Oxygen Books, publishers of the city-pick series featuring some of the best writing on favourite world cities from Berlin to New York, including translated writing, are publishing city-pick Istanbul next year, in association with the British Council.

 
Each title contains a range of writing from literary and popular fiction to non-fiction, journalism and blogs. Oxygen is very keen to hear about relevant translated material (from languages other than Turkish and English) from publishers, cultural institutes and translators. Please contact heather@oxygenbooks.co.uk for more information. www.oxygenbooks.co.uk

We’re starting into the new season with a guest contribution:

Sarah Death (This is the English version of an article commissioned by the Finland-Swedish literary magazine Ny tid and first published, in Swedish, in its special issue on Translation (no. 37, 16.9.2011). Ny tid’s website address is www.nytid.fi/)

As editor of the British magazine Swedish Book Review – which can be sampled at www.swedishbookreview.com – I maintain an overview of the range of literature being published from Sweden and Swedish-speaking Finland. Each issue of SBR includes a list of new and forthcoming titles in English translation, and since I became editor in 2003 it has been obvious that the market has expanded. We used to struggle to fill one page of listings, but nowadays we could often fill three. In the bookshops and at online retailers like Amazon it is heartening to see so many translations from the Nordic countries on prominent display and selling well. Perhaps in order to satisfy readers’ obvious appetite for these books, there seems to be a discernible lessening of UK and US publishers’ traditional reluctance to acquire rights to foreign fiction. But this is mainly driven by the current, and astonishing long-lived, popularity of Nordic crime fiction – in which Swedish-speaking Finland has not been much involved. To quote Maria Antas in the recent Finfo booklet Finnish Contemporary Literature: A Wealth of Voices (FF1015): ‘Finland-Swedish literature rarely deals with murder, sex or love, common themes in literature the world over’

We in the translation community and in SELTA (the Swedish English Literary Translators’ Association) very much hoped that the crime fiction wave would bring with it a new interest in other translated fiction, especially in more literary authors. So far, however, progress in that direction has been slow, and many major authors are still awaiting their chance to make a mark in the English-speaking world. Established Finland-Swedish writers like Lars Sund, Eric Wahlström, Robert Åsbacka and Ulla-Lena Lundberg remain overlooked so far.

Kjell Westö’s Lang (trans. Ebba Segerberg), possibly not the most-representative novel to choose as an introduction to his work, was published by Harvill in 2005.

Monika Fagerholm’s , Wonderful Women by the Water, appeared in English translation in the UK back in 1994; last year her The American Girl (trans. Katarina E. Tucker) has been published by Other Press in the USA, but not in the UK. There are some differences between US and UK attitudes to foreign fiction and the marketability of particular translations. What works on one side of the Atlantic will not always do so on the other, and a single translated edition will not necessarily cover both requirements, as American and British English are not entirely interchangeable.

For better or worse, the entry of agents onto the scene over the past decade has radically changed the pace and nature of the publishing game.  Many major Finland-Swedish writers are now finding agents, often outside Finland, either in Sweden or even further abroad. This gives them useful exposure internationally. It also has an inevitable ‘commercialising’ and profit-led effect, distorting what might be called ‘traditional’ channels for alerting publishers to good writing. Swedish Book Review probably counts among these traditional, more thoughtful, less instant methods. We cannot, for example, match the accelerated timeframe for crime fiction, where rights are auctioned in feeding frenzies at London or Frankfurt book fair, often before the novel even appears in its home country. But SBR’s features and reviews continue to be valued by smaller publishers round the world (through the lingua franca of English) and it is still a valuable platform and training ground for younger and aspiring translators, who always find it hard to get a foot in the publishing door. SBR is a place, too, where good writing of this and older periods, regardless of commercial potential, can be brought to readers’ and non-Nordic publishers’ attention.  This sort of serious coverage of Finland-Swedish literature in English is, of course, also found in the long-running Books from Finland, now an online journal at www.booksfromfinland.fi

On the positive side, the Moomintrolls’ popularity continues unabated in the UK, even if this has as much to do with animated films and clever merchandise (those collectable china mugs!) as with the original books.  Tove Jansson’s novels and short stories for adults are also currently riding high in the UK, thanks to a series of new paperbacks – some old and some new translations, by Thomas Teal and others – from Sort Of Books. Useful publicity for Jansson’s books has also been generated by two high-profile British writers who express admiration for her work, Philip Pullman and Ali Smith. Several of Jansson’s stories, in Silvester Mazzarella’s translation, were also broadcast on BBC Radio 4 this spring.

Older literary texts from Swedish-speaking Finland have found outlets with more niche or academic publishers. Norvik Press (originally in Norwich, now in London) published selected Edith Södergran letters (trans. Silvester Mazzarella) Runar Schildt’s (trans. Martin and Anna-Lisa Murrell) and recently Henry Parland’s To Pieces (trans. Dinah Cannell). Johannes Göransson of Ugly Duckling Presse in the USA translated and published Parland’s Ideals Clearance and champions the author’s writing. The UK’s Bloodaxe Books has published work by Edith Södergran and Tua Forström. Poetry remains in a minority market in the UK as elsewhere, but there seems to be a constant appetite for it among translators, in small magazines, and not least at the many poetry and literature festivals that are increasingly popular around Europe these days. Online publishing also provides a whole new outlet for translations. This can apply not only to poetry but also to genres such as children’s picture books. For example, check out Söderström’s forthcoming app: an English translation of Mörkerboken (The Book of the Dark) by Hannele Mikaela Taivassalo and illustrator Lena Frölander-Ulf.

In the run-up to Finland’s turn in the international publishing limelight as focus country at the 2014 Frankfurt Book Fair, the Finnish Information Exchange (FILI) has been allocated a budget and one of its staff members has been given special responsibility for the promotion of Finland-Swedish literature. With any luck this will prove a stimulus to new translations in the next few years, not only into German but also into English.

The autumn 2011 issue of Swedish Book Review, with a rich mix of fiction and non-fiction extracts, plus articles and reviews, will be published at the end of September. A selection of the material will appear on the website.

The Book Barge

So I didn’t know what to expect when I wandered down Regent’s Canal to visit Maddy from Peirene Press, who was spending her Sunday afternoon selling Peirene books on the wonderful thing that is the Book Barge – the UK’s only (correct me if I’m wrong, please) travelling bookshop-on-the-waterways. When you walk onto the Barge, you can tell that its owner, Sarah, has put a lot of love and care into creating it: it is immediately welcoming.

The Barge stocks only literary fiction, with a higher percentage of translated works than most other shops, and specialises in Russian fiction. Sarah and I had a little chat about her trade. Because the Barge was at first moored for two years, and then travelled the country, she has a pretty good idea what works where:

Sarah, owner of the Book Barge

Translated fiction, she explained, has been selling a lot more recently, which is exciting news, but won’t make up more than 5% of total book sales. Yet there is progress.

Crime fiction, with its focus on Scandinavian authors, seems to be of particular interest.

In the south of the country, in cities and everywhere where there are students, Sarah continued, people are more open to new, contemporary literature, and translations, than they are in other parts of the country.

Peirene’s Maddy, too, thinks that translations in themselves are no obstacle to sell a good story. We glance at the beautiful paperbacks she’s selling today.

It’s high-quality literary fiction, MADDY ? believes, that is struggling, not just translated fiction. Certain genres, like crime, always do well, but it’s hard to get people to read something they fear may be too challenging.

Sainsbury’s (yes, that’s the supermarket chain) told me, MADDY went on, that a considerable part of their sales was literary fiction, but I’m dying to know what they consider literary fiction!.

‘The Nymph’ (as Peirene often calls its publishing venture) likes to appear in unusual places, like the Book Barge, to sell her books, so it’s unlikely that the high street giant will be one of these places.

Maddy

“It’s important to us that Peirene has a personal feel, ‘a face’, if you want. Publishing is currently undergoing a change. It’s not enough to put your books ‘out there’ anymore: it’s become a service you have to provide to readers if you want to do well”. And Maddy insisted, it is something every publisher can do, regardless of size. She added that the big players will probably have to adopt different sales priorities in the future.

While we talk, a group of girl signs up to Peirene’s mailing list. This list informs you about Peirene’s events, from their next book sale adventure to their renowned ‘literary salon’.

The girls are delighted – and so am I: it’s great to meet people like Maddy and Sarah who are so passionate about what they do.

And as I walk back along the canal, buying books on a boat suddenly makes an awful lot of sense.

For more information on Peirene Press and the Book Barge, please check:

http://www.peirenepress.com/

http://www.thebookbarge.co.uk

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jun/28/eastern-european-books?INTCMP=SRCH

two scientists, polar opposites in character but with an identical drive to learn more about the world they live in, who will one day get to meet each other. What would they have to tell each other?

Luckily for those who attended the event at the LRB, Kehlmann and Markovits had a lot to tell each other. Not only have they both written highly literary, historical novels but it seemed that they also shared a deep understanding of their characters.

We in the audience got to hear how they treat not only historical characters (in this case Humboldt/Gauss and Byron respectively) but also how they use ‘reality’ with regard to themselves, as authors. As both have written their novels from the author’s perspective (“Fame” in Kehlmann’s case and “Playing Days” in Markovits’s), the discussion moved a lot deeper than just the historical novel as a common denominator.

This allowed for a lively and humorous discussion to develop. Their genuine mutual interest in the creative process of the other was obvious. They seemed to enjoy the discourse as much as the audience, who happily took up on the opportunity to ask the authors about their works.

And although the talk had gone on for over 40 minutes, time passed a lot quicker.

Perhaps Readings and Events with ‘literary pairings’ like this one can be one very good way to attract attention to European writing and its creators – with a few provisons:

• At least one of the authors should be well known enough to draw in an audience.

• The pairing should not be made on grounds of the smallest common denominator (what they LEAST have in common) but take in a broad variety of factors. This one worked well because we could tell the two people involved liked each other – not just professionally but also personally. This allowed them to ask questions which they may otherwise have held back.

• If the discussion is to succeed it is essential that the authors on the panel speak good English. Kehlmann, at first a little insecure, became visibly more and more comfortable. Language barriers were not an obstacle during their talk.

If I were to criticise anything at all, it would be the seating which made for great viewing at the front but left the audience at the back with no view and bad acoustics.

You will find all twenty episodes by following this link:

http://www.julianevans.com/index.php?page_id=16

enjoy and feel free to start a discussion!

    our authors

    a great audience

 a view from the reception

  Rosie Goldsmith, who presented the night, and Nora Ikstena,

    one of the 6 ‘winning’ authors.

Rosie Goldsmith