Noteworthy

So many exciting things going on in the world of translation these days.  Seconds ago I held the hot little new issue of Absinthe 11: New European Writing in my very own hands.  With it's red cover graced by a handsome devil decked to the nines, who could resist taking a peek?  Ah, but open it and you have yourself a international goldmine of literary gems.  We begin with a man, unbeknownst to him, I am beholden to - Roland Jaccard (translated by Edward Gauvin).  Monsieur Jaccard pens an essay on many things including the Romanian Emil Cioran, a pessimist after my own heart.  Jaccard also throws in Borges, Walker Evans, Anton Kuh and Godard.  I am officially in intellectual love.  And Cioran is also referenced in a few solid poems by Romanian poet Lilian Ursu, translated by Mihaela Moscaliuc and Michael Waters.  And one of my favorite translators, Karen Emmerich, lends her deft hand to translating Eris Sotiropoulos' Stella, a wonderfully sad short story.  Lots of highlights from Eastern Europe which I will also be covering in the near future(promise....).  One more tiny thing that I noticed in this issue, an ad for a new collection of Russian fiction coming out in fall from Tin House Books.  I am glad to see them throwing their hat in the translation ring with this collection as well as a book I have on my to-read list  When I Forgot by Finnish writer Elina Hirvonen. 

And let's not forget the French-American Foundation and Gould Foundation  who had a ceremony celebrating Jody Gladding and Elizabeth Deshays for their translation of  Small Lives by Pierre Michon(Artchipelago Books).  I reviewed this book originally on Three Percent and am happy that it was honored.  In the nonfiction category, Matthew Cobb & Malcolm Debevoise got the nod for their translation of Michel Morange's Life Explained by Yale University Press.

Did I say Karen Emmerich?  I did, and if she isn't all over the place(Yay!).The new issue of The Quartely Conversation is up and oooh, is it good.  I beg ye to check it out.  First off, there is the erudite review of Amanda Michalopoulou's I'd Like(one of my new favorite books of all time) by George Fragopoulos accompanied by an interview with Amanda and Karen.  I interviewed Amanda some time ago and think it's so cool that George has Karen involved as well.  There are a couple of reviews of books that I am looking to read in the near future - The Foundation Pit by Andrey Platonov and Tokyo Fiancee by Amelie Nothomb.  Don't forget to check out some of the interesting features like the excerpt from Macedonio Fernández’s The Museum of Eterna’s Novel out from Open Letter Books and John Herbert Cunningham's article Beyond Neruda: Linking Three of Latin America's Best Poets.  This article includes a poet I recently mentioned, Daniel Huerta, who I now love.

All this gets me excited about what is going on in the world of translation and the wonderful work that is coming out around the world.  Will there ever be enough time to read it all?  One can only hope...