A huge bestseller in France, this was a delight to translate - atmospheric, evocative, and close to the creative spirit that informed my own second novel - solitary women, birds, love, the sea. And a gripping mystery story.
Literary Translations
This was Amélie Nothomb’s first novel and established her reputation. Delightful literary vitriol, stand well back and watch the fun. And I’m delighted that it has been longlisted for the Best Translated Book Award for 2010.
This was a real challenge to translate - and a wonderful romp at the same time. A chance to explore the rich vocabulary (and customs?) of the past in this story of the cuckold whose wife became the favourite of Louis XIV…and who did not want to submit gratefully.
A great privilege to contribute to the English version of this personal true account of great hardship and suffering and the survival of the human spirit. Despite the oppressive, stifling atmosphere of the Colombian jungle I was often moved to tears by Ingrid’s courage and the extraordinary glimpses of humanity at the most unexpected moments.
Translated with the collaboration of Sarah Llewellyn.
Christian Bobin deserves to be better known outside of France…his is a voice of serenity, thoughtfulness, calm in a hurried world. Neither poetry nor prose, “lyric essays” that make you stop and think and remember why you’re here. My own personal favorites; translating Bobin is an act of love.
A literary thriller about the ideal bookstore…that is too controversial for the commercial powers-that-be. It makes you want to spend the rest of your life reading all the great books that are out there.
And it has its own website: www.thegoodnovel.com
Nominated for the Florence Gould French American Foundation Translation Prize 2011.
Leila’s book is a witty, quirky, intriguing story that is anything but what its title implies…and then some. The more I worked on it the more I enjoyed it. Read this great review at Words Without Borders: “one of the most innovative novels you’re likely to read this or any other year.”
A novel that starts off with all the sadness and disappointment of everyday life then gradually works itself up to something not only consolatory but magical. It was my consolation for leaving California…
This was Muriel Barbery’s first novel (Une Gourmandise, in French), and it’s a tribute to food (and, perhaps, cantankerousness). At any rate, I was salivating for sashimi at 7:00 a.m. when I was translating the chapter on Japanese food. Itadakimasu!
By Amélie Nothomb (Ni d’Eve ni d’Adam) Europa Editions, January, 2009.
Amélie’s love affair with Japan and with a young Japanese man.
By Sélim Nassib. Europa Editions, February, 2007
A highly imagined and unusual novel–or take–on the Middle East conflict, alleging that Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir might, or could, have had a Palestinian lover during her early years in Palestine.
Anna Gavalda, Chatto & Windus (UK), 2006.
Riverhead (US), 2007.
This lovely story of four down-and-out misfits in contemporary Paris is a modern fairy tale, and at 600 pages, no easy translation! But each subsequent reworking made me love the characters all the more, and now there is a film (with the original French title, Ensemble c’est tout) starring Audrey Tautou…
Sélim Nassib, Europa Editions, 2005
This is a fictional biography of the great Egyptian singer Umm Kalthum; not only is it a social history of an era and a culture, it also offers tremendous insight into Arab sensibility–and it is a moving love story.
Aliette Armel, The Toby Press, 2004.
A beautifully written historical novel interweaving the parallel stories of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, and Piero della Francesca and his wife in Renaissance Italy.
By Jean-Michel Foray and Jakov Bruk. Harry Abrams, 2003.
Catalogue, Chagall Exhibition, San Francisco MOMA (contributing), Summer, 2003.
Gérard Duruzoi, University of Chicago Press. 2002
The definitive work on the lives and careers of the most prominent surrealists–how the movement came together in the 1920s, flourished, survived the war, and gradually disbanded. Richly illustrated, obviously.
Valerian Albanov, Random House, 2000.
A great adventure story for people who don’t mind the cold…a true story of a Russian expedition in the early 1900s who are trapped in the ice and have to walk across the icefields of Spitsberg to survive…truly chilling.
JMG Le Clézio, University of Nebraska Press, 1997.
A luminous, nostalgic, semi-autobiographical novel by one of France’s greatest living authors, describing his boyhood years in colonial Nigeria.
Louise Longo, Sheridan House, 1996
A heart-rending true story of a family’s final journey together on a sailboat.
H.H. the Dalai Lama, Interviews and Speeches, North Atlantic Press, Berkeley, 1996.
This series of speeches and interviews is an excellent introduction to the teachings of Buddhism and to the historical role of the Dalai Lama.
Sheridan House, 1992
Kersauson’s record-breaking round the world solo voyage on a catamaran.