At two ends of the publishing continuum: Harvill Secker’s celebrates its (cumulative) centenary and Vagabond Voices

‘International Writing with a Wayward Streak’ is the headline in Booktrade.info announcing Harvill Secker’s approaching centenary celebrations in 2010.
From January through to December 2010, the Random House imprint Harvill Secker will be celebrating a centenary of publishing. Harvill Secker has published some of the most iconic and inspiring literary works of the last 100 years, [...]

Happy birthday, Samuel

I missed his birthday on 7 September, but there’s a chance for more cake and 300 candles on 18 September (apparently after the change of calendar in 1752 he celebrated his birthday on 18 September).
There’s been so many wonderful Johnson features on radio and in the press, but I just wanted to comment on a [...]

Beelzebub: a controversial novel to look forward to

Youssef Ziedan’s Azazeel (or Azazil) – to give it its original title – won the 2009 International Prize for Arabic Fiction and will be published as Beelzebub by Atlantic Books in 2010.

The availability of money for the translation – courtesy of IPAF – is a major boost to opening the doors to this rich literary [...]

Cover story in Solander

This piece appeared as the cover story for the latest issue of Solander.
More than a Matter of Words: Lucinda Byatt looks at four Italian historical novels in translation
I’ve included the full article on a separate page (click to read it here)
Just to whet your appetite, the novels I’ve chosen are The Leopard,  The Name of [...]

The BBC World Service is at a turning point

I’m sorry that I haven’t posted on this earlier but – like many interesting topics – I came across the whole question by chance.  Having read a little more about the issues involved, the whole subject  seems so fundamental that I hope as many readers as possible will follow it for themselves and sign the [...]

Pound of Flesh

Giving a new twist to the usual flurry of New Year’s resolutions to lose a pound or two of excess weight, a rather bizarre exhibition trial was staged in New York recently. As was widely reported, both in the New Yorker and on Radio 4’s Today programme, the Shylock v Antonio proceedings were -

held [...]

Il Mestiere di riflettere

This is the title of a book recently published by Azimut whose subtitle is crucially important: “Storie di traduttori e traduzioni”.

I came across it through the website of one of the contributors, Anna Mioni, and this excellent blog.  The book is edited by Chiara Manfrinato  and includes contributions by other leading translators. But, as the [...]

Digitisation rocks while Europeana crashes

While news of a major redirection of Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy towards stewardship rather than overproduction rightly takes the limelight, the opening of an equally epoch-making European resource Europeana went live on 20 November with less of a fanfare.  Nonetheless the extent of the demand was overwhelming.  With over 10 million hits an hour yesterday, [...]

At long last Amazon backs translation

After years of ignoring translation and frequently failing to mention translators’ names, Amazon has risen to the challenge of promoting translated fiction.  Given the dominance of this online bookseller, the move may even boost sales of foreign authors from the pitiful current levels.
The new Literature in Translation page offers access to bestselling titles as well [...]

Translation and the Nobel prize fail to excite at Frankfurt

Frankfurt is over for another year – not that I was there, so I’m only commenting vicariously on the basis of what I’ve read.   However, apparently translation deals were few and far between, and – to judge from the decision taken by Nobel prizewinner Le Clézio’s French publisher, Gallimard – not even a matter for [...]