It’s International Translation Day, a global day of celebrating “the work of language professionals.” We’ve been excited to celebrate National Translation Month this month, and this is a perfect way to close out September. International Translation Month is a time to shine a light on the wonderful translators who have helped us and our authors bring global literature to even more readers. Continue reading “Celebrating International Translation Day”
This Week in Literary News
Our weekly round-up of literary news here at Catalyst and beyond, is brought to you by our intern Naomi Valenzuela. Naomi is from Phoenix, Arizona and El Paso, Texas, and is majoring in Creative Writing and minoring in English & American Literature at the University of Texas, El Paso, with plans of working in the publishing business after graduation.
Want to lend a helping hand in your community? On Electric Lit, this article shows you how teaming up with NYC Books Through Bars can help deliver books to local prisoners.
Brittle Paper has information about book reviewers for Publisher’s Weekly. They are calling for book reviewers, an opportunity for more diversity within the publishing industry.
Also on Brittle Paper, an article about the 2020 London School of Economics’ LSE Shape The World festival and this year’s inclusion of a panel centered around “African Talks: The Global Legacy of African Women Writers”.
Over on New Internationalist, our own Yewande Omotoso (Bom Boy), writes about navigating through Johannesburg without a car, and finding a new perspective in the city.
OkayAfrica has an article and video on Samba Yonga’s TED Talk where she discusses the need to create superheroes for and from Africa.
There is an excerpt from one of our releases, Sacrificed by Chanette Paul and translated to English by Elsa Silke, over on The Johannesburg Review of Books.
The New York Times has an article about stories of the female trio and explores how this trope is so effective in literature and outside of it.
The Carnegie Medal longlist for 2020 gives us many retellings of classic literature such as Moby Dick and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, but with a twist. Check out this article at The Guardian, and take a look at the reimagining of these books.
Lastly in more Catalyst news, Shaka Rising by Luke Molver is on sale for 50% off! Be sure to take advantage of this opportunity as it ends in February.
Q&A with Elsa Silke
This has been a really great Women in Translation Month so far. We’ve been clicking on that #WiTMonth tag and finding some great reads (because when your to-be-read piles looks like the ones at Catalyst HQ, what’s one more?). There are a wealth of amazing voices all over the world waiting for readers. We have a few of our voices to spotlight this month, so be sure to check out our other posts from this, and WiTMonths past, to read about our authors, our translators, and how you can continue to add more world literature by women to your bookshelves.
We’re continuing our celebration by chatting with translator Elsa Silke. Elsa was the translator for Chanette Paul’s continent-hopping thriller Sacrificed. She is an accomplished translator who has translated works by Ingrid Winterbach, Irma Joubert, and in 2006, she was awarded the SATI/Via Afrika Prize for outstanding translation in fiction for her translation of This Life by Karel Schoeman. We talked to Elsa about her background, translating Sacrificed, and how translated works enrich readers. (Check out this three-chapter excerpt (PDF) from the novel!) Continue reading “Q&A with Elsa Silke”