The Boys Book Release with Author Toni Sala and Translator Mara Faye Lethem
American Bookbinders Museum | 355 Clementina Street | San Francisco, CA
We were very pleased to host Catalan author Toni Sala and his translator Mara Faye Lethem for the launch of his novel The Boys from Two Lines Press, the first of Sala’s books to ever appear in English. Winner of Catalonia’s most prestigious literary award in 2014, and called “altogether brilliant” by Kirkus, The Boys is the dark tale of a small Catalonian village reeling from the sudden deaths of two young men. The conversation between Toni and Mara was moderated by Two Lines Press Editorial Director CJ Evans.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 Introductions
4:25 Bilingual reading from The Boys
15:40 Why did Toni Sala structure the book as a series of four perspectives
17:35 How are the different characters attached to the book’s central deaths?
20:15 Mara Faye Lethem’s approach to translating the book
24:40 Themes related to death in The Boys, and economic issues in Spain and Catalonia today
30:20 The economic collapse driving a breakdown in morals in Spain
34:00 How Toni chose the town that The Boys takes place in
43:05 Feelings in Catalonia about the independence movement
48:15 How the history and politics of Catalonia emerges in The Boys
52:05 Social media and the Internet in The Boys
56:10 Mara’s process of working with Toni
1:01:07 The philosophical digressions in The Boys
1:04:09 Audience Q & A
Toni Sala is the author of over a dozen novels and works of nonfiction. In 2005 he was awarded the National Literature Prize by the Catalan government, and he has also received many other honors for his writing. He lives in Barcelona.
Mara Faye Lethem has translated novels by Jaume Cabré, David Trueba, Albert Sánchez Piñol, Javier Calvo, Patricio Pron, Marc Pastor, and Toni Sala, among others, and shorter fiction by such authors as Juan Marsé, Rodrigo Fresán, Pola Oloixarac, Teresa Colom, and Alba Dedeu. Her translation of The Whispering City, by Sara Moliner, recently received an English PEN Award, and two of her translations were nominated for the 2016 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.