The Mookse and the Gripes discussion
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International Booker Prize
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2019 MBI speculation
If someone makes an eligible list, let me know! Since august is "Women in Translation" month, I'd like to start preparing for this one! :)
Don't think there is one yet. But a good substitute is to seek out works from go-to publishers like Fitzcarraldo, Charco Press, Periene Press, Istros etc.
Thank you, Paul! I'll go have a look through the publisher's catalogue. :-)
Paul wrote: "Don't think there is one yet. But a good substitute is to seek out works from go-to publishers like Fitzcarraldo, Charco Press, Periene Press, Istros etc."You could check out And Other Stories, who are publishing books exclusively by women authors for the whole of 2018. There should be a translated book in there.
And Other Stories do indeed have some translated books by women authors coming out this year.The first one on my to-read list is from Fitzcarraldo however:
River by Esther Kinsky
River is very good, although was eligible for MBI last year.
Face-palm. I was just thinking published in 2018, but it is 1st May to 30th April.
River was a 5-star read for me, and I hope it gets more attention in the form of some prize later, even if it missed MBI. (It put me in a kind of a Fitzcarraldo craze, as I’m currently reading their complete fiction back-catalogue nearly in the order they’ve been published).In the MBI 2019 eligibility timeline they’re publishing:
Drive your Plough over the Bones of the Dead in September
Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants in November
Nocilla Lab in January
Règne animal (Animalia in English translation) in March
The first author won the prize last year with Flights and the second author has been nominated with Compass, so I think they all stand a chance.
List! https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... Paul, and anyone else who knows SE Asian literature, do you know what's the deal with Balestier's listings on their website?
They list quite a few English-language books that I couldn't see anywhere else, e.g. not on Amazon. Are those just for sale in Singapore?
Wow thanks for that Antonomasia.Not sure re Balestier I am afraid.
Ah, also, is Lascosas still around, and still keeping up with Seagull Press? Their website gives no info on when books were published or what's new, so if she could spare the time to say what their new books are, that would be nice.
She is certainly active on the anglophone Man Booker thread
Mod
Paul, and anyone else who knows SE Asian literature, do you know what's the deal with Balestier..."
Thanks for creating and sharing that list.
The Dead: A Novel, brought to you by the fantastic Farrar, Straus & Giroux! :-)Also: The Day the Sun Died by Yan Lianke.
Can't see a UK publisher's edition of the Kracht; have you heard of one in the works? Vote for the Lianke on the list if you think it's got a good chance, or you like it. Will be good to get some movement in it reflecting people's opinions.
Still hoping for the Kracht - It's fantastic.
As there's a new US translation with a big publisher, chances are the UK will get it next year. Though whether it'll be before or after 1st May, who knows... I wonder if there'll be more of this sort of thing after Brexit, as publishers try to reduce costs and risks: translations published first in the US, then if the reception is decent, a UK imprint picks them up. On the other hand, it's a small market, including quite a lot of people who are happy to order US editions online, and may not be profitable. All depends on the numbers. Either way I've no doubt the lie of the land for translated books in the UK is going to be different from next year. It's a good while since I read the Bookseller; will have to see what they are saying.
On Seagull Books...I don't follow the International Booker, just the Best Translated Book Awards. Seagull Books are of course published in India, not the US or UK, so I'm not sure how eligibility is decided for your award. For the BTBA, it is a fuzzy and liberal definition. Seagull publishes several series, including nonfiction and performance. The best place for seeing everything they publish, along with the date these are available through their US distributor is:
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/...
and then cross reference it with the various lists e.g. French List, India List on the publisher's web page, with works mostly listed in order of publication date (if a work is delayed, the work isn't usually moved down on the list).
http://www.seagullbooks.org/
You can also enter the publisher and date info into this database:
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/t...
But it is only as good as the input data, which is apparently supplied by the publishers I've found it very incomplete. So...in summary, if you want to get a complete list, you need to put in a couple of hours work. On Seagull, I've morphed from reading their entire translated fiction group to reading selective volumes across all of their lists, fiction and nonfiction. Their in performance series is a set of current plays from throughout the world with lots of performance photos, and in some cases DVDs. I have found them all excellent.
Don't forget Dalkey Archives!They still list an office in London, so I'm assuming their list is eligible. Usually around 30 translations a year. All without much of a plot, often proudly boring, and by far my favorite press. I read every single translation, every single year. Where to find a list of books? By spending infinite time of their web site glancing at each of the first few pages of books. Actually finding the books? I order them from the publisher or Amazon.
Great info - thanks very much. Seagull had a book on the MBI longlist this year - and their Twitter now says they have offices in London, New York and Calcutta. I assume they became eligible because they opened the London office.
Dalkey are an odd one. I've seen discussions over the years (pertaining to the IFFP, before the MBI) that conclude that either they aren't eligible because their principal place of business isn't in the UK (because it's a branch office of US Dalkey, whereas e.g. Europa have a separate enough division that they can be considered to have a principal office here - and Seagull's longlisting may belie that) or else they aren't submitting due to established curmudgeonly tendencies.
I had a look at the Dalkey website during a discussion the other day, and with a combination of looking at the forthcoming and recently released pages (or whatever they title them) - and also potentially sorting others by release date order, though I didn't check if the Store pages allow that - it wouldn't be too much of a problem to locate relevant books. I've got used to navigating the twists and turns of publisher websites to extract this sort of info since I started compiling these lists in 2015. But the Seagull site (and the recent partial revamp of the Hertfordshire Press site) defeated me.
Evidently U of Chicago Press is the way for the Seagull stuff and I will have a look tomorrow. Cheers.
BTBA doesn't require submissions, but apparently most publishers do. Dalkey never submits anything to anyone. So if that is required for this award, forget it! Dalkey's UK office is:
Dalkey Archive Press
Dutch House, 307-308 High Holborn
London WC1V 7LL
For Seagull Books, I can't find any physical office for the publisher outside India, infact they are making a big deal of opening their first location outside Kolkata, and that is in Delhi.
How peculiar. Dalkey are a law unto themselves. I hope some of the duplicates were in reasonable condition to sell or donate. A few pages refer to Seagull having offices in London and New York, e.g http://www.literarytranslators.org/pu...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seagull...
https://www.facebook.com/pg/seagull.b...
This states that Seagull London was incorporated back in 2005.
Perhaps they have simply registered for desk space somewhere to fulfil technicalities, and it's not used enough to be open to the public.
Whatever the story is, I do hope that the books are eligible, and that they appear in bookstores. Do you see either Dalkey or Seagull in shops? I noticed yesterday that Dalkey decided to put out catalogs again this year (they didn't last year) and that the last page of both 2018 catalogs has a section called Bookstore Advisors, all of which are in the UK and Ireland...
Pat Hynes, of
Scéal Eile Books
(16 Lower Market St, Clonroad Beg, Ennis, Co. Clare)
Máire Griffin, of
The Winding Stair
(40 Ormond Quay Lower, North City, Dublin 1)
David Torrans, of
No Alibis
(83 Botanic Ave, Belfast BT7 1JL, UK)
Liz Walsh, of
Stone House Books
(2, Dalgan House, St Kieran’s St, Gardens, Kilkenny)
Sophie Bowley-Aicken, of
Housmans Bookshop
(5 Caledonian Rd, Kings Cross, London N1 9DY, UK)
Arabella Friesen of
John Sandoe Books Ltd.
(10 Blacklands Terrace, Chelsea, London SW3 2SR, UK)
Given formally entering - and agreement to take part in publicity etc - is key I rather suspect Dalkey won't be taking part in the MBI.
Have read two qualifying Netgalley books over the last week: Elefant by Martin Suter (Swiss German), popular fiction so not likely to end up on the longlist. (MBI, for whatever reason, doesn't really do a popular fiction choice, unlike the English-language Booker.)
In/Half by Jasmin B. Frelih (Slovene), is literary enough that I can see its being submitted. I didn't get on with it but would be interested to see if other people who've also read a lot of literary fiction found similar issues - or if they get something out of it which I've missed.
Has anyone noticed from reading blogs what And Other Stories are like about ARCs, or know if they might grant them to people who don't have active blogs? I was considering subscribing to get their first two books of next year early - To Leave with the Reindeer and The Polyglot Lovers -(before whatever potential mess happens in the UK after the end of March) but it wouldn't be great budgeting.And talking of ARCs, Marie Darieussecq's MBI-eligible novella Our Life in the Forest is a Read Now on Netgalley, available until 25th September.
Talking to myself a bit in this thread today, but here is Olga Tokarczuk's 'Books that Made Me' interview: https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...Which I find mildly uncanny: a writer whose books I've had for years, and not quite got round to, cites a whole lot of other books I've also been wanting to get round to for years.
Antonomasia wrote: "Marie Darieussecq's MBI-eligible novella Our Life in the Forest is a Read Now on Netgalley, available until 25th September.."Thank you for letting us know! I've been really curious about this one.
Very impressed with the two Dag Solstad's - Armand V. - fotnoter til en uutgravd roman and T. Singer.His first three novels in English translation all featured in the IFFP - and T Singer is the book that he regarded as perfecting the form he tried with those 3 so much that he gave up writing conventional novels and Armand V is a novel told in footnotes to another unwritten novel.
I would be surprised if one doesn't feature next year.
A great line up which will encourage me to follow the prize this year. Freely is a great translator albeit seems to have been supplanted as Pamuk's main translator. A review of one of her books.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I love the way that the official site correctly describes John as having been short listed for the Republic of Consciousness Prize. My review.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
And can I just commend Bethany Hughes's latest book - Istanbul, a favourite City of one family for nearly 1000 years, as this quote from Hughes book shows.
Oh What a noble and beautiful city is Constantinople …. How many remarkable things may be seen in the principal avenues and even in the lesser streets - Fulcher of Chartres
Overall the panel seems to have quite a via a towards history, classics and politics. Had they have judged this year's main translated prize one could expect to have seen Circe and Silence of The Girls I think, plus some African fiction (for example Freshwater called in and with its publication date bought forward).
Mod
Hugh wrote: "note that they have gone with the American spelling of plow/plough, which Amazon and Waterstones now show t..." Which is a bit depressing, although understandable for cost and marketing reasons if they are selling it in the States.
Copies of Mario Vargas Llosa's The Neighborhood (another contender) sold over here also use the American spelling on the cover, from what I've seen. It looks as if they just reused the US cover art without alteration.
Antonomasia wrote: "Hugh wrote: "note that they have gone with the American spelling of plow/plough, which Amazon and Waterstones now show t..." Which is a bit depressing, although understandable for cost and market..."
Here in Canada, some of our spellings are more in line with the UK (we use "colour", "neighbourhood", "honour", etc) and others with the US (we use "realize", "symbolize", "prioritize", etc.). But even in those cases enough people will use the less-common Canadian version that we get pretty used to seeing both. With books, we generally get US spellings with US authored books and UK spellings with UK authored books. Books from other countries in translation can go either way.
To me the spelling issue is small potatoes and one people really should not mind. A more interesting issue is when to change vocabulary and how to deal with those variations in translating books. "Jumper" or "sweater"? "Crisps" or "chips"? "Petrol" or "Gas"? And everyone in the British Isles' favourite silly complaint, "football" or "soccer"? Translators and translations can have nationalities just as authors do, so if a translated book does not use the local common term or spelling that should be ok. Edith Grossman, translator of The Neighborhood is American, so American spellings seem a natural choice. Antonia Lloyd-Jones, translator of Drive your Plough over the Bones of the Dead is British, so UK spellings are a natural choice there.
While not quite an issue of translation, it is interesting to note that in the first couple of Harry Potter books the American versions did change the UK-specific words as well as spellings to American ones. But by the last few books they were so popular that the publisher no longer worried this might be an issue and so Americans got the UK-words. In Canada, we always got the UK versions (and covers - and titles - no "Sorcerer's Stone" here).
Hugh wrote: "My copy of Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead has been delivered (note that they have gone with the American spelling of plow/plough, which Amazon and Waterstones now show t..."Mine arrived today, too. Given that Flights is just about my favourite book of 2018 so far, I am really looking forward to this and rather regretting launching myself into the 652 page The Magus yesterday!
I've just launched myself into the 1138 page Knausgaard volume 6!Plow didn't jar too much with me but soccer used for football and football used for armoval are indeed particular bugbears.
Joking aside it is a genuine problem as in the US football implies a different game altogether and in the UK the term soccer while understood is essentially perjorative - eg used say by rugby fans or by football fans complaining the Premier League is overly commercial.
Paul-I am very much enjoying the Karl Ove. How about you? Volume 1 was a very memorable book for me. Vol 2-5 less so. I'm 10% with #6, and so far I find the quality first rate. UP there with his angels book.
That's good to hear. I am literally just starting. I liked Book 5 best of 2-5.
Paul-Agree that after slidding down 1-2-3 it then picked up 4-5.
Paul wrote: "Joking aside it is a genuine problem as in the US football implies a different game altogether..."Well what in the UK is called "hockey" is what we call "field hockey" and what we call "hockey" is what is called "ice hockey" in the UK, but somehow we don't often get too confused about the matter. Besides, if anything, using "soccer" is the way to guarantee not resulting in confusion, so if that is the worry it should actually be preferred. Or the more formal name, "association football" would do too.
Also UK "chips" and North American "chips" are different things as is a UK "boot" and a North American "boot". And then there's my favourite example of a phrase having a very different meaning in the UK and here. If you ask people in Canada if you can "bum a fag" they won't understand you and will be at a loss for how to respond at all.
I think it isn't the confusion so much as the fact as I mentioned that the term is pejorative so it changes the sense of a sentence. (eg MK Dons are a soccer team, AFC Wimbledon play football).Biggest issues I think arise when someone decides to use slang. E.g Pat Barker's recent Silence of the Girls is a retelling, from the perspective of a female character, of the Iliad. She at certain points wants to have the characters talking colloquially. So what does she do? She can't really use Ancient Greek slang. So being a British writer she used British slang - but I have seen several US reviews remark on it (e.g. Publishers Weekly "The use of British contemporary slang in the dialogue is jarring, and detracts from the story’s intensity". I suspect the word British there is quite important).
Paul wrote: "I've just launched myself into the 1138 page Knausgaard volume 6!"
You are brave indeed! I'm having an internal debate as to whether to read it as I have a love/hate relationship with the author. I've read 1-5, so it seems like a must, but I found that by the end of five, I was struggling (sorry!). For me, one and two were the highlights -- I really liked the episodic structure of book two, in particular. I'll be curious to hear your thoughts. Six does not come out in the US for another month.
One thing that has been annoying in English is the wait - these books came out almost back to back in Danish and there was an immediacy to the writing (and the reading). We've had to wait 7 years for Book 6, and more than 2 years since Book 5.
In Norwegian, you mean.... Yes, and the wait between 5 and 6 has seemed particularly long, as you mention. It's kind of amazing that the books in English have been able to sustain the hype surrounding them even though the publishing schedule has been so languid.
Hugh wrote: "note that they have gone with the American spelling of plow/plough"After all that is turns out to be all down to William Blake not the publisher or translator.
The title is taken from his Proverbs of Hell from his book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. And the earliest extant copy - from 1790 - uses the 'plow' spelling.
http://www.blakearchive.org/copy/mhh....
I’ve almost finished the book and both plough and plow are used inside. I need to check the context of each but I’m assuming that plough is used when not quoting Blake. Unless they made a mistake.
I've just found out that Beatriz Bracher is going to be published in England. She is one of the best contemporary Brazilian writers. I think this novel is eligible. https://www.amazon.co.uk/I-Didnt-Talk...
Alysson wrote: "I've just found out that Beatriz Bracher is going to be published in England. She is one of the best contemporary Brazilian writers. I think this novel is eligible. https://www.amazon.co.uk/I-Didn..."
Norton is an American publisher. But it's entirely possible a UK publisher will also bring out that same translation within the next year or so. That often happens.
It is certainly eligible for next year's BTBA though: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Antonomasia wrote: "Alysson wrote: "I've just found out that Beatriz Bracher is going to be published in England. She is one of the best contemporary Brazilian writers. I think this novel is eligible. https://www.ama..."
Oh, I didn't notice this. Thanks for letting me know! :)
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The Mookse and the Gripes
Books mentioned in this topic
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: In Full Color (other topics)Wizard of the Crow (other topics)
Smilla's Sense of Snow (other topics)
Pan Tadeusz (other topics)
Faceless Killers (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jhumpa Lahiri (other topics)William Blake (other topics)
Henning Mankell (other topics)
Rabindranath Tagore (other topics)
Peter Høeg (other topics)
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Chaired by Bettany Hughes, award-winning historian, author and broadcaster, the panel consists of: writer, translator and president of English PEN Maureen Freely; philosopher Professor Angie Hobbs FRSA; novelist and satirist Elnathan John; and essayist and novelist Pankaj Mishra.
(https://themanbookerprize.com/interna...)
The prize is open for submissions.
The eligible book list, largely thanks to Antonomasia, is here
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Let the speculation begin...