Fall 2021 Literature in Translation Preview
Our idea for Trove, a sporadic newsletter of backlist book recommendations, was born out of the idea that we wanted to support overlooked books of years past as a counterpoint to the relentless emphasis on new and bestselling books.
That said, as two people working in the book industry, we’re not immune to the excitement of forthcoming titles. We first bonded over our shared interest in translated books and independent presses, and despite living states apart, one constant in our long-distance friendship is our mutual love for discovery—and for delightfully dark plots. Here are some forthcoming translations that continue to broaden the possibilities of literature as we know it and deepen our love for the written word.
—Emma Ramadan & Cristina Rodriguez
Hot Maroc (August 2021)
by Yassin Adnan, translated from Arabic by Alexander Elinson
Syracuse University Press
Finally, the vibrant work of Yassin Adnan is available in English. Alexander Elinson’s playful translation of Hot Maroc brings us into the heart of today’s Marrakech, an ancient city weathering the rapid changes brought by modernization, globalization, and, most importantly in this book, the Internet. At once a commemoration of the past and an insightful look at our influence on the present, Hot Maroc expands our ideas of a country that has been woefully underrepresented in English-language literature, while taking us on a wild ride through an anonymous online world that holds the power to reveal our true selves. (Emma Ramadan)
Order your copy from Riffraff(opens in a new tab) (Providence, RI)
Empty Wardrobes (October 2021)
by Maria Judite de Carvalho, translated from Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa
Two Lines Press
Empty Wardrobes is a book about Dora, a woman who has spent her life in the comfort of what she’s always known—her husband’s shadow. When the familiarity and safety of routine, of self-denial and languishing boredom, is ripped away from her one day, Dora must attempt to reinvent herself. “At the moment, I don’t know where I am or who I am. I must be crumbling into pieces, there must be bits of me all over the place,” translator Margaret Jull Costa gifts us. As Dora puts herself back together into something new, something surprising to those who know her, her chance at potential happiness will once more be stolen from her in a tragic turn. A gripping and deeply moving little book about three generations of women pulled into the orbit of uninteresting but inescapable men. (Emma)
The Book of Mother (October 2021)
by Violaine Huisman, translated from French by Leslie Camhi
Scribner
A daring and sometimes frightening autobiographical depiction of the author’s relationship to her complicated and emotionally wrecked mother, The Book of Mother is somehow both an ode to Maman and a delirious unfurling of the ways our parents can scar us. For fans of Marguerite Duras and Annie Ernaux, the star of this dark and stunning book is its fierce, brilliant language, excitingly rendered in English by Leslie Camhi. (Emma)
Phototaxis (October 2021)
by Olivia Tapiero, translated from French by Kit Schluter
Nightboat
Olivia Tapiero’s Phototaxis propels us through exploding whales, “silky little bodies,” oceans “gorged with toxic oysters,” dazzling despair and seeping song. In Kit Schluter’s lush yet exacting translation, three figures navigate life in a collapsing world of crumbling language and intact borders. As this symphony of ruin reaches its crescendo, we realize this world might just be our own. (Emma)
Jerusalem Beach: Stories (August 2021)
By Iddo Gefen, translated from Hebrew by Daniella Zamir
Astra House
Inventive, playful, and delightful to read, Jerusalem Beach is one of my favorite debut collections of the year. Iddo Geffen has managed to cleverly dissect selfhood while gracefully connecting familial ties to our relationship to technology. From a grandfather attempting to find purpose by joining an army platoon of geriatrics, to a boy mourning his brother’s death, each story feels instrumental, complex, and delicate. A skillful translation from Daniella Zamir. (Cristina Rodriguez)
Em: A Novel (October 2021)
By Kim Thúy, translated from French by Sheila Fischman
Seven Stories
Somewhere between autobiographical novel and prose poetry, Em is a portrait of Vietnamese identity and the ways violence, place, and family can act as a profound training ground for what it means to be human. Emma-Jade and Louis are orphaned amidst the crumbling of Saigon. A product of wartime violence, Thúy intricately explores notions of the diaspora through each character’s connection to displacement and fate, deftly showing humanity’s resilience. Em is a beautifully crafted meditation on what it means to be alive. (Cristina)
In Case of Emergency (November 2021)
By Mahsa Mohebali, translated from Persian by Mariam Rahmani
Feminist Press
In Case of Emergency sheds light on the disillusioned, wealthy, and gritty life of the Iranian upper class reminiscent of the satirical drama of Gossip Girl but with a contemporary countercultural edge. Set during an apocalyptic earthquake, a series of privileged, unaware characters live through Tehran’s collapse while being more concerned with their next high. In Case of Emergency is a beautifully humorous take on strained familial relationships, gender identity, and societal degradation, asking readers to examine our own messiness as a result of living under capitalism. (Cristina)
It’s Getting Dark: Stories (December 2021)
By Peter Stamm, translated from German by Michael Hofmann
Other Press
Peter Stamm consistently crafts realist prose that revels in the uneasiness of our banal wishes and desires. With his new collection, It’sGetting Dark: Stories, Stamm imbues vulnerability and sensitivity into his characters by allowing their discomfort to transcend. In an isolated artists’ residency, one man reflects on his brief affair in fragmented flashbacks. An aspiring bank robber contemplates his own shortcomings in his pursuit of the perfect crime. A sculpture alters a figure model’s perception of herself and her relationship to art. Meticulous in its structure and emotionally claustrophobic, there are moments in this collection that will leave you profoundly shaken. (Cristina)
Cristina Rodriguez is the Director of Sales and Marketing at A Public Space, arts, and culture magazine, and A Public Space Books. A former bookseller, she is also a Publishers Weekly 2020 Star Watch Honoree, a Bookselling Without Borders fellow, and a 2020 CLMP Firecracker Award judge.
Emma Ramadan is a literary translator from French. She is the recipient of the PEN Translation Prize, the Albertine Prize, an NEA Fellowship, and a Fulbright. Her translations include A Country for Dying by Abdellah Taïa, Zabor, or the Psalms by Kamel Daoud, Me & Other Writing by Marguerite Duras (co-translated with Olivia Baes), and In Concrete by Anne Garréta.
