Translating
I translate (mostly) literary fiction from Portuguese, Spanish and French.
In addition to the dozens of shorter pieces published in magazines, anthologies, etc. (such as this selection, for example, on Words Without Borders), these are some of the books I've translated [links tk]:
In addition to the dozens of shorter pieces published in magazines, anthologies, etc. (such as this selection, for example, on Words Without Borders), these are some of the books I've translated [links tk]:
(Among these, The Book of Chameleons by José Eduardo Agualusa won the 2007 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize; and Agualusa's A General Theory of Oblivion was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize and won the International Dublin Literary Award.)
Book translations forthcoming (summer 2021 through summer 2022) include:
- The Oracle of Night by Sidarta Ribeiro (Pantheon)
- Occupation by Julián Fuks (Charco Press)
- In the Suitcase by Clotilde Perrin (Gecko Press)
- Plague Diary by Gonçalo Tavares (Quattro)
- A Grammar, Momentary and Infinite by José Eduardo Agualusa (Urucum)
- Two Spies in Caracas by Moisés Naím (AmazonCrossing)
- Of Paradise and Other Hells by José Eduardo Agualusa, a co-translation (Flipped Eye Publishing)
- Never Did the Fire by Diamela Eltit (Charco Press) [published alongside my translation diary, Catching Fire]
- The Night by Rodrigo Blanco Calderón, co-translated with Noel Hernández González (Seven Stories)
- Life, as Told to a Neanderthal..., by Juan José Millás & José Luis Arsuaga, co-translated with Tom Bunstead (Scribe)
- Lionel by Eric Veillé (Gecko Press)
- Phenotypes by Paulo Scott (And Other Stories)
- A Practical Guide to Levitation: Selected Stories by José Eduardo Agualusa (Archipelago)
Being a Translator
Since 2007 or so, I have also been quite involved in the UK's translation community, including two years chairing the Translators Association, four years as one of the directors of the British Centre for Literary Translation, four years as editor of the journal In Other Words (and occasionally guest-editing assorted other publications), speaking at events, writing about translation, reviewing translated literature, running workshops, and so on.
Between December 2015 and November 2016 I wrote a monthly "Ask a Translator" column for Asymptote, answering readers' questions:
- How does one compare translations?
- Is there any genre that you would never translate?
- How often do you discuss a translation with the author?
- Is there a code of ethics when it comes to translation?
- Have you ever experienced any troubles with any publisher, and if so, what's your advice for a novice?
- Throughout your career, what was the book that you found the hardest to translate?
- Is there anything that is completely untranslatable, in your opinion?
- What can a translator do to improve?
- Should a translator be allowed to edit a text he is translating?
- Why are translators' names usually left off book covers?
- How do you judge a translation for an award?
- How do you see literary translation changing ten years from now?
This online translation diary is a series of 17 blog posts I wrote between October 2013 and February 2014 for Free Word, tracking the process of translating a single book, Carola Saavedra's Blue Flowers. (A previous online translation diary, for José Eduardo Agualusa's Rainy Season, eventually appeared as an appendix to the printed novel.)
There are dozens of articles and interviews around that deal with my translation work, but for something very brief and condensed, when I was the guest on the @translationtalk twitter account, I wrote three threads, each working through the opening line of a book I was working on:
- Juan Pablo Villalobos's I Don't Expect Anyone to Believe Me
- José Eduardo Agualusa's The Society of Reluctant Dreamers
- Beatrice Alemagna's The Big Little Thing
I've been working a lot lately on promoting translated children's books in particular. This has involved an Arts Council England funded scouting project; speaking at the Marsh Award (this is a transcript of my 2013 Marsh Award speech on children's books in translation, reproduced in Books for Keeps, January 2013); working with the BookTrust "In Other Words" project; and working with Joy Court to produce a special "translated books" edition of Riveting Reads, which is being distributed to every secondary school in England. Related projects for 2019 included taking a group of children's books editors to the Bologna Book Fair.
And here are a few talks I've recorded recently for the BBC on translation-related subjects:
- R3's The Essay: Why I Write (an introduction to the pleasures and challenges of translation)
- R4's Four Thought: A World for Children (why we should translate more children's literature)
- R3's The Essay: How to Write a Book
- R3's The Essay: Robinson Crusoe (and language-learning)
I've presented an episode of "In the Studio" about translator Ann Goldstein, for BBC World Service.
Oh, and here's my attempt to give a three-minute explanation of literary translation, in a single slightly garbled, unscripted take...
Rates
If you'd like me to translate a book for you, these are the rates I've agreed in my most recent contracts, to give you a rough idea what to expect:
- $150 per 1000 English words, advance on royalty – non-fiction book with a division of a large U.S. corporate [July 2019]
- £100 per 1000 English words, advance on royalty – co-translation of a literary novel with a U.S. independent [contract dated June 2019]
- Variable terms subject to funding: between £95/k + small royalty and no advance + 10% royalty – literary novel with U.K. independent [May 2019]
- $150 per 1000 English words, fee plus royalty – commercial novel with a U.S. corporate [March 2019]
- £95 per 1000 English words (no royalty) – two plays with a U.K. independent [December 2018]
- $3000 fee plus royalty – children’s picture-book with a U.S. corporate [December 2018]
- £300 advance against royalty – children’s picture-book with a N.Z. independent [September 2018]
- $142 per 1000 English words, advance on royalties – co-translation of a literary novel with a small U.S. independent [May 2018]