadelphia to participate in an ABC News town hall with undecided voters. Their questions, at... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-09-16 12:20:16 UTC ]
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Cape wins music icon Neneh Cherry’s 'powerful' memoir in 14-way auction

Jonathan Cape has acquired Swedish musician Neneh Cherry’s memoir, A Thousand Threads, in a 14-way auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-16 11:56:22 UTC ]
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Shobna Gulati: 'I've played the Queen, Thatcher and the Virgin Mary – on radio'

As she publishes a moving memoir, the Corrie, Dinnerladies and West End star talks about her three-decade battle with typecasting – and almost dying of Covid-19 Shobna Gulati is speaking about this past horrendous year in surprisingly serene tones. Her mother died last autumn, and a few months... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-09-16 05:00:14 UTC ]
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Hodder pre-empts 'moving' family memoir The Lost Café Schindler

Hodder & Stoughton has pre-empted a "unique" and "meticulously researched" family memoir, The Lost Café Schindler by Meriel Schindler, centred on a family business and spanning two centuries and two world wars. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-15 04:29:57 UTC ]
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“Two Beings Entwined”: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of Conflict and Healing, by Renee H. Shea

Interviews   Harlan Margaret Van Cao and Lan Cao / Courtesy of Penguin Random House Family in Six Tones: A Refugee Mother, an American Daughter (Viking, 2020) is a memoir written in alternating narrative chapters between Lan Cao and Harlan... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2020-09-14 19:40:45 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: September 14, 2020

The countess who wanted to be the most photographed woman in the world: Nathalie Léger on Virginia Oldoïni of Castiglione. | Lit Hub History Sophia Chang on entering the Wu-Tang Clan’s inner circle: “She’s down with Wu-Tang! And that’s all you need to know!” | Lit Hub Memoir “American authors... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-14 10:30:25 UTC ]
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A chilling memoir of troubled parents

Even when the ice recedes, writes Vicki Laveau-Harvie, it still shapes the landscape Continue reading at The Economist

[ The Economist | 2020-09-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Because it’s 2020, HarperCollins is suing Lindsay Lohan.

That’s right. HarperCollins is suing Lindsay Lohan for breach of contract after she failed to deliver a manuscript for the memoir they acquired from her back in 2014. The publishing company is asking for their $365,000 back—ostensibly the first third of the reported $1 million purchase price.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-11 15:12:50 UTC ]
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S&S scoops two from Jess Phillips

Simon & Schuster is to publish a political memoir by Jess Phillips, secured in a two book deal.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-11 10:32:36 UTC ]
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A chilling memoir of troubled parents

Even when the ice recedes, writes Vicki Laveau-Harvie, it still shapes the landscape Continue reading at The Economist

[ The Economist | 2020-09-10 14:56:44 UTC ]
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Headline acquires 'fascinating' memoir from inside Forensics Explosive Laboratory

Headline Publishing Group will publish a memoir by Cliff Todd, the former head of the Forensics Explosive Laboratory. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-10 14:02:33 UTC ]
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Cohen memoir casts him as 'star witness' against Trump

Michael Cohen's tell-all memoir makes the case that President Donald Trump is “guilty of the same crimes” that landed his former fixer in federal prison, offering a blow-by-blow account of Trump's... To view the full story, click the title link. Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2020-09-08 11:45:00 UTC ]
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In new book, former Trump fixer Michael Cohen calls U.S. president 'organized crime don'

Michael Cohen's tell-all memoir makes the case that U.S. President Donald Trump is "guilty of the same crimes" that landed his former fixer in federal prison, offering a blow-by-blow account of Trump's alleged role in a hush money scandal that... Continue reading at CBC

[ CBC | 2020-09-06 04:12:05 UTC ]
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William Collins lands 'extraordinary' cricket memoir by Guha

William Collins has landed an '"extraordinary” memoir by Indian writer and commentator Ramachandra Guha, detailing his love affair with cricket. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-05 02:04:46 UTC ]
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