Amazon Continues to Make Translation Annoucements

New day, new Amazon press release related to literature in translation:

AmazonCrossing, the literary translation imprint of Amazon Publishing, today announced a commitment to publish exceptional works of literature from Indonesian authors translated into English beginning in early 2016. The announcement coincides with Indonesia’s participation as Guest of Honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair this week. [. . .]

Indonesian titles planned for publication include:

Nirzona, a love story by Abidah El Khalieqy, set against the backdrop of the Aceh tsunami, a rare moment in recent history when the world’s eyes turned to Indonesia

English-language originals The Oddfits and The More Known World, the first two titles in the Oddfits series from Indonesia-born Tiffany Tsao, a translator and past Indonesia editor at large for Asymptote Journal

Paper Boats, a new adult love story written in glittering, quotable prose from popular novelist, actress, and singer Dee Lestari

A new edition of Laksmi Pamuntjak’s acclaimed A Question of Red and her latest, Aruna and Her Palate, which follows a food writer’s travels through Indonesia

Hummingbird, a stunning work of magical realism from Nukila Amal [. . .]

The Indonesia spotlight program follows similar AmazonCrossing programs in past years featuring literature from Finland, Iceland and Brazil. The Finnish spotlight program included Katri Lipson’s European Union Prize for Literature-winning literary thriller The Ice Cream Man, as well as books by Leena Lehtolainen, Jari Järvelä, Marko Hautala, and Risto Isomäki. The Brazilian spotlight program launched in 2013 and has included the release of a dozen books of full-length fiction and short stories from Brazilian authors including Luiz Ruffato, Cristovão Tezza, Josy Stoque, and Eliane Brum. In 2012, the Iceland spotlight program included ten Icelandic books, three of which—The Hitman’s Guide to Housecleaning by Hallgrimur Helgason, The Flatey Enigma by Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson, and House of Evidence by Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson—became Kindle Top Ten best sellers.

Taken in combination with the relative success of the recent releases by Eka Kurniawan (Beauty Is a Wound, Man Tiger) and Leila Chudori (Home), this is a great time for Indonesian lit. (Just to put it in perspective: From 2008 until this year, only nine works of Indonesian fiction were published in the U.S.)

My favorite line from this is “a new adult love story written in glittering, quotable prose.” I shudder to think of “quotable prose” being used as a positive adjective. A lot of readers post lines from her work on GoodReads!

Also, the only food writers I read are these ones.