By Chad Post TURIN: “Let me tell you something: the U.S. market is closed to Italian books,” said Italian literary agent Marco Vigevani on a panel about translation at the Turin International Book Fair last month. “It may sound crazy,” he continued, “but I want you to face the facts. Yes, it used to be different. There were editors like …
Planning an Editors or Publishers Trip Abroad? Tell Us About It
By Edward Nawotka Today’s lead story by Chad W. Post describes the merits of hosting editors and publishers trips abroad. Often organized by cultural institutions, they can be a gateway to learning more about a new culture and literature — and can pay dividends to the host countries in the long run. We at Publishing Perspectives will go (almost) anywhere …
Invite Recap: Will I See You On the Party Circuit at BEA?
By Erin L. Cox On May 5th, I wrote a blog post shamelessly asking for Book Expo America party invites. I have been asked for some follow-up, so I wanted to let you know that two weeks later, I have a few real party invites and a few reminders to come to big events/soirees. With just a few days left until BEA, …
Is Interest in Translated and Foreign Lit Growing in the US?
By Edward Nawotka As discussed in our lead story, the PEN World Voices Festival has done much to help promote foreign and translated literature to Americans. There are other signs that interest is growing: a proliferation of small publishers with a strong focus on translation (Open Letter, Archipelago), new tours of foreign writers, even an increasing tolerance for European “intellectuals” who …
PEN World Voices as Change Agent
By Chad W. Post It was almost seven years ago when I met then PEN executive director Michael Roberts and translator extraordinaire Esther Allen for drinks at the Washington Square Hotel to talk about this new festival they wanted to launch in support of international literature. The Berlin International Literature Festival was going to be their model . . . …
Twisted Spoon Press on “Trickle-Up Publishing”
By Amanda DeMarco PRAGUE: In an April 15th New York Times Op-Ed piece, Olga Tokarczuk ruminated on Polish public response to the recent plane crash that had killed the Polish president and 95 other people: “…sometimes I fear that the people of my country can unite only beside victims’ bodies, over coffins and in cemeteries…I dream of Poland becoming a …
Best Translated Book Award Finalists
By Edward Nawotka The finalists for the Best Translated Book Award were announced tonight in New York City, with ten titles making the cut in the categories of fiction and poetry. The winners will be announced on March 10th. “This is definitely the most diverse and interesting group of finalists yet,” said Chad W. Post, director of Three Percent, the …
The Translation Gap: Why More Foreign Writers Aren’t Published in America
By Emily Williams NEW YORK: Parts one, two and three of my series on scouting looked at American efforts to sell American books overseas. Today, this fourth and final installment of the series looks at the other side of the equation and brings us to a question most scouts run into sooner or later, often posed by one of their …
What’s the Buzz: E-books Offer Hope for Translations; 40 E-readers Expected
By Hannah Johnson The best of the blogosphere and social media… Over at Three Percent, Chad Post of Open Letter Books has written a four-part essay on e-books and translations. But, anyone lucky enough to be attending this week’s Reykjavík International Literary Festival can see him present it in person. Post argues that, because the majority of translations published in the …
In Praise of Paper-Over-Board
By Chad W. Post ROCHESTER, NEW YORK (USA): I have a visceral hatred for dust jackets – I strip them off, I crinkle them, I lose them. So in 2007, when in the process of launching Open Letter (a new publishing house at the University of Rochester dedicated to international literature), we had to decide whether we wanted to do …