May 2021 translation news roundup
Let’s say goodbye to spring with your May roundup of translation and publishing news, plus other updates in literature and arts education that you may have missed!
Prizes
The 2021 British Book Awards winners(opens in a new tab) were announced May 13; Ann Goldstein’s translation of Elena Ferrante’s The Lying Life of Adults was one of five finalists for Book of the Year.
Publishers Weekly will announce the Bookstore of the Year winner(opens in a new tab) shortly. Finalists are Eso Won Books (Los Angeles), Mahogany Books (Washington, DC), Seminary Co-op Bookstore (Chicago), Word Up Community Bookshop, (New York), and Charis Books (Decatur, GA).
News
The 2021 PEN World Voices Festival was virtual this year; recordings of all of the events are on the festival website(opens in a new tab).
Publishers and booksellers say it’s too soon to tell when in-person literary events can safely resume.(opens in a new tab)
The 2021 PEN World Voices Festival took place May 18-22; event recordings are available on the festival website(opens in a new tab).
Gaza’s largest bookstore was destroyed(opens in a new tab) in the recent bombing.
Reading List
Originally published one hundred years ago, Japanese honkaku mysteries are popular once again(opens in a new tab) thanks to a new translations into English.
Quiet Creature on the Corner and Atlantic Hotel translator Adam Morris was featured in Words Without Borders’s May Translator Relay(opens in a new tab).
The Los Angeles Review of Books looks at translating against world literature.(opens in a new tab)
Bruno Lloret’s Nancy is on Lit Hub’s list of 5 Books in Translation You May Have Missed in April(opens in a new tab).
Slipping, by Egyptian author Mohamed Kheir and available June 8, is one of Lit Hub’s 38 Novels You Need to Read This Summer(opens in a new tab).
