Translation Summit Addresses World Lit and the U.S. Market

By Aída Bardales -- Críticas, 11/15/2007

On November 8, book professionals from the United States and abroad met at the Miami Dade Wolfson Campus for the first Translation Market, presented by the Miami Book Fair International (MBFI) and BookExpo America (BEA), and sponsored by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Críticas. The summit—limited to editors, publishers, literary agents and scouts, and others in the book trade—addressed an array of issues pertaining to translation, such as world literature, rights, and marketing.

The day’s events kicked off with “The World in Translation,” where leading publishers addressed some of the issues with publishing translations in the United States. “We [Americans] seem so not interested in foreign sensibilities,” said Daniel Halpern, publisher of Ecco, a HarperCollins imprint. “The chains don’t like books in translation…. We need the support of independents,” he said, and suggested that book reviewers should commit to doing roundup reviews of works in translations more often each year. New Directions’ editor in chief, Barbara Epler, agreed. “[Barnes & Noble] doesn’t like buying in bulk ‘translated by’ books, but they do well in Amazon[.com] and indie bookstores,” she noted. The panel also touched on the challenges of marketing translated works—“If an author doesn’t speak English, it’s hard to get a tour,” said Europa Editions publisher Kent Carroll—and the need for more initiatives such as voice-over radio and television interviews.

Literary agents also got the opportunity to talk about the authors and works they’re excited about. Spain’s Carmen Pinilla, director of foreign rights at Carmen Balcell’s Literary Agency in Barcelona, highlighted Cuba-based authors Wendy Guerra, winner of the first Bruguera Prize and part of the Bogotá39, and author and screenwriter Senel Paz. “Someone [in the United States] told me that it’s hard to sell literature by Cubans living in Cuba,” she said, but questioned why U.S. editors had not evaluated the highly-acclaimed novels from such authors for themselves. “I don’t understand why they still haven’t been translated into English,” said Pinilla.

During a networking lunch, author and policy analyst David Rieff talked with Pulitzer prize-nominee and New Yorker staff writer Judith Thurman about world literature, translations, and the influence Susan Sontag (Rieff’s mother) had in introducing many international authors to American audiences. The business end of translation got more attention at the panel “Latin American Literature in Translation,” which provided insight into the Latin American and Spanish book markets and discussed ways U.S. editors could keep up with the up-and-coming authors and important contemporary works. Valerie Miles, associate director for Santillana’s Alfaguara in Spain, explained that her program’s commitment to publishing a set number of translations every year calls for editors to stay abreast of not only best selling works worldwide, but novel authors and noteworthy books. To that, Farrar, Straus & Giroux editor Lorin Stein claimed that translations don’t always sell well and thus it’s difficult [for large U.S. publishing houses] to commit to a specific number of translations a year. Panelists also included Atria Books editor Johanna Castillo, the Indent Literary Agency’s Andrea Montejo, and David Unger, an author, translation professor, and U.S. representative of FIL Guadalajara. [See list of recommended Spanish-language authors and works for translations.]

At the most popular panel of the day, “The Booksellers POV: A Market Report,” independent booksellers shared their success stories selling English-language translations. McNally Robinson’s Sarah McNally said almost 53 percent of the titles available in her store were by non-American authors, and of those, 65 percent were European. She also explained that when they shelved titles in alphabetical order, sales dropped by a third; consequently, they restored their initial model (shelving by language), which they copied from City Lights. In turn, City Lights Book’s Paul Yamazaki talked about his success with “curating” book displays, especially arranging a table or display around a political or current event.

“I was really pleased to see such a focus on [Spanish-language literature],” said Dalkey Archive’s associate director Martin Riker about the day’s programming. (Dalkey Archive recently received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to publish a bilingual collection of contemporary Mexican short stories.) Most of the participants agreed that it was a step towards establishing a professional element with MBFI. “The U.S. publishing business has a long way to go to rectify the translation imbalance,” Johnny Temple, publisher and editor in chief of Akashic Books, told Críticas. “It's heartening to see [BEA and the Miami Book Fair] devoting resources to this.” But the status of translation was well represented by the split in perspective in the programming. “Half of the speakers bemoaned the paucity of translation,” said Unger. “[T]he other half seemed excited by the possibility of more writers from little known languages being translated and published.”