Here at Asymptote we have an extraordinary team of editors from all corners of the world. When they’re not busy translating or commissioning work for the magazine, they do many other amazing things which we would like to share with you in our monthly news roundup.
Aamer Hussein, contributing editor, recently attended the 2013 Dhaka Festival, the Lancaster LitFest, and the South Asian Literature Festival. His new story, ‘The Swan’s Wife’, appeared in an anthology, xo Orpheus (Penguin US) in October. ‘Swans’, a specially adapted version of the story was published in Bengal Lights (Dhaka) in November to coincide with the festival, while a prose poem with the same name as the short story was recently featured in Poetry International. Aamer also judged the Oxonian Review of Books short story prize, which he will present at the Albion Beatnik Bookshop on Dec 5.
Poetry editor Aditi Machado had her chapbook, The Robing of the Bride, published by Dzanc Books in October. Her poems have also appeared in Better Magazine and The Missing Slate, while her blog post discussing poetry in translation has been featured on the Poetry Foundation blog and in the Boston Review newsletter.
A new translation of Josef Winkler’s When the Time Comes by Adrian West, contributing editor, was published by Contra Mundum Press. In Spring 2012, Asymptote carried Adrian’s essay on Winkler as well as excerpts from his novella Natura Morta, which will come out from Contra Mundum in 2014. His piece “A Visit to the African Museum” can be read in 3:AM Magazine, and a translated excerpt from Jean Améry’s Charles Bovary, Country Doctor will appear in the Fall issue of Dalkey Archive’s Review of Contemporary Fiction. (Asymptote featured Adrian’s essay on Améry along with his translation of his suicide notes in Summer 2012.) He also won the contest No Cheap Tricks, organized by the literary consultancy Fleeting Books and judged by Tim Dowling of The Guardian. The winner had to give one sentence of advice to writers everywhere, prompting Adrian to say the following: “Be immune to disgrace.”
Drama editor Caridad Svich received the National Latino Playwriting Award from the Arizona Theatre Company for her play Spark. Her translation of Alberto Castillo’s Severed Moon will be read at the Lark Play Development Center in New York City under Debbie Saivetz’s direction on December 15, 2013. Another play, In the Time of the Butterflies, based on the novel by Julia Alvarez, will have its English language premiere at San Diego Repertory Theatre, directed by Todd Salovey and Herbert Siguenza, in January 2014. Jarman (all this maddening beauty), produced by force/collision and directed by John Moletress, can be seen online. She has four shows opening in February 2014 and more to come in March.
Christina Kramer, Macedonia editor-at-large, received an NEA grant for her working translation of Pyramid of Water or The Path of the Eels by Macedonian Albanian writer Luan Starova. Christina’s translation of Freud’s Sister (an excerpt of which appeared in Asymptote) received an honourable mention in the MLA Lois Roth translation competition.
Paris editor-at-large Daniel Medin organized an event titled Translating Culture: Pig’s Head Stew, Holy Whores, and Mexican Chavs Abroad in Paris, featuring Rosalind Harvey. He was also announced as one of the judges for the 2014 Best Translated Book Award.
Co-edited by Diana George, proofreader, the literary journal Birkensnake 6 was published online in November. Diana worked alongside Hedy Zimra to produce one of the seven versions of Birkensnake 6, each of which was edited by pairs of strangers. On December 10, Diana is hosting a reading in honor of Birkensnake 6 in Seattle. Maged Zaher, Charles Mudede, Ezra Mark, Matt Briggs, and Robert Mittenthal will read from the work of Kinton Ford.
Contributing editor Ellen Elias-Bursac had her translation of the novel Trieste by Daša Drndić shortlisted for the International Foreign Fiction Prize in the UK. Although she and the author did not win the prize, the Booktrust organized readers from all over the UK to read the shortlisted novels and vote, resulting in them winning the readers’ prize (two bottles of champagne).
Eric Becker, assistant managing editor, published an excerpt of Brazilian novelist Edival Lourenço’s Amid Those Hills, After the Rain in the Special 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair Edition of the Brazilian National Library’s literary magazine, Revista Machado de Assis. He also participated in LitCrawl Brooklyn where he read from his translations of Mozambican author and 2013 Neustadt recipient Mia Couto. And on December 3 Eric partook in a reading as part of Recession Art’s Salonukah.
A memoir (titled From Taiwan to the World and Back) currently being translated by editor-in-chief Lee Yew Leong was shortlisted last week by the Taipei International Book Exhibition committee as one of four nonfiction titles from 2013 recommended to foreign publishers. The memoir traces the life of Fu-chen Lo, Taiwan’s former top representative to Japan, from his childhood in Chiayi and in World War II Tokyo.
Interviews editor Matthew Jakubowski recently published an essay in Music & Literature, a short story in Corium Magazine, and an experimental review of an experimental translation in 3:AM Magazine.
Megan McDowell, managing editor (administrative), is a finalist for the Typographical Era award for her translation of Under This Terrible Sun by Carlos Busqued. Megan also translated the short story “Thank You” from Alejandro Zambra’s new book Mis documentos (which comes out this week) for the most recent issue of Vice.
UK editor-at-large Nashwa Gowanlock was selected for the Arabic translation mentorship organized by the British Centre for Literary Translation. She’ll be working with Paul Starkey during the first six months of 2014.
Rahul Soni, India editor-at-large, will participate in the Almost Island Dialogues taking place in Delhi from December 19-22, featuring László Krasznahorkai, Xi Chuan, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Renee Gladman. Rahul is also working to help organize Lekhana, a literary weekend in Bangalore on January 10-12.
Contributing editor Sayuri Okamoto chaired a seminar on contemporary Japanese poetry held in London and featuring past Asymptote contributors Gozo Yoshimasu and Forrest Gander.
Simon Morley, visual editor, has a solo exhibition at Art First (London) titled LOST HORIZON.
Photo caption:
Top row, from left to right: Sayuri Okamoto, Adrian West, Aditi Machado, Caridad Svich.
Bottom row, from left to right: Megan McDowell, Ellen Elias-Bursac, Simon Morley, Rahul Soni.