Trump Administration’s Interference in Artistic and Literary Expression Is Anti-American and Anti-Democratic - The Authors Guild “We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth,” said President Kennedy in 1963. “A society that recognizes the enduring significance of the arts and the humanities ...

"All true democracies place a high value on freedom of expression in the arts and humanities, as have all U.S. presidential administrations until now."

Translation Contracts 101 - The Authors Guild Literary translators deserve recognition and compensation for their labor and creative work. While the royalties are typically low due to revenues being split between multiple parties, a publishing co...

@authorsguild.bsky.social is presenting a Zoom webinar on 14 May, 10 am PT/1 pm ET about the basics of literary translation contracts:

authorsguild.org/event/transl...

Cooperation/community is one of humanity's greatest strengths; if there is a way forward, it's through working together.

"That Trump-proof America is also filled with meetings, gatherings, pot lucks, and block parties. Protests and celebrations. Marches and dances. Book readings. The book industry has the opportunity to be a driving force in that Trump-proof America. Why would we ever pass that up?"

"That Trump-proof America is filled with print. Newspapers, zines, journals. Print read by hundreds of thousands of people. Print read by dozens of people. Print supported by an online presence that makes it easy to share ideas across geographic distances without becoming digital ephemera."

The Reforestation of American Civic Life: What Publishing Can Do in the Face of the Trump In the time since Donald Trump returned to the White House, he has done more damage to the federal government’s ability to function than any president in history. He has lit the fuse on a hal…

"If there’s a choice between doing nothing and doing something that fails, I’ll choose doing something every time. And if we don’t fight we can’t win."

In addition to exposing systemic problems and root causes, what we also really need is to propose and discuss possible solutions:

Today, @theatlantic.com published a search tool that allows authors to check if their works are in LibGen, an illegal pirate site AI companies copied for their AI systems.

Here's what you can do: authorsguild.org/news/meta-li...

Tumblr post by user holy-punks that says: "My favorite translator said that when she was an ambassador for Hungary she took all these Japanese politicians on a tour and she was trying to circumtranslate 'merry go round' cause she didn't know the Japanese word for it by calling it a 'horse tornado for children' and they had no blessed idea what she was saying and she finally started running in circles going up and down and they go 'ohhhhh, in Japan we call those 'merry-go-rounds'"

I think it's time to share my new project: The Planchette (theplanchette.substack.com). I talk about horror, sci-fi and fantasy lit from around the world, especially translated work. I've got some fun books in my queue, so please come have a look and follow for upcoming reviews!

Nuria: The Home of African Books, by J. L. Powers “To reach Nuria, you must traverse the crowded streets of central Nairobi, dodging motorcycles and weaving in and out of traffic.”

"Kenyan publishers face the same problems that small publishers face everywhere, and most of them focus on publishing nonfiction and textbooks in order to survive. Kenyan writers who pen genre and literary works, almost invariably, must self-publish in order to make their books available."

"And, perhaps most importantly, the law protects librarians and educators from civil and criminal liability for librarians and library staffers for their lawful work."

New Jersey Delivers a Victory for the Freedom to Read—and for Librarians More than three years after she became a target of abuse from book banners, librarian Martha Hickson found herself standing side by side with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy on December 9 as he signed...

"The bill bars New Jersey schools and libraries from pulling books based on viewpoint discrimination, and requires education boards and governing boards of public libraries in the state to establish and follow clear policies for challenging library materials."

Facsimile edition of Theodor Kittelsen’s Black Plague art & poetry

Artwork pt.1: A skeletal man lays dead at the bend of a road. Carrion birds have taken flight

Artwork pt.2: A dead/dying man slumped over on his horse

Art pt.3: an old woman (the plague) walks towards a home

Very pleased with today’s bookmail:
The Black Plague by Theodor Kittelsen. This 1998 facsimile edition collects both the poetry and artwork he did inspired by The Black Plague. I’m familiar with his art but not his poetry, so this is going to be interesting
#booksky

Björguðu álftarunga vopnaðar hitabrúsa og brimbretti - RÚV.is Náttúruverndarsinni segir mikilvægt að huga að fuglunum þegar frostið bítur sem mest. Álftarunga sem sat frosinn fastur á ísilagðri Reykjavíkurtjörn var bjargað um helgina af náttúruverndarsinnum sem ...

I saw a post on Facebook yesterday about a swan frozen to the ice on Reykjavík pond. People were wondering what could be done and there was a comment from this absolute legend pictured below saying: "I am on my way with the necessary gear".

And there is just nothing cooler than people like this.

and transcend the mere equivalence-hunting of tools like Google Translate. As is often the case, A.I. isn’t so much changing the game as exaggerating a dynamic already at work: good translation draws on as much of life and experience and personality as good writing does."

💯

"Translators also need to trust themselves, and to commit to rendering their experience of a novel or an essay or a poem, rather than trying to make themselves disappear in the no man’s land between languages. In fact, visibility may be the key to their survival as A.I.-driven translators improve,

"Conceiving language as something you flirt and fight with, rather than a dry dictionary’s worth of words, also helps resolve the old cocktail-party question of whether everything can be translated. "

IMO "untranslatable" isn't a thing! Unpacking/explaining is still translating.

What we were taught first and most often in grad school was that we "don't translate words, we translate meanings."

“'We don’t translate words of a language, we translate uses of language,' Searls writes. The point is not to capture merely what a text means but to reproduce how it means in context."

What Does a Translator Do? Damion Searls, who has translated a Nobel laureate, believes his craft isn’t about transforming or reflecting a text. It’s about conjuring one’s experience of it.

This is a fascinating overview of the history of translation philosophy and an examination of the prevailing modern approach (with a great reading list if you're a novice like me).

Library sales are daaaangerous...paperbacks for $1.50 and hardbacks for $3 in 2024? I have to avoid mine because it's too tempting.

Discussion Group: Dialect in Translation

Translator Kotryna Garanasvili is giving a free talk online via Teams this Monday, 8 November on the topic of coping with the challenges of dialect in translation. It's 1 PM GMT, so a little early for the West Coast (check your local TZ at www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/m...).

In any case, the atmosphere on this side seems much, much less putrid and gloomy, and I'm looking forward to getting to know the good people here. 🙂

I'm a *big* fan of horror specifically, but I love speculative fiction in general. I'm glad it's gaining more respect, but I think there are still lots more readers to win over. Education and empathy are also under fire, making literature more crucial than ever.

I've also decided to initiate a larger career shift—I've been trying to find my way into publishing. Plus I'm working on launching a Substack about international lit. Translated literature deserves more love and attention!

I'm Kelly, and I've been a commercial translator since 2011; I've always wanted to do literary translation, but I had bills to pay so I tabled my ambition. With the world falling apart (and my industry changing in ways I'm not keen on), I've picked it back up because why not.

Hello all! I've had Bluesky for months but haven't used it much until recently; with that other site sinking fast, I figured it was time to move along with everyone else. So many friendly people are following back, so I thought I'd introduce myself. 👋