TRANSLATE SWISS BOOKS
is here
Be these Covid times or savvy sustainable times, much has gone online. Trees are saved, germs are contained, brilliant ideas and writing are disseminated – hallelujah.
Pro Helvetia’s new platform http://translateswissbooks.ch has gone live, replacing the annual and physical Twelve Swiss Books Magazine! Showcasing translated excerpts from Swiss literary works (yes, more than twelve) AND laying out the translation funding that is available. We do hope you like the result! Between the content, the styling and the little details to make it perfect, we’d like to think it’s pretty cool.
You may have seen that similarly New Books in German has re-launched – online with a fantastic new website. There’s a special section for Pro Helvetia too – check it out.
Keep an eye on them – they will evolve and involve.
We LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU: Save the date: 7th December 2020. We will be hosting a Swiss-UK Publishers event (not only Swiss) live from the Swiss Embassy London and online and we are working to make this a spectacular and useful day for all concerned. Invitations will be coming next month.
Highlights will include: Introductions to Swiss Publishing, to Swiss Literature, festival organisers (both Swiss and UK), to Translation grants. Mini-videos of Swiss Authors in English introducing their books and their work available for translation. Pre-arranged match-making sessions between Swiss and UK publishers. Translator presentations of which Swiss books they are most excited about and why. A networking and panel session – translators, UK Publishers, Swiss Publishers, authors and translators on Zoom, introductions and facilitated discussion led by our very own Rosie Goldsmith.
We are excited at what can happen so WATCH THIS SPACE.
Focus on:
A book that we would love to see published in English – and we suspect you are missing a trick here: award-winning Swiss writer Pascale Kramer’s novel Une Famille, (first image, photo c. David Ignaszewski-Koboy) and translator Adriana Hunter (second image). Both were the focus of this year’s BCLT Summer School, and the book has been lauded for its portrayal of a family at the mercy of alcoholism. Not a cheering thought, no, but darned fine writing awaits.
“The traditional middle-class family of this story has a painful wound at its core. To his parents and siblings, the lovable, talented Romain is both an enigma and a self-destructive force, whose years of drinking have led him inexorably to a life of ruin. For his family, life goes on, as his sister Lou prepares to give birth. But Romain has disappeared again, and his loved ones must once more confront the gnawing pain of their failure to help him back from the abyss.”
See an extract here, be wowed.
Translation ahoy. The winners of the prestigious Emerging Translator Mentorships Programme were announced by the National Centre for Writing on the eve of International Translation Day (29 September 2020).
ROSIE EYRE is the Swiss-French-PH funded NCW Emerging Translator Mentee – find out more here.
Rosie is a French and Spanish to English translator based in North West England. After discovering the creative thrills of translation during her BA studies in French and Spanish at Cambridge University, she completed an MA in Translation Studies at the University of Manchester and began her professional translation career working in-house for a translation company, before becoming a freelance translator focusing on the creative fields. She feels delighted and privileged to be part of the 2020-2021 mentorship programme, and hopes that the collaborative translation experience and insights gained over the coming months will bring her a step closer to a long-term career in literary translation.
Congratulations, Rosie!
And finally drum roll… the SWISS BOOK PRIZE
The shortlist for the Swiss Book Prize came in after our last Swiss Bites, so swot up here (https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/five-swiss-book-prize-nominees-are-revealed/46035782). Congratulations to Dorothee Elmiger (her third nomination), Tom Kummer, Charles Lewinsky, Karl Rühmann and Anna Stern.Winner to be announced on 8th November, the prize is worth 30,000 Swiss francs…
GOOD LUCK to them!
Dorothee Elmiger (photo © Peter-Andreas Hassiepen), Charles Lewinsky (photo: Kostas Maros)
That’s us for now. GO WELL, READ WELL, EXPLORE WELL, PLOT WELL and see you soon.