The winners of the European Union Prize for Literature were announced today at the Frankfurt Book Fair meant to recognize “the best new and emerging authors in Europe.” Of the writers from Central and Eastern (really, Southern) Europe it’s a mix between those I’ve heard of and haven’t and those who’ve had something translated into […]
The release of the recommendations of the EU’s European Platform for Literary Translation (PETRA) took place during a Frankfurt Book Fair panel on translation on Friday, Oct. 12. “In most countries, literary translators are in need and have trouble earning a living,” the report states (this incidentally is also true of literary critics, bloggers and […]
Book fairs are a very strange phenomenon. There are many, many kinds of trade fairs but it’s likely that there isn’t a kind as diametrically opposed to the basic function that sustains it as a book fair is to the solitary act of reading. One the one hand all this interaction is vitally necessary – […]
So it’s not entirely surprising that a bestselling book about a fanatical Islamic assassin is on display at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair. There was one last year and the year before as well. They have been doing brisk business these past ten years or so. The difference in this case is that Alamut by […]
The Frankfurt Book Fair is in full swing, exhibiting the full spectrum of all the literary and publishing world has to offer. What is this spectrum, you ask? At one extreme great writers and an array of fantastic books – some already available in English, others calling out from their respective countries’ stands saying “translate […]
The 2012 Frankfurt Book Fair kicks off on Wednesday and as the world’s largest book fair will have quite a bit of interest in the way of books, writers and publishing talk and news. Just in terms of Central and Eastern European writers there will be writers such as Russian poet and essayist Olga Martynova, […]
As the ALTA conference goes into day two the European Society of Authors have issued an invitation to build a “literary and intellectual community committed to translation, transmission and mediation of literature in the different languages of the European continent.” Coincidence? Actually, presenting the whole issue as a European vs. American high-stakes competition might be […]
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