What’s up, Asymptote friends? We’re nearing the end of January, which means this is the time for checking in on those good intentions. You might want to consider a well-intentioned check-in at Asymptote blog columnist Anaïs Duplan’s awesome Kickstarter campaign for the Center for Afrofuturist Studies in Iowa City. Take a look, and support friends (and friends of friends) of Asymptote blog!
Speaking of sponsorships: Scotland has inaugurated its first translation fund, which mean that English-speaking readers can expect some literature from Macedonia, Albania, Norway, and Spain (among others). And our friends at Words Without Borders have opened up nominations for the 2016 Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature (past winners include Carol Brown Janeway and Sara Bershtel).
Let’s hope the next book you translate isn’t “untranslateable” (but aren’t they all)? LitHub offers some insight, via Lisa Hayden and her Russian author, Eugene Vodolazkin. Interlingual translation is hard, sure—but what about translation from book to stage, as in this recent 5-hour theatrical production of Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño’s 2666. Mexican writer Álvaro Enrique “translates past to present.” And in light of our recent blog post on author Rachel Cantor’s novel Good on Paper, here are some starry-eyed early reviews of the book, translating idea to reality. Here’s an excerpt, if you’re craving more.
What you won’t read: here’s an overview of what Iranian mullahs have banned from books most recently (no more “wine Wednesdays,” let’s put it that way). And you might never really know James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake until you read it in fractal format…sure. In Japan, click-thirsty readers will no longer have to manage without Buzzfeed’s ever-tempting clicks.
Trying to sell a manuscript? Here are the sneaky things you should control, find, delete. And the University of Michigan has made some serious technological headway with a braille tablet, so the CRTL function will soon be more universally available. Phew.