Fiction in Translation [2]

This post picks up where we left off last time in Fiction in Translation [1].

Here are six more presses actively bringing (mostly) contemporary writers from the greater world to English-speaking readers. They need our support, and we need to pay attention to their stories and ways of writing.

[Again, I've asterisked titles I've yet to read.]

Archipelago Books Brooklyn, NY https://archipelagobooks.org/

• Kibogo, Scholastique Mukasonga (trans. by Mark Polizzatti), 2020   [Rwanda/France]*

• Ti Amo, Hanne Ørstavik (trans. by Martin Aitkin), 2020   [Norway]

• Eastbound, Maylis De Kerangal (trans. by Jessica Moore), 2012   [France]

• A Time for Everything, Karl Ove Knausgård (trans. by James Anderson),         2004 [Norway]

• Love, Hanne Ørstavik (trans. by Martin Aitkin), 1997  [Norway]

Like Charco, Archipelago produces books that are easily identifiable—matte paper covers with a centered, often classical, painting/drawing. They're lovely artifacts.

Archipelago offers memberships, if you're so inclined:

              https://archipelagobooks.org/book/memberships/

And Other Stories Sheffield, London, New York https://www.andotherstories.org/

• Boulder, Eva Baltazar (trans. by Julia Sanches), 2020 [Spain/writes in Catalan]

• Slash and Burn, Claudia Hernández (trans. by Julia Sanches), 2017 [El Salvador]*

• Phenotypes, Paulo Scott (trans. by Daniel Hahn) 2019* [Brazil]

• The Polyglot Lovers, Lina Wolff (trans. by Saskia Vogel), 2016  [Sweden]

• Tentacle, Rita Indiana (trans. by Achy Obejas), 2015  [Dominican Republic]*

Deep Vellum Dallas, TX https://store.deepvellum.org/ "Deep Vellum is a nonprofit publishing house and literary arts organization with the mission to bring the world into conversation through literature."

• Grey Bees, Andrey Kurkov (trans. by Boris Dralyuk), 2018   [Ukraine]*

• Tram 83, Fiston Mwanza Mujila (trans. by Roland Glasser), 2014 [Democratic Republic of Congo]

• Seeing Red, Lina Merlune (trans. by Megan McDowell) 2012   [Chile]

• Recitation, Bae Suah (trans. by Deborah Smith), 2011  [South Korea]*

• Eve Out of Her Ruins, Ananda Devi (trans. by Jeffrey Zuckerman), 2006 [Mauritius]*

Graywolf Press Minneapolis, MN https://www.graywolfpress.org

• The Discomfort of Evening, Marieke Lucas Rijneveld (trans. by Michele Hutchison), 2018 [The Netherlands]*

• Mirror, Shoulder, Signal, Dorthe Nors (trans. by Misha Hoekstra), 2015 [Denmark]*

• Space Invaders, Nona Fernández (trans. by Natasha Wimmer), 2013 [Chile]*

• Brickmakers, Selva Almada (trans. by Annie McDermott), 2013 [Argentina] 

• Compartment No. 6, Rosa Liksom (trans. by Lola Rogers), 2011  [Finland]

[Note:  Charco has also brought out editions of Almada's work, including Brickmakers.]

New York Review of Books Press NYC, NY https://www.nyrb.com/

• All for Nothing, Walter Kempowski (trans. by Anthea Bell), 2006 [Germany]

• The Book of Blam, Aleksandar Tišma (trans. by Michael Henry Heim), Serbia]

• The Hive, Camilo José Cela, (trans. by James Womack), 1950   [Spain]

• Love in a Fallen City, Eileen Chang [trans. by Karen S. Kingsbury), 1943-1947   [China]*

• Beware of Pity, Stefan Zweig (trans. by Phyllis and Trevor Blewitt, 1938   [Austria]

Europa Editions NYC, NY https://www.europaeditions.com/

• All the Lovers in the Night, Mieko Kawakami (trans. by Sam Bett and David Boyd), 2023   [Japan]

• The Ottoman Quartet (Books 1-2), Ahmet Altan (trans. by Brendan Freely and Yelda Türedi)  [Turkey] Like a Sword Wound, 1997 Love in the Days of Rebellion, 2001*  

• The Young Bride, Alessandro Baricco (trans. by Ann Goldstein), 2015 [Italy]

• Thirst, Amélie Nothomb (trans. by Alison Anderson), 2019 [Belgium]*

Finally, a few other standout titles and the presses who published them:

Coffee House:  Jawbone Mónica Ojeda (trans. by Sarah Booker),             2018  [Ecuador]*

Melville House: The Queue, Basma Abdel Aziz (trans. by Elisabeth Jaquette),             2013  [Egypt]

The New Press: Wonderful Women By the Sea, Monika Fagerholm (trans. by Joan Tate), 1994 [Finland, writes in Swedish]

Other Press:  The Unit, Ninni Holmqvist (trans. by Marlaine Delargy), 2006  [Sweden]

Restless Books:  Land of Love and Ruins, Oddný Eir (trans. by Philip Roughton), 2011  [Iceland]

New Directions:  Paradais, Fernanda Melchor (trans. by Sophie Hughes), 2021  [Mexico]