In today’s retrospective, we’re excited to share the work of another 2019 PEN Heim Translation Grant winner, Hope Campbell Gustafson, for her impressive translation of the novel Il comandante del fiume by the award-winning author of Italian-Somali descent, Ubah Cristina Ali Farah.
This powerful novel is the coming-of-age story of the teenager Yabar, and it deals with war, colonialism, terrorism, racism, Islam, relationships, trauma, memory, as well as the movement and mixing of people and cultures and languages. And a street mural in London, with its haunting eyes of a young migrant, is the perfect accompaniment for the text.
This is a compelling read that we hope will transport you into a new world. Tell us what you think using @TranslateMonth and #TranslationMonth!
—Claudia Serea and Loren Kleinman
