Archives for September 2016

Another premiere at NTM:  a peek inside Emilia Telese’s Italian studio and her exciting new translations courtesy of Erika Dagnino’s Canti of the Eye. In Dagnino’s words, … “Translation is always the renewing of a ‘Pascal’s Wager’ each time the translator has to feel a sort of abyss and setback experience. The key concepts seem to be bet and risk, magic and rationality, personality and empathy within the two non-antithetical polarities: a creative technique and a technically-configured creativity.” Translation and the creative process as leaps of faith? We couldn’t agree more—and hope you take the leap with us.

CLICK HERE to READ CANTI OF THE EYE by Erika Dagnino, Translated from the Italian by Emilia Telese

—Claudia Serea and Loren Kleinman

Widely described as an important emerging voice in Mexican literature, Daniel Saldaña París is a critic, poet, and novelist. In this installment, we’re excited to feature Saldaña París’s short story Piñata in a lovely translation by the acclaimed Christina MacSweeney who specializes in Latin American fiction. In MacSweeney’s own words, “Saldaña París’s prose displays the succinct precision of the poet he is, with every word carefully chosen; indeed its apparent simplicity leaves space for the reader to enter more fully into the questions and ideas bubbling beneath its surface.” We hope you like these translations as much as we did and that you’ll check out Saldaña París’s brilliant first novel, En medio de extrañas víctimas (Among Strange Victims), soon to be published by Coffee House Press.

CLICK HERE to READ Piñata by Daniel Saldaña París Translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney

—Claudia Serea and Loren Kleinman

We’re proud to present today another NTM premiere: for the first time, we’re featuring new translations from the Hausa language, sent to us by the gracious poet and translator Laura M. Kaminski (Halima Ayuba). Hausa is a Chadic language with about 39 million speakers. It is spoken mainly in northern Nigeria and Niger, and also in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Congo, Eritrea, Germany, Ghana, Sudan and Togo. We hope you enjoy these fresh new voices as much as we did.

We’d love to hear from you! Please share widely and celebrate international literature with us during September, the National Translation Month, and always. The world lies open—take time to explore it.

CLICK HERE to READ National Translation Month premiere: New translations from the Hausa language

—Claudia Serea and Loren Kleinman

In this installment, we’re happy to share with you seven new beautiful poems by the award-winning Polish poet Elżbieta Cichla-Czarniawska, translated in English for the first time by Barbara Kaskosz and Nancy Abeshaus. Fresh and lyrical, these poems are meditations on love, loss, and loneliness, the small blood sacrifices the soul makes on the altar of every day life. We hope you like them as much as we did.

CLICK HERE to READ Seven Poems by Elżbieta Cichla-Czarniawska translated from the Polish by Barbara Kaskosz and Nancy Abeshaus

—Claudia Serea and Loren Kleinman

NTM is proud to present a new installment of contemporary Romanian poetry: the well-known poet Dan Sociu in wonderful new translations by Carla Baricz. Sociu is one of the most powerful voices in a generation that focuses on the bleak everyday life. His dark visions in urban settings are heartbreaking and authentic, and they will certainly resonate with many of our readers.

CLICK HERE to READ Dan Sociu Translated by Carla Baricz

—Claudia Serea and Loren Kleinman

Today’s poems are written by a spectacular new voice in Brazilian poetry, Flávia Rocha, and translated with great attention to language and its musicality by Idra Novey. In her short intro to the work, Flávia Rocha talks about the unsettling feelings paired with excitement one faces in the process of translation. Fortunately, “there’s always a counterpart in another language who can truly read you, someone who can step in your shoes and move along the lines, walking faster or slower, taking turns, finding new grounds.” A close friend, the translator is also the seeker of meanings. In Idra Novey’s case, who is also a wonderful writer who published recently the brilliant novel Ways to Dissapear (Hachette, 2016) to critical acclaim, there is no better guide through the lines. We hope you agree.

CLICK HERE to READ New Brazilian Poems—Flávia Rocha Translated by Idra Novey and the author

—Claudia Serea and Loren Kleinman

In premiere at NTM, we’re proud to present new translations from the Lithuanian by Anna Halberstadt. The southernmost of Europe’s Baltic states and a former Soviet bloc nation that borders Poland, Latvia and Belarus, Lithuania has a long and troubled history that informs its great literature. Within the span of 50 years, Lithuania has suffered three foreign invasions, the deportation to a third of its people to Siberia, and the persecution of its entire Jewish community. These beautiful new translations are a reflection of the country’s recent history and offer a glimpse into the resilient Lithuanian soul.

CLICK HERE to READ Five Lithuanian Poets translated by Anna Halberstadt

—Claudia Serea and Loren Kleinman

As we strive to spotlight works of literature never before translated into English, we’re excited to share with you excerpts from the award-winning novels The Bear Whispers to Me by Chang Ying-Tai, Masked Dolls by Shih Chiung-Yu, and Crystal Wedding by Xu Xiaobin. These excerpts come to us courtesy of Balestier Press. The Bear Whispers to Me by Chang Ying-Tai and translated by Darryl Sterk is the winner of the 2015 Lennox Robinson Literary Award. Masked Dolls by Shih Chiung-Yu is the brutal, intense story of two women, one from the East and one from the West, struggling to find a way out of their personal dilemmas. Crystal Wedding by Xu Xiaobin and translated from the Chinese by Nicky Harman is the winner of the 2015 English Pen Translation Award and it was longlisted for the 2016 Financial Times and the OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices awards.

And remember, in September and beyond: pick up a translated book. Read and share your best-loved literary translations. Travel the world without living your living room. Spread the love.

CLICK HERE to READ Groundbreaking translations from the Chinese: Three novels from Balestier Press

—Claudia Serea and Loren Kleinman

 

 

Today, we’re excited to share with you the new translations of works by three accomplished Syrian poets living in exile: Akram Al-Katreb, Osama Esber, and Firas Sulaiman. Their poems have in common the voice of the suffering in the ancient lands of the Middle East and the longing of the exiled poet. We loved these fiery new works, their live language, and the love the poets show for their native war-torn country. We hope you’ll like them, too.

And remember, in September and beyond: the world lies open. Take time to explore it. Read and share your favorite translations.

CLICK HERE to READ Akram Al-Katreb

CLICK HERE to READ Osama Esber

CLICK HERE to READ Firas Sulaiman

—Claudia Serea and Loren Kleinman