Susan Bernofsky's Blog, page 36

Translate A Radio Play?

There’s a new podcast on the block: Play for Voices, founded to produce and promote both contemporary and classic radio plays from around the world. They’e launching this spring, and as part of the venture, they’re co-sponsoring what I believe to be the first-ever Radio Play Translation Contest with Words Without Borders.

Here’s the call for submissions:

We invite submissions of translated radio plays of all lengths and from all

languages. The Play for Voices producers and Words without Borders editors will select the winners. The winning play(s) will be produced by Play for Voices and published in Words without Borders.

Contest Guidelines

– Plays must be written or adapted for radio. We are not currently seeking unadapted stage plays or other literature.

– Plays can be of any length, and translated from any language.

– Translators should determine that performance and publishing rights are available before submitting and, if possible, provide contact information for the rights holders.

– Play for Voices and Words without Borders will retain nonexclusive first publication rights to produce and publish submissions.

For submission instructions, see the Play for Voices website. The contest closes on June 1, 2016, so time to get translating!

The post Translate A Radio Play? appeared first on TRANSLATIONiSTA.

Translating for Cervantes

April 22, 2016 will mark the four-hundredth anniversary of Cervantes’s death. To commemorate the occasion, the Hispanic Institute at Columbia University is collecting translations of the following sentence from the prologue to Cervantes’s Novelas ejemplares:

[Y]o soy el primero que he novelado en lengua castellana, que las muchas novelas que en ella andan impresas todas son traducidas de lenguas estranjeras, y éstas son mías propias, no imitadas ni hurtadas: mi ingenio las engendró, y las parió mi pluma, y van creciendo en los brazos de la estampa.

I’m not sure quite what they’re planning to do with the translations once they get them, but I’m suspecting this will be fun. I’m guessing the top submissions will be printed in gold leaf and distributed at a seance at which Sancho Panza is raised from the dead. This isn’t specified in the official announcement, however. According to the guidelines the Hispanic Institute has sent around, they encourage “both literal and irreverent translations into any language,” adding: “Translations of translations are accepted. Translations based on a free translation of the term “translation” are also welcome.” In other words, anything goes. They ask that you include your name and city of residence. Submit your translations here by March 29, 2016

The post Translating for Cervantes appeared first on TRANSLATIONiSTA.

Festival Neue Literatur 2016

It’s February, and it’s raining. But do not despair, the thing that makes February worthwhile every year is about to make its delightful appearance: Festival Neue Literatur (Feb. 26-28)! I’ve written about FnL before, and I even used to curate it once, but now I get to sit on the sidelines and enjoy all the great storytelling as this year’s capable curator, Ross Benjamin, works his lion-taming magic on a half dozen Austrian, German, and Swiss writers who’ve been imported from Europe for the long weekend. Last year’s festival chair, novelist Monique Truong, loved the festival so much she came back this year too! All events will be conducted in English, of course (that’s the point of the festival – making the latest in German-language literature available and accessible to a NYC audience), and you can read English excerpts from all the participants’ books on the festival website, which is here. And here’s where you’ll find a complete schedule of the events that begin this Friday and run through Sunday. There’ll even be an event (on Saturday) specifically highlighting literary translation! Festival participants include Daniel Kehlmann, Natasha Wimmer, Álvaro Enrigue, Laura Perciasepe, Ann Goldstein, Joshua Rothman, Sal Robinson, James Hannaham, Siri Hustvedt, Jenny Offill, and John Wray joining the six visiting authors featured in this year’s FnL: Xaver Bayer, Sibylle Berg, Iris Hanika, Vea Kaiser, Christopher Kloeble, and Pedro Lenz. Information on all involved can be found on the website, check it out. There’s even a trailer! All the festival events are free (some require RSVPs). Hope to see you there!

The post Festival Neue Literatur 2016 appeared first on TRANSLATIONiSTA.

Translation on Tap in NYC, March 1 – 15, 2016

Here’s what’s coming up before the Ides…

Thursday, March 3:

Asymptote‘s 5th anniversary event: An evening with the translators. Featuring star translators Ann Goldstein, and Natasha Wimmer, moderated by Frederic Tuten. Apparently you can have drinks with the stars following the event. Tickets are cheaper if you buy them in advance, and especially cheaper ($4) if you use the Asymptote-authorized Translationista promotional code “Bernofskyrate” when purchasing online. More information here. The New School Auditorium, 66 W. 12th St., 6:30 p.m.

The post Translation on Tap in NYC, March 1 – 15, 2016 appeared first on TRANSLATIONiSTA.

2015 Society of Authors Translation Prizes Announced

As many of the readers of this blog no doubt know, the Society of Authors in the U.K. does a lot of excellent things for writers and literary translators (things like setting minimum rates for translation fees that are respected by publishers!), and one of its many functions is giving out awards for translations in a number of categories. This year’s prizes have just  been presented in a ceremony at Europa House in London that I wish I could be in attendance at right now (London being five hours ahead of NYC). Here’s this year’s roster of winning translations, just announced via Twitter:

The Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for translation from the Arabic has gone to Paul Starkey for his translation of The Book of the Sultan’s Seal Youssef Rakha (Interlink Publishing). Honorable mention to Jonathan Wright for Land of No Rain by Amjad Nasser (Bloomsbury).

The Scott Moncrieff Prize for translation from the French has gone to Frank Wynne for his translation of Boualem Sansal’s Harraga (Bloomsbury). Honorable mention to David Bellos for Portrait of a Man by Georges Perec (Maclehose Press).

The Bernard Shaw Prize for translation from the Swedish has gone to Thomas Teal for his translation of The Listener by Tove Jansson (Granta). Honorable mention to Sarah Death for A Brief Stop on the Road from Auschwitz by Göran Rosenberg (Granta).

The Premio Valle Inclán for translation from the Spanish has gone to Anne McLean for her translation of Outlaws by Javier Cercas (Bloomsbury). Honorable mention to Margaret Jull Costa for Tristana by Pérez Galdós (New York Review Books).

The Vondel Prize for the best translation from the Dutch is a tie! The two translators sharing the top honor are Donald Gardner for his translation of Remco Camperts’ In Those Days (Shoestring) and Laura Watkinson for her translation of The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt (Pushkin Press). Honorable mention to Sam Garrett for his translation of Tirza by Arnon Grunberg (Open Letter).

I’m particularly happy about this last one:

The Schlegel-Tieck Prize for translation from the German has gone to Susan Bernofsky a.k.a. Translationista for The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck (New Directions/Portobello). Honorable mention to Shaun Whiteside for The Giraffe’s Neck by Judith Schalansky (Bloomsbury).

I’m so honored to have my work singled out like this, especially for a prize named for great translators I wrote part of a book about once (spoiler alert: with regard to the great German Shakespeare translations, Tieck was carpetbagging, though he put genuine elbow grease into Cervantes and was a great author in his own right); and also chuffed to be in the company of such distinguished colleagues. Congratulations, all!

The post 2015 Society of Authors Translation Prizes Announced appeared first on TRANSLATIONiSTA.

Translation on Tap in NYC, Feb. 16 – 29, 2015

It’s leap year! Plus there are translations to celebrate. Here’s what’s coming up in Translationland:

Tuesday, Feb. 16:

The Bridge Series is presenting a series of events this spring entitled “The Business of Literary Translation,” and the first one, “Breaking In,” features translators Allison Markin Powell, Allison M. Charette, Heather Cleary, Katrine Øgaard Jensen, and Mary Ann Newman talking about how they got started in the business and how it’s going. RSVP strongly recommended, more information here. The Center for Fiction, 17 E. 47th St.(between Madison and 5th Ave), 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 17:

Launch event for The Child Poet: Translator (and writer) Chloe Aridjis speaks with author (and father) Homero Aridjis, more information here.Community Bookstore, 143 7th Ave. (between Garfield and Carroll), Brooklyn, 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 18:

Second launch event for The Child Poet: Translator (and writer) Chloe Aridjis speaks with author (and father) Homero Aridjis, more information here. King Juan Carlos Center, 53 Washington Square, Floor 4E, 7:00 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 19:

Third launch event for The Child Poet: Translator (and writer) Chloe Aridjis and author (and father) Homero Aridjis are joined by Alberto Manguel, more information here. 192 Books, 192 10th Ave., 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 25:

Book launch for The Boys with translator Mara Faye Lethem and Catalan author Toni Sala, more information here. Community Bookstore, 143 Seventh Ave., Brooklyn, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 27:

There’s Something about Translation: Last year, the translation event presented as part of Festival Neue Literatur was a big hit, and it looks like this year’s iteration will be even more spectacular. Star translators Ann Goldstein and Natasha Wimmer and will be joined by authors Daniel Kehlmann (who lost his translator last year) and Álvaro Enrigue, and editors Laura Perciasepe and Joshua Rothman. Moderated by the inimitable Sal Robinson. More information here. It’s free, but this one’s going to book up in advance, so RSVP ASAP, I’d say. (And given the early hour, there might be no-shows, so you still might be able to get in at the door.) Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, 12:30 p.m.

The post Translation on Tap in NYC, Feb. 16 – 29, 2015 appeared first on TRANSLATIONiSTA.

2016 Shortlists for PEN’s Translation Prizes Announced

This morning, the PEN American Center released the shortlists for their two annual prizes that honor works in translation published in poetry or prose the previous year. The winning books will be announced March 1.

Here are the lists of finalists in each category. Click through to the PEN website for more details on the books and judges and for another look at the longlists.

PEN Translation Prize Finalists:

The Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector

Translated from the Portuguese by Katrina Dodson (New Directions)

The Blizzard by Vladimir Sorokin

Translated from the Russian by Jamey Gambrell (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Translated from the Russian by Oliver Ready (Penguin Classics)

The Physics of Sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov

Translated from the Bulgarian by Angela Rodel (Open Letter Books)

Hollow Heart by Viola Di Grado

Translated from the Italian by Antony Shugaar (Europa Editions)

PEN Prize for Poetry in Translation Finalists:

The School of Solitude: Collected Poems by Luis Hernández

Translated from the Spanish by Anthony Geist (Swan Isle Press)

The Late Poems of Wang An-shih

Translated from the Chinese by David Hinton (New Directions)

Rilke Shake by Angélica Freitas

Translated from the Portuguese by Hilary Kaplan (Phoneme Media)

I Burned at the Feast: Selected Poems of Arseny Tarkovsky

Translated from the Russian by Philip Metres and Dimitri Psurtsev (Cleveland State University Poetry Center)

The Collected Poems of Chika Sagawa

Translated from the Japanese by Sawako Nakayasu (Canarium Books)

Congratulations to all the finalists!

The post 2016 Shortlists for PEN’s Translation Prizes Announced appeared first on TRANSLATIONiSTA.

Translation on Tap in NYC, Feb. 1 – 15, 2016

Here’s what’s going on during these chilly winter days:

Wednesday Feb. 3;

The Mysteries of Modiano: Translator Mark Polizzotti joins Yale University Press director John Donatich for a conversation about publishing, translation, and the work of 2014 Nobel laureate Patrick Modiano, moderated by Arezoo Moseni. More information here. NYPL Research Library, 42 Street & 5th Ave, 6:00 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 12:

Rioplatense Poetry in translation: Translators Jesse Kercheval, Yvette Siegert, and Mark Statman reading from their translations of, respectively, Circe Maia, Alejandra Pizarnik, and Martín Barea Matos. More information here. McNally Jackson, 52 Prince St., 7:00 p.m.

The post Translation on Tap in NYC, Feb. 1 – 15, 2016 appeared first on TRANSLATIONiSTA.

Apply Now for 2016 Gutekunst Prize

Now that a new year has gotten underway, it’s time for another round of Gutekunst for young translators from the German (“young” here being defined as under 35 and unpublished in book form) to try their hands at a short text that has been lovingly selected for them by the folks at the Goethe Institut. This prize is unique in that everyone who applies for it translates the same exact text. The skillful winner will receive a $2500 prize, plus lots of glory. The deadline is March 18, 2015, which means you can either wait until March 11 to start translating and do a lousy job on it, or get a head’s start now and have a thoroughly revised translation all typed up and ready to go well before the deadline rolls around. Which path do you think Translationista is advocating? To start the application process and receive a copy of this year’s text, write to Walter Schlect at the Goethe Institut. You’ll find all the rules and info here. On your marks, get set, translate!

The post Apply Now for 2016 Gutekunst Prize appeared first on TRANSLATIONiSTA.

2015 AATSEEL Translation Award Announced

For those who don’t speak Acronym, AATSEEL is the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages, and every two years they give out a prize for the best translation, and this year’s award has gone to Kaija Straumanis for her translation from the Latvian of Inga Ābele’s novel High Tide. I picked an excerpt from this translation for the Two Lines 20th anniversary issue I co-edited with Christopher Merrill back in 2013, finding the narrative voice instantly appealing. Congratulations on the award, Kaija! You’ll find a list of excellent also-rans here.

 

The post 2015 AATSEEL Translation Award Announced appeared first on TRANSLATIONiSTA.