Posts
By Jack Hargreaves, November 12, '21
Hi all, sporadic newsflash time. Last week was the American Literary Translators Association conference, so for something a little different before the links, I thought I'd speak to fellow ALTA mentee, Jenna Tang (Chieh-Lan Tang), about her work.
Under the guidance of editor and translator Mike Fu, Jenna has been translating Taiwanese author Lin Yi-Han’s debut novel Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise, which, as an unflinching depiction of rape culture and misogyny as foundational to social stability, was instrumental in the start of the #MeToo Movement in Taiwan. Jenna has already finished the translation and is on the lookout for a suitable publisher, so watch this space.
Jenna chose the book because of how close to home its contents feel for her. She attended the same university as Yi-Han and says she can relate to experiences the author describes of corruption within the Taiwanese educational system and of the dangers that haunt female students day to day yet constantly get overlooked.
Jenna's plan now that the program has come to an end, besides enjoy the conference this week and continue her literary translation journey, is to start a column about literary translation, multilingualism, and home & languages, focusing more on her own writing as well as giving space to spotlighting the work of other translators with book reviews. Again, watch this space!
Thanks Jenna! Looking forward to seeing more of your work in the future, we'll always feature it here.
We'll be developing this editorial feature in future issues, so please share if there is anyone/anything you'd like us to talk to in more detail. And if you'd like to receive those future issues straight into your inbox, remember to subscribe here.
Back to our regularly scheduled programming:
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By Jack Hargreaves, October 18, '21
Hi all! I'm going to keep the intro short here for the purpose of expediency - I have deadlines - but fear not, the next issue will contain a big, nutritious portion of editorial.
Top of the agenda are imminent events which will be missed if not signed up for ASAP. First to note is this year's symposium by the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing (happening this weekend!), and second is translator Christina Ng's online seminar "Translating Multilingual Texts", which Catapult have kindly offered our readers a 20% discount for, code below. This doesn't mean the other events are not worth attending, far from it, but I'll let you peruse the offerings below at your leisure.
New and aspiring translators, please direct your attention to the news that applications for the 2022 ALTA Emerging Translator Mentorship Program are open! I am now at the tail end of a mentorship with Jeremy Tiang and it has been, and I say this sincerely, a life-changing program. Get applying!
Beyond that there are shining reviews of new and upcoming books (and a not-so-shining review of Jia Zhangke's latest documentary), a story from the NEW PATHLIGHT ISSUE, extracts from Chen Qiufan's forthcoming book and from Chan Yu-Ko's Whisper, and a whole host of interviews with HK & Taiwan authors and translators. And, naturally, so much more... it's an exciting world out there isn't it!
Remember that you can sign up for the email version of this newsletter here and receive it straight into your inbox as soon as it comes out.
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By Jack Hargreaves, September 21, '21
Autumn is here, a time of year I actually really like, and there's certainly a lot to celebrate at the moment! On a personal note, I might be able to travel to the American Literary Translator's Association conference next month, the virtual leg of which has already started. Then there's the approaching completion of a big Paper Republic project which a few of the members have been plugging away at for over a year by now, and which has involved contributions from tens of wonderful people at this point. Watch this space.
On top of those, it's what is, I suppose, an unofficial award season in the world of translated literature, or at least one of them. And there are plenty of congratulations to go around: Sanmao, Mike Fu, Can Xue, Karen Gernant, Chen Zeping, Ge Fei, Canaan Morse, Chiou Charng-Ting, May Huang, Tracy K. Smith, Changtai Bi, David Hinton...
There are also a number of exciting events coming up, one of which involves Nicky Harman, in conversation with Jun Liu, and another which will be led by Jennifer Wong. Booking information can be found via the links below.
Last but not least -- although this is a different kind of announcement to the ones above -- if you are an author, translator, publisher or organisation with a Chinese-literature related event coming up and you'd like to share some information about it, say a few words, share an idea you have, please do get in touch and we'll feature you/it in an upcoming newsletter both on the site and in the email version (which you can sign up to here).
Just a heads up before we get into the news, in case you haven't noticed or have been confused, we've reset the counter on the issue number, in order to align the site and subscription versions. Anyway, on with what you're here for!
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By Jack Hargreaves, August 1, '21
Hello again! You must have been champing at the bit to receive this next issue of our newsletter. Well you need wait no longer. It's been a busy time for the PR management team, what with the delights that were the Aberdeen Festival of Chinese Translation and Bristol Translates as well as our working toward some big announcements we can make soon. Watch this space. Then there's the small matters of the welcome distraction, the Olympics, followed eagerly by Nicky and Emily, upcoming camping trips for Jack and Eric, and big work projects and exams for Yvette and Lirong.
Anyway, first for a little housekeeping. Remember back to May 2020? (I don't know about you, but I can't tell if it feels like yesterday or ten years ago with the past year and a bit the world has had.) So whether you do remember or not, a reminder: Paper Republic collaborated with Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing to run Give-it-a-go, bringing together 124 translators plus ourselves to have a go at translating Deng Anqing's "Forty Days: Growing Closer to My Parents during Quarantine" (read the joint translation here). Since then, this piece and others from the Epidemic Series have been translated into Spanish, here, here, here and here, plus, I believe, into Slovenian, somewhere. The new good news is that, more recently, Deng's account of lockdown at home is now available in Danish, in DanmarkKina magazine #115. It feels good for PR to have played a role in giving these stories a broader, more international readership.
Second on the agenda is a redaction. The previous newsletter claimed that author Yan Ge was performing the superhuman feat of abandoning her native Chinese language to write fiction in English. We've since been gently corrected: she's performed the ultra-human feat of DOING BOTH: while her debut English-language collection and novel are in the pipeline, she's working on her next Chinese novel. It's the Dublin water.
And lastly, word has come over the transom of a new short-story collection by sci-fi writer Wang Weilian (王威廉), entitled Wild Future (野未来). The Chinese-language publisher has been in touch about an English translation of the 11 stories in the collection -- stay tuned.
We have a packed edition this time around, it being the accumulation of over a month of news, stories, poems and reviews. The conclusion from it all is: watch for your TBR list and bookshelves in the next year filling up with anything and everything Jeremy Tiang translates and recommends...
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By Jack Hargreaves, June 22, '21
Here's your fortnightly round-up of recent news regarding Chinese literature, the people who write it, the people who translate it, and the people who read it.
What's going on these days? Yan Ge has switched to writing in English, that's what. And how: her debut English-language story collection and novel have already sold, to Faber and Scribner. While this is obviously objectively awesome news, there is something a tiny bit bittersweet about it for those of us who translate. Nothing has been lost, we tell ourselves. Nothing lost! We have not asked Jeremy Tiang for a quote, but imagine him gazing fondly yet a little forlornly at a copy of Strange Beasts of China (which is hot in Philly).
If you're tired of books (as if), why not watch some book-related movies next month? The Chinese Visual Festival has a great line-up of Chinese-language film, including a screening of Jia Zhangke's Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue, a documentary about three Chinese authors (Yu Hua, Jia Pingwa, and Liang Hong) and their connection to the land. Note that the related event with Jia Pingwa and Liang Hong has been cancelled, as well as a few of the film screenings, as well as... Well, more about that in the next newsletter.
Other news from the Republic: we're scrambling to keep up with a multitude of educational projects, running workshops and talks in partnership with Aberdeen University, judging submissions for the Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators, and gearing up for the Bristol Translates summer school. Meanwhile Nicky hates Microsoft Teams, Jack has mastered the art of Twitter-fishing, and Eric, despite decades of working between continents, still can't keep his timezones straight.
And here's something that doesn't happen often enough: we're hearing a lot of buzz from inside China about a new Chinese-language novel. It's titled Folk Music 《民谣》, by a literary critic named Wang Yao (王尧). It came out in Harvest (收获) magazine in 2020 – still for our money the best literary magazine in China – and was published in book form this past April by Yilin Publishing House. Both the magazine and the publishing house have gotten in touch with us to tell us how much they loved the book, and how much they think someone should translate it. It seems to be a work of autofiction, set in northern Jiangsu province during the 1970s, a finely-experienced story of the narrator and his family. We'll let you know what we think!
Remember, if you want to receive these newsletters straight into your inbox every fortnight, sign up here.
And, finally, the actual news:
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By Jack Hargreaves, June 6, '21
I'm going to start off with the reminder this week: you can subscribe here to receive this newsletter straight into your inbox every fortnight! And if you are already signed up, please check your junk/spam/trash folder on Tuesday evening in case the email hasn't arrived yet.
Now for the news: first of all I'd like to point you to all the poetry that has been dug up from the archives or newly published online in commemoration of a certain anniversary this month. Powerful stuff - a lame analysis I know, but the poems speak for themselves. Next, it's Pride month, and there's lots that is related going on within Chinese-language lit for us to be happy about. One thing is the continued and welcomed publication of reviews and extracts from The Membranes, and another is the release of a new book from one of my favourite authors, Chen Xue 陳雪, Dear Accomplice (親愛的共犯), a detective novel published by Mirror Fiction, though no translation available as yet of course! AND -- this just released as I was about to post -- Words Without Borders' 12th annual queer issue contains two translations from Chinese! And for the rest, well, have a see for yourself below:
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By Jack Hargreaves, May 25, '21
A less busy edition this time around but the two stories, one from Hai Fan (tr. Jeremy Tiang), the other from Leung Lee-chi (tr. Jennifer Feeley), as well as the stacks of reviews, all for your reading pleasure, more than make up for it.
And finally, the chance you've all been waiting for has arrived! If you want to receive these newsletters straight into your inbox every fortnight, sign up here!
Please bear with us while we refine the new version and add extra content, but we'll continue to post here anyway.
Enjoy your weeks!
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By Jack Hargreaves, May 12, '21
Sorry for the delay this time around. Fortunately, it's not stopped this from being a jam-packed edition, and one full of excitement too: winner announcements, new books, upcoming big events and recordings of those you might have missed. PLUS, in the next newsletter there'll be an option to subscribe to receive future editions via email. It's something we've been thinking about a while, and something a number of you have requested we do already. It will mean additional content in the future as we develop the newsletter further. So look out for that!
Have a lovely two weeks!
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By Jack Hargreaves, April 25, '21
I mean, the title this week says it all - we've a busy fortnight ahead in Chinese lit related excitement, and I'm running out of title ideas (that started to happen a few newsletters ago to be honest, but my imagination continues to fail me - I blame lockdown...). Beyond that, there are new books (coming) out from Sinoist, Astra House, HarperVia and Columbia University Press, as well as the lit translation model contract from the Authors Guild! A life-changer as far as I'm concerned!
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By Jack Hargreaves, April 11, '21
First port of call this instalment is the Translators Association's acknowledgement that racial inequality is systemically embedded within the literary translation industry. It is a rallying cry for everyone at every level, in every role, to make change.
Then there are two very exciting sci-fi events that you should be signing up for (and I would be too if they weren't in the States), plus writing from Malaysian author Ho Fok Song and Tibetan writer Tsering Norbu, translated by Natascha Bruce and Riga Shakya, respectively.
Followed by the now-to-be-expected mainstay: more reviews for Strange Beasts of China and The Membranes. Plus the announcement of two new books coming soon. See below to find out which!
See you in two weeks! 88
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By Jack Hargreaves, March 28, '21
The International Booker Prize longlist is out, and Can Xue features, timely news given the announcement of her new novella (tr. Natascha Bruce) out next year. Yang Lian and Brian Holton are on the podium, too, for Anniversary Snow. But alas, it's not all good news. LARB China Channel is closing due to struggles with funding. But ever the givers, its contributors have provided one last hurrah by pointing us in the direction of their own favourite sources of all things China and Chinese. See below for more!
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By Jack Hargreaves, March 14, '21
This fortnight we trace the origin of the cosmos with the Nuosu creation story and look to the future with oracle-penman Chen Qiufan. If you're looking to practice your pronunciation, there's Bopomofo poetry or Jidi Majia in Scots, but if all you really want is to sit back and relax with a film, Taiwanese cinema has something for everyone.
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By Jack Hargreaves, March 2, '21
I don't know if the amount of news is increasing each week or if we're just getting better at finding it! Feast your eyes on this delectable selection of all things Chinese lit in translation.
Some of you have asked us if you'll be able to sign up to receive the newsletter by email. We definitely plan to start sending out a regular newsletter, but when is yet undecided. So for the time being, return here every two weeks as you have been for your Chinese lit fix.
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By Jack Hargreaves, February 13, '21
LOTS to read this week: poetry aplenty, a story from the inimitable Zhu Yue, another review of Strange Beasts of China, extract from Uyghur writer Alat Asem's work, and a discussion with translator Carlos Roja about The Four Books. Dig in!
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By Jack Hargreaves, January 31, '21
Hi all! Lots of events to be excited about in the next month or two, plus plenty of reading to be getting on with. Anyway, have a lovely two weeks and we'll see you same time, same place in a fortnight.
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