By Gwendolyn Dawson In Yan Lianke’s novel, Dream of Ding Village, a remote, agricultural village in China suffers from an AIDS epidemic. Ten years ago, the inhabitants of Ding Village sold their blood to blood collectors to increase their wealth and improve their standard of living. While the blood sales allowed the villagers to replace their traditional mud and thatch huts …
Words Without Borders Latest Offers a Global View of “Queer” Culture
International literary magazine Words Without Borders is focusing on queer culture this month with a selection of translated stores from across the globe… From their press release: We’re delighted to again give voice to a literary tradition that examines the world through an unaccustomed lens and with uncommon clarity and vigor. Writers from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, South America, …
Nicholas Sparks, US Bestsellers Help Novo Conceito Race to the Front of Brazilian Publishing
Former motorcycle racer Fernando Baracchini only started publishing trade books in 2007, but his publishing house dominates Brazil’s bestseller lists with an array of translated imports. By Maria Fernanda Rodrigues At first, Fernando Baracchini didn’t seem destined for a career in publishing. Though he grew up as scion to the Ribeirão Preto-based book chain Paraler, instead of helping his mother …
#BEA11: Books on Display the Amazon Publishing Booth
By Hannah Johnson Amazon has made even more waves than usual in the last few days with the announcement that the venerable Larry Kirschbaum will be in charge of Amazon’s publishing imprints. The Amazon Publishing booth on the show floor attracted plenty of visitors who wanted an advance look at what books the online retail giant would be rolling out …
Read This: Tim Parks on Stamm’s European Economy and Franzen’s American Excess
By Edward Nawotka The New York Review of Books has an intriguing essay by Tim Parks about the differences between the European and American sensibility in writing fiction, with a focus on the work of Swiss writer Peter Stamm and the American Jonathan Franzen: Parks begins… I’m English and live in Italy. During March, within two or three days of …
Germans are Hot: Hangman’s Daughter Sells 100,000 on Amazon
by Siobhan O’Leary For years, those who move and shake in the international publishing scene have bemoaned the fact that only three percent of the books published in the US are books published in translation. There are signs, however, that German authors — from Jenny Erpenbeck to Daniel Kehlmann — are gaining in popularity worldwide. Ullstein’s foreign rights director Pia …
2011 Best Translated Book Award Winners Announced
Poetry: Aleš Šteger’s The Book of Things translated from the Slovenian by Brian Henry Fiction: Tove Jansson’s The True Deceiver translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal Each winning author and translator will receive a $5,000 prize sponsored by Amazon.com From the press release: April 29, 2011 — The winning titles and translators for this year’s Best Translated Book Awards …
How To Get Published When You’re Not a Cliche
David Unger is the US rep for the Guadalajara International Book Fair. Born Guatemala, he lives in New York, writes in English, but is more widely published in Spanish. By David Unger NEW YORK CITY: I am the US rep for the Guadalajara International Book Fair so I know more than I need to know about the schizoid business of …
Do Too Many Publishers Traffic in Stereotypes?
By Edward Nawotka Today’s feature story by David Unger discusses his circuitous path toward publication, writing in English and being published in Spanish. One of the complaints foreign authors have who have failed to find publishers abroad is that publishers often have a narrow, if not limited view of a culture. The argument often heard is that readers expect books …
Did Russia’s Spotlight at the London Book Fair Generate Business for You?
By Edward Nawotka Russia is taking several star turns at book fairs as “guest of honor” — first in London earlier this month and next year at BookExpo America. The country’s literary reputation overseas is largely based on classic texts and a handful of translated authors who have broken through — Boris Akunin, Viktor Pelevin, Tatyana Tolstaya, Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, and Lyudmila Ulitskaya …