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“Woodworm” by Layla Martínez, Sophie Hughes & Annie McDermott [NBA 2024]

When the National Book Award for Translated Literature longlist was announced the other week, I realized that I hadn't read any of the books on the list for the first time in . . . ages. Usually it's a mix of books I've loved, some I think are overrated, and a few I've never heard of, or at least didn't stick in my brain. ...

Five Questions with Michael Holtmann about HOME

As part of our ongoing series of short interviews featuring the people who helped bring great new translations to the reading public, we talked to Michael Holtmann, the executive director and publisher of the Center for the Art of Translation and Two Lines.  Before getting into the interview, I wanted to point out ...

Five Questions with Jordan Stump

My plan for this short interview—along with the ones I have scheduled for the rest of the month—was to write about Igifu by Scholastique Mukasonga and That Time of Year by Marie NDiaye earlier in the week (along with a few other French books) as a way of providing a context for this interview. I did end up writing ...

“A Spare Life” by Lidija Dimkovska [Why This Book Should Win]

Between the announcement of the Best Translated Book Award longlists and the unveiling of the finalists, we will be covering all thirty-five titles in the Why This Book Should Win series. Enjoy learning about all the various titles selected by the fourteen fiction and poetry judges, and I hope you find a few to purchase and ...

“The Sleep of the Righteous” by Wolfgang Hilbig [Why This Book Should Win]

This entry in the Why This Book Should Win series is by Hal Hlavinka, bookseller at Community Bookstore. We will be running two (or more!) of these posts every business day leading up to the announcement of the finalists.   The Sleep of the Righteous by Wolfgang Hilbig, translated from the German by Isabel Fargo ...

Wolfgang Hilbig, "The Sleep of the Righteous" [BTBA 2016]

Today’s Best Translated Book Award post is by Mark Haber of Brazos Bookstore. For more information on the BTBA, “like” our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. And check back here each week for a new post by one of the judges. The front cover of Wolfgang Hilbig’s The Sleep of the Righteous boasts ...

Poets & Writers Roundtable on Publishing Translations

A few months ago, Jeremiah Chamberlain invited me to participate in an indie-press roundtable on publishing translations with Barbara Epler from New Directions, Michael Reynolds of Europa Editions, Jill Schoolman of Archipelago Press, and CJ Evans of Two Lines. This ended up being a long, sprawling email conversation, that ...