Translator Episodes

In this episode writer, translator Jegadeesh Kumar talked about his translation of 'A Fine thread and other stories' , his upcoming projects and about author Jeyamohan.

Jegadeesh Kumar is a student of Eastern Philosophy, Mathematics teacher, writer, and translator, raised in Southern India, now living in South Carolina, USA. He writes, both in English and Tamil, short stories, poems, and Eastern Philosophy. His translated work ' A Fine thread and other stories' is a collection of short stories ...

Hassan Kassim is a Kenyan writer and Kiswahili literary translator. He was a beneficiary of the PenPen residency by the European Union, later longlisted for the inaugural Toyin Falola Prize for African short fiction, and the 2022 winner of the Mozilla Common-voice essay prize. His other publication credits appear in Lolwe, Words without Borders, Sahifa Journal, Hekaya, Africa in Dialogue, Yabaleft Review and The Standard. His translation of Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka’s poem ‘Mandela Comes to Le...

In this episode Kaija Straumanis who wears multiple hats as an artist, translator, and editor, discusses her father's profound influence on her, significance of Latvian Language in her life, her experience with the Dalkey Archive Press , Open Letter Books, and the significance of translation in her life. She also shares about her unique visual art project, 'Stuff Thrown on My Head' and talks about her insights on Latvian contemporary literature. Additionally, she spoke about her work on 'Hight t...

Yarri Kamara is a Sierra Leonean-Ugandan translator, writer and policy researcher. She recently relocated to Milan, Italy after having lived in Burkina Faso for almost two decades. After years of translating academic and technical texts from French and Italian into English, Yarri ventured into literary translation observing that few African authors were being translated by African translators. Her translation of Monique Ilboudo’s So Distant From My Life (Tilted Axis Press, 2022) won a PEN-Heim t...

In this Episode Tina Kover spoke about the intiative 'Translators Aloud' and about the French Novel she translated 'Postcard' in detail.

Tina Kover is the translator of over thirty books from French, including Anne Berest’s The Postcard, Négar Djavadi’s Disoriental, and Emmelie Prophète’s Blue. Her work has won the Albertine Prize, the French Voices Award, and the Lambda Literary Award, and has been shortlisted for the (U.S.) National Book Award, the International Dublin Literary Award, the PEN...

In this episode Kari Dickson Speaks about Children fiction from Norway, Authors Erika Fatland, Rune Christiansen and about the novel she translated so beautifully 'The Loneliness in Lydia Erneman's life'.

Kari Dickson is an award-winning literary translator from Norwegian. Her work includes crime fiction, literary fiction, children’s books, theatre and non-fiction. She is also an occasional tutor in Norwegian language, literature and translation at the University of Edinburgh, and has worked wi...

In this episode, International Booker award winning translator Michele Hutchison talks about the craft of translation, her work and her translation of 'We are Light'.

We Are Light is an exquisitely translated novel in which obsession, mental illness, and deferred dreams lead to complex, compounding tragedies.

Michele Hutchison (b. 1972) is a literary translator from Dutch and French into English. A former commissioning editor at various top publishing houses, she has translated more than forty...

In this Episode , Tess Lewis spoke about Translating Micro fiction, her marathon project 'Notes', Seagull books, and some really useful books on the art of translation.

You can find the recommended list of books compiled by her in the show notes -

Tess Lewis is a writer and translator from French and German. Her translations include works by Peter Handke, , Jonas Lüscher , Lutz Seiler, Walter Benjamin, and Montaigne. Her translation of Maja Haderlap’s Angel of Oblivion won the ACFNY Translatio...

In this episode, Translator from Icelandic to English, larissa Kyzer talks about her translations, Icelandic literature, Special relation Icelanders have with Volcanoes and the book 'The Fires'.

you can find the link to buy the book, 'The Fires' in the show notes.

https://www.larissakyzer.com/about

Larissa Kyzer is a writer and Icelandic to English literary translator. Her translation of Kristín Eiríksdóttir’s A Fist or a Heart was awarded the American Scandinavian Foundation’s 2019 translati...

Lola Rogers translates novels, short stories, poems, comics, and children literature from Finnish into English. Her most recent translation is the internationally acclaimed novel Summer Fishing in Lapland (U.S. Title Fishing for the Little Pike), by Juhani Karila.

Lola’s translations have been shortlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize and the Petrona Award for Nordic crime fiction. Her translation of Johanna Sinisalo’s The Core of the Sun won the 2017 Prometheus Award. She was nam...

In this Episode, Peter Constantine, Speaks about his journey into World of languages, his translation work in multiple languages and his novel 'Purchased Bride'.

Set in Turkey in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, The Purchased Bride reflects the true story of Constantine's Greek grandmother, Maria, who was bought when she was fifteen by a much older, wealthy Ottoman man.

The novel can be purchased using the link given in the show notes.

http://bit.ly/purchasedbride

Peter Constantine’s r...

Damion Searls is a translator from German, Norwegian, French, and Dutch, and a writer in English. He has translated about sixty books, including ten by this year's Nobel Prize winner, Jon Fosse, and won numerous translation awards, including Guggenheim and Cullman Center fellowships; the biggest German-to-English translation prize in America, for Uwe Johnson's four-volume ANNIVERSARIES; and the biggest such prize in England, twice, for books by Hans Keilson and Saša Stanišić. His own writing inc...

Mirgul Kali translates from her native Kazakh. Her translations of short stories by classic and contemporary Kazakh writers appeared in Tupelo Quarterly, Electric Literature, Exchanges, The Massachusetts Review, Gulf Coast, and other publications. She received a PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant and a PEN Translates award for her translation of Baqytgul Sarmekova’s To Hell with Poets, a short story collection forthcoming from Tilted Axis Press in 2024. She holds an MFA in Literary Translation from...

In this episode, literary translator Paul Russell Garrett talks about his experience translating plays and books from Danish. He discusses his interest in drama, and how he fell in love with the Danish language. Paul also throws light on the Association of Danish English Literary Translators (DELT). He highlights the importance of the Danish Arts Foundation in supporting language and literature. He shares about his mentorship at the National Centre for Writing and his later role as a mentor. The...

Antonia Lloyd-Jones has translated works by many of Poland’s leading contemporary novelists and reportage authors, as well as crime fiction, poetry and children’s books. Her translation of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by 2018 Nobel Prize laureate Olga Tokarczuk was shortlisted for the 2019 Man Booker International prize. For ten years she was a mentor for the Emerging Translators’ Mentorship Programme, and is a former co-chair of the UK Translators Association.

In this episode, sh...

Emily Balistrieri is an American translator based in Japan. Emily translates Literary fiction, Japanese Manga novels and provides subtitles for animation films. His Published translations include Tomihiko Morimi's The Tatami Galaxy, Ao Omae's People Who Talk to Stuffed Animals Are Nice, Eiko Kadono's Kiki's Delivery Service, and Shaw Kuzki's Soul Lanterns, among many others. He did the English subtitles for Takahide Hori's award-winning film Junk Head and occasionally works on video games such a...

How far do you go to translate the work that you seriously loved? In the case of Jon Fosse, the Norwegian author, the extraordinaire Damion Searls - learnt Norwegian to bring Fosse to the anglophone world.

Here is Damion Searls - talking about Jon Fosse and translating his new book ‘A Shining’.

For people who live in twin cities - Akshara Book stores have a few copies of ‘A Shining’ and ‘Aliss at the fire’ both masterfully translated by Damion Searls.

On 25th December you can have the Full 92...

(00:06) Introduction to Mike Fu and His Translation Journey

(01:06) Welcoming Mike Fu to the Podcast

(01:19) Exploring the Life and Works of Taiwanese Writer, Sanmao

(03:23) Introduction to the Book, Stories of Sahara

(06:18) Understanding the Chinese Language and Its Variants

(08:16) Mike Fu's Journey into Translation

(09:54) The Journey of Translating 'Stories of the Sahara'

(12:17) Mike Fu's Involvement with ALTA Mentorship

(14:04) Mike Fu's Work with Shanghai Literary Review

(16:25)...

(00:06) Introduction and Background of Simon Wickham Smith

(01:35) Simon's Introduction to Mongolian, Tibetan, and Manchu Languages

(06:13) Simon's Encounter with Mongolian Literature and Culture

(10:17) Simon's Meditation Practice

(12:45) Introduction to Mongolia and Its Sociopolitical Situation

(17:07) Overview of Contemporary Mongolian Literature

(22:35) Simon's Translation Works: Politics and Literature in Mongolia

(30:05) Simon's Translation Works: The Secret Life of Sixth Dalai Lama...

(00:07) Introduction to Greybees and its Author

(01:47) Background

(01:55) Early Life and Influences

(05:35) Journey into English Language and Literature

(07:23) Living in Hollywood: Impact on Literary Temperament

(12:10) Approach to Translating Prose and Poetry

(15:56) Mentors and Collaborators

(20:32) Experience as an Editor and Reviewer

(32:23) Discussion on the Novel 'Greybees'

(44:46) Reading from 'Greybees'

(47:02) Conclusion of the Podcast

The novel 'Grey Bees' is one of the mo...

(00:06) Introduction to Jenny Bhatt

(01:37) Jenny's Early Writing Journey

(03:49) Transition from Engineering to Writing

(07:00) Challenges of Balancing Work and Writing

(08:55) Turning Point: From Engineer to Full-Time Writer

(10:18 )Journey to Getting Published

(19:59) The Art of Translation

(26:27) Teaching Creative Writing

(32:05) Desi Books: A Platform for South Asian Literature

(45:36) The Intricacies of Book Promotion and Literary Awards

(47:08) The Art of Writing and Publishing...

(00:02) Introduction to Christina Kramer

(00:39) Journey as a Language Learner

(04:31) Teaching Career

(07:26) Introduction to Macedonian Language

(08:49) Work on Macedonian Grammar

(09:58) Contemporary Literature and Writing in Macedonian

(11:57) Christina's Transition from Linguist to Translator

(15:34) Translation Workflow and Challenges

(16:55) 'Freud's Sister'

(19:54) 'Bai Ganyo, Incredible Tales of Modern Bulgarian'

(23:03) 'Fear of Barbarians'

(27:57) Translation Choices and Ch...

(00:06) Introduction and Background of Sevinc Turkon

Sevinc Turkon earned a Ph....

(01:35) Sevinc's Multilingual Background and Journey into Translations

You know Turkish, Bulgarian, and German....

(04:12) Sevinc's PhD Dissertation and the Need for Multiple Translations

Your PhD dissertation was about the need for multiple translations....

(09:34) Sevinc's Experience Teaching Orhan Pamuk's Works

You wrote a book on teaching the works of Orhan Pamuk....

(17:40) Sevinc's Insights on Contem...

(00:08) Introduction to Karin Tidbeck

(01:20) Karin's Journey into Storytelling

(02:42) Karin's Fascination with Speculative Fiction

(05:37) Influences and Inspirations

(07:36) Exploring the Jagannath Collection

(07:58) Character Development and Role-Playing Games

(09:17) Karin's Experience in the Gaming Industry

(16:22) Challenges of Self-Translation

(19:19) The Creative Process Behind Jagannath

(33:06) The Story Behind the Title 'Jagannath'

(39:51) Insights into Contemporary Swedish ...