Going to the London Book Fair this week? Catch up with Restless Executive Editor Joshua Ellison, who will be participating in two April 15 seminars about publishing books in translation: "Publishing: Meet the Innovators" and "A Single Title's Journey Into English." In the morning, he'll be discussing putting out foreign-language books with Pushkin Press and Two Lines Press, and in the afternoon he'll be discussing the process of bringing Juan Villoro's forthcoming Restless book God Is Round into English.
Publishing: Meet the Innovators
It’s 2015, and translated fiction still makes up only a small percentage of all books published in the UK. We know how hard it is for writers and translators to find English language publishers for translated work – but in the digital age, publishing models are changing fast. As the industry is forced to respond and adapt to a revolution in how we share and consume literature, can changes in publishing bring new opportunities for translators? Featuring examples of alternative publishing models, this discussion will look at new options for publishing, and what possible future lies ahead for translated literature in all its forms.
When: April 15, 2015, 10:00am-11:00am
Where: The Literary Translation Centre
Who:
Adam Freudenheim, managing director of Pushkin Press
Veronica Esposito, editor of The Quarterly Conversation
Joshua Ellison, co-founder and executive editor of Restless Books
More about the contributors:
Adam Freudenheim is Publisher and Managing Director of Pushkin Press. He has worked in publishing since 1998 and was Publisher of Penguin Classics, Modern Classics and Reference from 2004 to 2012. Prior to that he was Commissioning Editor at Yale University Press (London). He is perhaps best known for helping to rediscover the work of the German writer Hans Fallada, with the first English-language publication of Alone in Berlin. Born in Baltimore, Adam lived near Düsseldorf and in Berlin for nearly three years and came to the UK in 1997. Adam brings his passion for international literature and exquisitely designed books to Pushkin.
Veronica Esposito is the co-author of The End of Oulipo? (with Lauren Elkin). Her writing has appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, Words Without Borders, The White Review, The Point, Bookforum, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, and many others. She is a Senior Editor to the journal of translation Two Lines and directs publicity for the translation presses Two Lines Press and Deep Vellum.
Joshua Ellison is the founder of Habitus, an international journal of Diaspora culture and literature. Library Journal commended the magazine’s “exemplary creative and journalistic work.” His work has appeared in The New York Times, World Policy Journal, on National Public Radio, and in publications from Belfast to Beijing. He has curated events and delivered lectures at the New York Public Library, Harvard University, Princeton University, The PEN World Voices Festival, The Museum of Jewish History, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, and other venues. As a photographer, writer, and editor, he had worked in Israel, Bosnia, Hungary, Russia, Mexico, Argentina, and Germany.
A Single Title's Journey Into English
How does the whole thing work? How does a publisher find a foreign language book, decide they like it, commission a translator, and what does the process look like thereafter? Taking a single case study as an example — a forthcoming collection of essays by the Mexican writer Juan Villoro — Lawrence Schimel will be speaking with the publisher Joshua Ellison, who is Executive Editor of Restless Books, the translator Thomas Bunstead, and the author himself.
When: April 15, 2015
Where: The Literary Translation Centre
Who:
Thomas Bunstead, writer and translator
Juan Villoro, author
Lawrence Schimel, author
Joshua Ellison, co-founder and executive editor of Restless Book
More about the contributors:
Thomas Bunstead's Spanish translations have appeared in Granta, The Quarterly Conversation and Vice, and include work by Aixa de la Cruz (the short story "True Milk" was selected for Dalkey Archive's Best of European Fiction 2015), Eduardo Halfon, Yuri Herrera and Enrique Vila-Matas. A co-editor of the Words Without Borders Mexico feature (March 2015), Bunstead's own writing has appeared with the Times Literary Supplement, the Paris Review blog, The Independent, www.3ammagazine.com, >killauthor and Days of Roses.
Mexican author Juan Villoro’s journalistic and literary work has been recognized with such international prizes as the Herralde de Novela, Premio Xavier Villaurrutia, el Rey de España, el Ciudad de Barcelona, and el Vázquez Montalbán de Periodismo Deportivo y el Antonin Artaud. He has been a professor of literature at UNAM, Yale, and la Universidad Pompeu Fabra de Barcelona. He is a columnist for the newspapers Reforma and El Periódico de Catalunya.
Lawrence Schimel (New York, 1971) writes in both English and Spanish and has published over 100 books in many different genres as author or anthologist, for both children and adults. His children's books ¿Lees un libro conmigo? (Panamericana) and Igual que ellos/Just Like Them (Ediciones del Viento) were chosen by IBBY for Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities in 2007 and 2013, respectively, and No hay nada como el original (Destino) was chosen for the White Ravens 2005. He has also won the Lambda Literary Award (twice), the Spectrum Award, the Independent Publisher Book Award, etc. Recent publications as a translator include collections by the Mexican poets Elsa Cross, Luis Armenta Malpica, Luis Aguilar and Miguel Maldonado, the children's book Meet the Artist: Picasso by Patricia Geis (Princeton Architectural Press); and the graphic novel EuroNightmare by Aleix Saló (Penguin Random House). He lives in Madrid, Spain, where he is a Spanish->English translator.