Translated Fiction News

Translated fiction has made the news today, well, in the publishing world at least!

Pushkin Press has introduced their new imprint for translated children’s books, which aims to bring “classic and bestselling children’s books from all around the world to British children”, to help change the current situation of around 3% of UK books being translated from another language, and the huge lack of translated fiction in the children’s book market.

I personally will be keeping an eye on these developments because it is about time that more translated books entered the UK children’s markets!

To see the whole article on the Guardian website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/07/pushkin-imprint-childrens-books-translation

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One thing that bugs me is that during the whole time i was writing my Masters dissertation on Translated Fiction, i couldn’t find a single source for the magical “3% of the UK book market is translated fiction” figure, and then suddenly i find this has decreased to 2.5% according to an article on Publishing Perspectives website! - Books in Translation: It’s time for others to join the fight

The problem is that there aren’t enough books coming into the UK from non-Anglophone markets, and there is a lack of airtime dedicated to translated fiction, unless you know where to find it. I do my best to review translated fiction here on my blog and i have a page dedicated to the reviews of books which i have read: A World Of Randomness – Translated Fiction

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Why is Translated Fiction not getting far in the UK market? Well, according to the Publishing Perspectives article Books in translation it’s time for others to join the fight:

1. “The permeating stereotype about books in translation is that they are “too literary” and “too serious” for a general readership in comparison to, say, light and entertaining cook books, celebrity memoirs or the recent publication of “mummy’s porn” Fifty Shades of Grey which was given almost every available space in every paper.”
   
2. “All publishers rely heavily on reviews to capture a market for their titles. And although the days of the British Empire are long gone, it still seems that the mainstream media, even those left leaning outlets which pride themselves on cultural diversity and liberal values, are far too conservative to devote column inches to literature and non-fiction in translation.”
3. “How are we going to convince a reviewer to give it a go if most of them get an instant headache when they can’t pronounce the author’s name?”
4. “Publishing a book in translation is expensive. You are lucky as a publisher if you get a translation grant which rarely covers 100% of the amount it is costing you to get the work done; sometimes you get nothing and you face the possibility of dropping the title from your list altogether because it’s simply too expensive for a small press to cover the translation costs.”
5. “If a publisher decides to take on a book written in a non-English language, the foreign author will be very well established with a few prizes under his/her belt to give the publisher a fighting change of getting the title reviewed at all. And so those books translated into English are often literary, high-brow, and serious.”
6. “It’s common knowledge that there’s no money in publishing books in translation, meaning it’s done by people who are seriously passionate about literature often subsidise the business with their savings or second jobs.”

They are all true and all need to be sorted out if translated fiction wants to have a bigger stake in the UK book market.

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Other recent interesting articles on the subject of Translated fiction:

Books in Translation: It’s Time for Others to Join the Fight - http://publishingperspectives.com/2013/02/books-in-translation-its-time-for-others-to-join-the-fight/

British children miss out on foreign bestsellers - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10039917/British-children-miss-out-on-foreign-bestsellers.html

Best Translated Fiction Award 2013 - http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?s=btb

Book Review: Five Children and It

I have just finished reading “Five Children and It” by E. Nesbit. 

I haven’t read this since i was a child but as i read it, the story came back to me and i remembered how silly it is! Not in a bad way, of course!

It’s really random how the children discover the Psammead in a gravel pit and ask it for wishes everyday. The Psammead is a bit of grumpy creature and warns them about the wishes bringing trouble but they still manage to make trouble for themselves!

Thankfully the wishes only last until sunset, which helps them out of a few sticky situations but still has repercussions, some good and some bad.

My favourite is when they wish for wings and end up stuck on top of a church tower at sunset when their wings disappear. Thankfully they manage to convince people to help them and the happy outcome of this is that the children’s family servant, Martha, ends up meeting her future husband.

I like how this book covers the idea of being able to wish for anything you want and the problems with having this freedom. It’s no surprise that the children wish to be beautiful and to have lots of money, but they soon find that these traits has unfortunate consequences. The moral of the story is that having everything you want isn’t as simple or as desirable as you would think!

I give it 8/10 because it is a classic children’s story which is a fun read!

Book Quote of the Day

They found the Sand-fairy easily. Anthea said:

‘I wish we all had beautiful wings to fly with.’

The Sand-fairy blew himself out, and next moment each child felt a funny feeling, half heaviness and half lightness, on its shoulders. The Psammead put its head on one side and turned its snail’s eyes from one to the other.

‘Not so dusty,’ it said dreamily. ‘But really, Robert, you’re not quite such an angel as you look.’ Robert almost blushed.

The wings were very big, and more beautiful than you can possibly imagine – for they were soft and smooth, and every feather lay neatly in its place. And the feathers were of the most lovely mixed changing colours, like the rainbow, or iridescent glass, or the beautiful scum that sometimes floats on water that is not at all nice to drink.

- Five Children and It, E. Nesbit

Book Quote of the Day

“I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.” 
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Book Review: I Capture The Castle

I have recently re-read “I Capture the Castle” by Dodie Smith, which is one of my favourites from when i was younger and is still a favourite of mine.

I Capture The Castle – Dodie Smith

The novel is the journal of Cassandra, who narrates her thoughts and the goings-on in her life in an old castle where she lives with her family.

Her family is fairly eccentric: her strange father, who wrote a unique novel several years earlier but has failed to produce anything else since; her stepmother, who is an artist who communes with nature; and her older sister Rose, who is vain and bored with living in poverty. Then there is her younger brother who goes to school, and then there’s Stephen, the handsome lad who lives with them and is in love with Cassandra.

Cassandra decides to keep a diary and write down everything properly in her bid to become a better writer. Soon, things take a turn for the better and their lives all change forever.

The rich owners of the local manor come into town and by sheer accident end up on the castle’s doorstep. The two men become friends of the family and start providing more entertainment and income for the family. Rose does her best to attract one of the men and soon is engaged to Simon, the richer brother. This union causes all sorts of new problems for the family, but also creates solutions to existing problems, and it’s fascinating to see how the plot develops.

Cassandra struggles with her developing feelings for Simon, knowing her sister just agreed to marry him as an escape from poverty, all the while trying to do what is right with Stephen’s love and devotion to her, which she doesn’t return.

The ups and downs of Cassandra and her family are really interesting to read about, and it’s still a great read even after all these years of loving it!

I give it 10/10 because i love the characters, i love the plot, and i love that it still feels fresh with each read! Worth reading!

2012 Reading List Review

As 2012 draws to a close, i have been looking over all the books i read during the year!

I used Goodreads to keep track of the books i’ve read, and set myself a challenge to read 80 books in 2012. I only realised just before Christmas that i wouldn’t be able to meet the target in time, so i reduced it to 70, which is still a reasonable target!

The good news is that i miscounted and actually read 71 books in 2012!

There has been a wide range of genres which i have covered over the year, and i have tried to review the books when i finished them (the only exceptions are Harry Potter and Twilight and a few others).

To see the full list, check out My 2012 Reading List

My favourite books i’ve read this year include ”The Hunger Games” trilogy

The Hunger Games (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Starcrossed” and “Starcrossed: Dreamless” by Josephine Angelini

I read a few classics which i’ve never read before now (or read properly), and my favourite of these was “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens! (see my book-review)

It was nice to read a lot of the classics outside of an academic environment, which i think made it a more enjoyable reading experience!

I’ve also re-read a few favourites from when i was younger, from Beatrix Potter’s Tales, through “I Capture The Castle” by Dodie Smith, to Grimm’s Fairy Stories”.

Books which i was either disappointed with or thought were awful include “Fifty Shades of Grey” (which i only read the first book of and got annoyed with), and “The Nightlife: New York (The Nightlife Series)” by Travis Luedke (too much sex, and has put me off reading the Vampire genre for a while!)

I have also read 8 translated fiction titles this year! For the full list, complete with links to my reviews, see my Translated Fiction page!

Hopefully, in 2013 i can beat the target 0f 70 books and hopefully get above 80!

I hope you’ve had a good year of reading, and that my list inspires you to read more of these excellent books!

Book Quote of the Day

“I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding.”
― Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers

Book Quote of the Day

“Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all those who live without love.”
― Albus Dumbledore , Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling