Friday, February 29, 2008

Fiction in Translation

The Independent has announced the shortlist for its annual foreign fiction prize. Here are the nominated books with original language and the name of the translator (who stands to share the prize) :
Castorp - Paweł Huelle (Antonia Lloyd Jones, Polish)
Measuring The World - Daniel Kehlmann (Carol Brown Janeway)
Gregorius -Bengt Ohlsson (Silvester Mazzarella, Swedish)
The Model - Lars Saabye Christensen (Don Barlett, Norwegian)
The Way Of The Women - Marlene van Niekerk (Michiel do Heyns, Afrikaans)
Omega Minor - By Paul Verhaeghen, trans by the author (Dutch)
Although I haven't read any of the longlisted or shortlisted books, I am surprised at the non-inclusion of Alaa al Aswany's The Yacoubian Building. Ismail Kadare also does not make the cut.

You can read more about these books on the Independent website or click the links to find them on Amazon.co.uk

4 comments:

eyeris said...

Neil Gaiman is allowing peopel to read AMERICAN GODS for FREE! Spread the word: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/02/kids-free-book.html

And also, check out what he has to say about giving away books for free: "you shouldn't have to pay for every book you read".: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/02/nature-of-free.html

bibliobibuli said...

thanks eyeris for the new and the link. did write about this before we knew which book gaiman had picked. i wanted "fragile things" :-(

Sufian said...

All very unfamiliar names except Lars Saabye... I'm torn between getting them soon at Bookxcess and buying them now...

bibliobibuli said...

understand the being torn part ... i'd love to read these too but it will be a while