Shatila Stories now available in Arabic!
Shatila Stories sadly didn’t win the EBRD prize, although some excellent titles made it on to the shortlist and I am slowly making my way through them.
But the good news is that Shatila Stories is now available in Arabic! It’s not often that a book is translated back into the source language, but this publication is unique in every way! And all profits are donated to support refugees.
Shatila Stories makes EBRD Literature Prize Longlist!
Our collaborative novel, published by Peirene Press, has been selected as one of ten titles being considered for the EBRD prize, an award backed by the British Council.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the EBRD, is pleased to announce the launch of the EBRD Literature Prize 2019, in partnership with the British Council. The Prize will recognise the extraordinary richness and variety of cultures and history in the EBRD region – a region stretching across central and eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Western Balkans, Turkey, the southern and eastern Mediterranean and northern Africa.
The Prize – now in its second year — is one of the few international literature prizes which recognises both author and translator. It highlights the importance of the writer in voicing the hopes, aspirations and challenges facing people across our regions. But just as importantly, the Prize acknowledges the talent and key role of the translator in making the stories from these countries accessible to the English-speaking public.
Samantha Schnee, translator and Founding Editor of Words Without Borders, dedicated to publishing the world’s best literature translated into English.
It’s been in the making for more than three years, but the English translation of ‘After Coffee’ was finally launched and celebrated at SOAS univeristy in London on Monday January 14th, 2019.
Myself and author Abdelrashid Mahmoudi read excerpts of the novel, while Mahmoudi elaborated on the writing process, how much of Medhat’s story is autobiographical and how he continues to haunt him.
The months of toil on a translation are truly worth it when you hold that edition in your hands. And even more when you sell it! The book is now available to buy online and hopefully in bookstores too.
Arablit.org today published a dialogue between the author of the newly-released translation, After Coffee, Abdelrashid Mahmoudi, myself (the translator) and Marcia Lynx Qualey (editor extraordinaire).
There’s also a shout out for the UK launch event at SOAS university on January 14th, which will take place from 7pm.
I was proud to have taken part in BookBlast’s tour, which featured discussions with 10 independent pulishers from around the UK and their authors and translators.
Meike Ziervogel of Peirene Press, hosted our October 4 discussion with myself and German > English translator and historian, Jamie Bulloch. I could rave about Meike, Jamie and Georgia (who runs BookBlast) for several posts, but I will save you the gushing and direct you to a link to the podcast recording of the talk instead! Highly recommended are the podcasts from the rest of this fantastic series of talks with some of Britain’s most fearless of indie publishers!