This week, our Editors-at-Large report on beloved literary figures and emerging talents from their respective regions. From personal tributes to literary luminaries to fan meetups, read on to find out more!
Ibrahim Fawzy, Editor-at-Large reporting from Egypt
In this dispatch, I won’t be reporting on literary festivals and book fairs, as usual. But I will share some good news that personally brought me happiness and gratitude in troubled, gloomy days: Literary translator and cultural worker Nariman Youssef was named head of the Poetry Translation Center (PTC), and Nashwa Nasreldine has joined the PTC team as editor. Excitingly, two Arabic translators have taken over the PTC though they were recruited through totally separate processes. Let this lovely takeover begin and stay tuned for all the amazing work they will bring into the world alongside the PTC’s already brilliant team.
When I praise the new leadership of the PTC, I speak from experience. One day in 2021, I stumbled upon a lifeline: a pay-what-you-want online workshop at PTC. This workshop, led by the extraordinary Nariman Youssef, laid the foundational bricks for my journey as a literary translator. Translating Mustafa Ibrahim’s “Nothing of Note” under her patient, quiet, and profoundly insightful guidance was a revelation. It was as if she was born to lead, with an innate ability to listen, to nurture, and to inspire.
Then came the BCLT online Summer School, where Nariman once again illuminated my path. Ironically, the darkest period of my life coincided with this intensive week of learning. As my granddad battled in the ICU, I found solace and strength in Nariman’s unwavering support. Her kindness, patience, and empathy became a beacon during those challenging days.
The following year, destiny brought me face-to-face with translator and poet Nashwa Nasreldine for the first time—despite being colleagues in the translation world for so long—at the BCLT in-person Summer School. Nashwa blew me away with her talent, intelligence (even if she’s modest about it), kindness, generosity, and fantastic sense of fun, making the summer school an unforgettable experience. Nashwa, with her razor-sharp wit and meticulous eye for language, has been a constant source of inspiration.
Nariman and Nashwa are more than colleagues; they are the architects of my literary world, the guiding stars that have illuminated my path. Their appointment to the PTC is not just a triumph for them but a promise of a brighter future for world literature. I’m filled with immense pride and joy as I congratulate them on this well-deserved recognition. May this new chapter be a symphony of creativity, collaboration, and cultural exchange.
Thuy Dinh, Editor-at-Large, reporting on Vietnam
On July 18th, 2024, English PEN announced the winning titles of this year’s PEN Translates Award. Among the sixteen acclaimed works spanning 10 different languages and genres, two entries translated from the Vietnamese were honored: Water: A Chronicle (Biên sử nước) by Nguyễn Ngọc Tư (Major Books, Oct. 2024); and Elevator In Saigon (Thang Máy Sài Gòn) by Thuận (Tilted Axis Press, Aug. 2024). Both works were translated by Nguyễn An Lý, who also received The 2023 ALTA National Translation Award for her translation of Chinatown by Thuận.
These two winning works, both written and translated by women, illustrate haunting portraits of contemporary womanhood in both national and transnational contexts. Originally published in 2020, Nguyễn Ngọc Tư’s novel has been praised for its innovative style and content. “To the river she’s arrived,” chapter one in Water: A Chronicle, consists of two disorienting sentences: “Day two thousand and forty-six, The Lord has nothing left but his heart. The woman who is to take it has arrived at the river, her babe in her arms.” The images of the holy man, his heart, and the woman carrying the child will return as recurring motifs to unify the nine narrative fragments that represent both the nine tributaries of the Mekong and the disintegration of a once-cohesive society into a chance confluence of unmoored souls.
If Water: A Chronicle represents horizontal dissolution, then Elevator in Saigon by Thuận symbolizes insidious verticality, via the elevator’s image that encapsulates both Vietnam’s economic progress and its spiritual collapse. Thuận’s sophomore novel, after Chinatown, also represents a sly engagement with Camus’ The Stranger and Patrick Modiano’s autofiction on unreliable memory. Oppressed by the past and exiled by the present, most of Thuận’s characters are unable to tell their stories in an “erect” fashion.
The recent emergence of independent publishing houses dedicated to bringing less commonly translated languages into English has been instrumental in introducing Vietnamese literature to a global readership. Along with Tilted Axis Press, Major Books, based in England and founded by Kim Trần Thủy Tiên, is an independent publisher endeavoring to “present a well-rounded portrait of Vietnam and [its] diverse voices,” ranging from “critically acclaimed post-war fiction, national epic poetry, to contemporary LGBTQ+ writings.” The name “Major Books,” according to its website, “speaks as a[n] … audacious resistance against the ‘minor’ status attributed to certain languages and their literature.” Between fall 2024 and the end of 2026, Major Books aims to launch six titles, among which are a new iteration of Nguyễn Du’s The Tale of Kiều, translated by Nguyễn Bình; Parallel (Song Song), voted “the best gay Vietnamese novel” by Vũ Đình Giang, translated by Khải Nguyễn, Asymptote’s former editor-at-large for Vietnam; and Crossroads and Lampposts (Những Ngã Tư và Những Cột Đèn), by Trần Dần —Vietnam’s most innovative poet who was banned from publishing for most of his lifetime — translated by Uyên Nguyễn.
Wambua Muindi, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Kenya
On August 17, enthusiasts of Meja Mwangi will gather for a one-of-a-kind Meet and Greet, an opportunity to socialize with other fans of the author. This initiative is organized by Lexa Lubanga, recently dubbed a ‘literary dynamo,’ whose work promoting Mwangi, and Kenyan literature generally, has earned her national literary clout. Mwangi is a pioneering urban novelist of postcolonial orientation. His oeuvre includes Kill Me Quick (1973), Cockroach Dance (1979), Going Down River Road (1976) and Christmas Without Tusker (2015). The Meet and Greet will happen at the oldest library in Nairobi, McMillan Memorial Library, right in the Central Business District. If in Nairobi, then, consider this your plan.
In other news, Macondo Literary Festival 2024 is scheduled for September 20 to 22. Themed ‘The Sea is History,’ from an eponymous Derek Walcott poem, this year’s edition will revolve around the Indian Ocean world and its connection to and with Africa. It will feature writers like MG Vassanji of A Place Within: Rediscovering India (2008), Shubnum Khan of The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years (2024), Hamza Koudri of Sand Roses (2023), Shubhangi Swarup of Latitudes of Longing (2018), and Chigozie Obioma of The Fishermen (2015), among others. The festival’s venue remains the Kenya National Theatre where it debuted in 2019. Now in its fourth edition, the festival promises to be an experience to savor not only for the line-up of writers but also for the focus on the relational history of the Indian Ocean, a space that stretches from Somalia to South Africa.
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