PEN Translates award goes to 'Palestine +100' among tittles from 15 countries

The latest batch of Pen Translates awards includes one book - with multiple authors and translators - to be translated from Arabic: Palestine +100 due to be published by Manchester-based Comma Press in May 2019.
Comma Press said in a statement: "We're delighted to announce we've won a PEN Translates Award for our forthcoming anthology Palestine +100, which will fund the translation of a number of the stories from Arabic into English.

"The collection is the sequel to our hit Iraq +100 anthology, which went viral on social media, selling out in advance of publication and featuring on BBC News and The Guardian website. The rights were sold to Tor (Pan Macmillan) for a North American edition shortly after in our biggest rights deal to date.
"This time we asked Palestinian writers to imagine their country 100 years after the Nakba;  in the year 2048, what will have been the repercussions of the displacement of more than 700,000 people after the Israeli War of Independence, and how might Palestine have finally escaped it, and found its own peace, a hundred years down the line?
"Palestine +100 will be released in May 2019 and will feature established and emerging authors from Palestine including Selma Dabbagh, Nayrouz Qarmout, Ahmed Masoud and many more.. Huge thanks to the team at English PEN! Congrats to the other award winners."

Nayrouz Qarmout 
Press Release from English PEN 
A diverse list of books make up the latest round of PEN Translates award winners. These include new novels by László Krasznahorkai and Marie Darrieussecq; the debut short story collection by politician Selahattin Demirtaş, currently imprisoned in Turkey; a memoir by legendary Belgian filmmaker Chantal Ackerman; Spanish poetry for children; as well as novels from Bosnia, the Comoros Islands, and Indonesia.
Ros Schwartz, co-chair of the Writers in Translation committee, said:
'The list of award-winning titles is more diverse than ever, with translations from 15 countries and 12 languages, including Bosnian, Indonesian, Slovenian and Tamil, with the first ever novel from the Comoros Islands to be translated into English. English PEN is thrilled and proud to be supporting such an exciting range of outstanding titles.'

Books are selected for PEN Translates awards on the basis of outstanding literary quality, strength of the publishing project, and contribution to literary diversity in the UK. The award-winning books are featured on the English PEN World Bookshelf website, in partnership with Foyles.

PEN Translates award-winning titles in autumn 2018

Mountain That Eats Men by Ander Izagirre, translated from Spanish by Tim Gutteridge. ZED Books, May 2019. Country of origin: Spain

My Mother Said by Chantal Ackerman, translated from French by Daniella Shreir. Silver Press, June 2019. Country of origin: Belgium

An Orphan World by Giuseppe Caputo, translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes and Juana Adcock. Charco Press, October 2019. Country of origin: Colombia

The Wandering by Intan Paramaditha, translated from Indonesian by Stephen J. Epstein. Harvill Secker, March 2020. Country of origin: Indonesia

Poems That the Wind Blew In by Karmelo C. Iribarren, translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel. Emma Press, September 2019. Country of origin: Spain

A History of the World with the Women Put Back In by Kerstin Lücker and Ute Daenschel, translated from German by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp and Jessica West. The History Press, September 2019. Country of origin: Germany

The Baby by Marie Darrieussecq, translated from French by Penny Hueston. Text Publishing, July 2019. Country of origin: France

When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back by Naja Marie Aidt, translated from Danish by Denise Newman. Quercus, March 2019. Country of origin: Denmark

Dawn by Selahattin Demirtaş, translated from Turkish by Amy Marie Spangler and Kate Ferguson. Hogarth, April 2019. Country of origin: Turkey

A Drop of Happiness by Selvedin Avdić, translated from Bosnian by Will Firth. Istros Books, March 2020. Country of origin: Bosnia

Palestine +100 by various, translated from Arabic by various. Comma Press, May 2019. Country of origin: Palestine

Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge, translated from Chinese by Jeremy Tiang. Tilted Axis, May 2020. Country of origin: China

Baron Wenkheim's Homecoming by László Krasznahorkai, translated from Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet. Tuskar Rock Press, November 2019. Country of origin: Hungary

Dreams by Rajathi Salma, translated from Tamil by Meena Kandasamy. Tilted Axis Press, October 2020. Country of origin: India

A Girl Called Eel by Ali Zamir, translated from French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins. Jacaranda Books, 2019. Country of origin: Comoros Islands

The Fig by Goran Vojnović, translated from Slovenian by Olivia Hellewell. Istros Books, October 2019. Country of origin: Slovenia


English PEN's Writers in Translation programme has been promoting literature in translation since 2005. The programme includes translation grants, events, and PEN Transmissions, an online zine for international writing.
English PEN's major publisher grants programme, PEN Translates, awards grants to UK publishers for translation costs and is supported by Arts Council England. Over 200 books in translation have been supported by English PEN grants since 2005.
English PEN, a registered charity, promotes the freedom to write and the freedom to read in the UK and around the world. The founding centre of a worldwide writers' association, established in 1921, we work to identify and dismantle barriers between writers and readers, whether these are cultural, political, linguistic or economic.

report from London by Susannah Tarbush

Saqi to publish Raphael Cormack's book on women who created Egypt’s modern culture

Saqi to publish story of Cairo’s female cultural trailblazers in the early twentieth century

Saqi Books has announced that it has acquired the world rights to Martyrs of Passion: The Women Who Created Egypt’s Twentieth-Century Culture from debut writer Raphael Cormack. Publication is set for spring 2020. 

Raphael Cormack

"Martyrs of Passion tells the exciting, little-known story of Egypt’s entertainment industry in the inter-war period through the lives of its most prominent women," says Saqi. "In what was then the cultural centre of the region, singers were pressing hit records, new theatres and dramatic troupes were springing up everywhere, and Cairo’s cabarets were packed – a counter-culture was on the rise. In the bars, hash-dens, music halls and theatres of the roaring ’20s, people of all cultures, classes and backgrounds – Muslims, Christians and Jews – came together. A passionate group of eccentrics, narcissists and idealists strove to entertain the broad spectrum of Egyptian society.

"Women asserted themselves on the stage and behind the microphone like never before. Some of the biggest stars of Cairo’s stages were female. Two of the most famous troupes of the 1920s were run by women. It was in the 1920s that Oum Kalthoum, the legendary singer, first won her fame. And in the 1920s, the casino and dancehall owned and run by Badia Masabni became the hottest nightspot in town, and one of the early pioneers of Egyptian cinema, Aziza Amir, came up through the stage. These were women who were not afraid to fight for their rights."

Cormack's book is set among the theatres, cabarets, music halls and cinemas of Cairo, It will present a unique view of the cultural, social and feminist movements in early twentieth-century-Egypt, and show how this global scene laid the foundations of Arabic popular culture.

Raphael Cormack says, ‘I’m very excited to be able to tell the compelling and captivating stories of the women of Cairo’s interwar nightlife and entertainment industry. It is a world full of eccentric characters, revolutionary ideas and provocative art, that is little known among English readers. For me, Saqi is the perfect publisher to work with; they have long experience of publishing books on the Middle East and we share an understanding of what makes this history so important.’

Lynn Gaspard, publisher at Saqi acquired world rights directly from Raphael Cormack. She said, ‘Raphael has been a friend to Saqi for many years. I am thrilled to be working with him on Martyrs of Passion, which tells the riveting story of modern Cairo as we have never heard it before. Now is the time for Arab women to reclaim their place in herstory, and I’m very proud to be working with Raphael who in this book is celebrating these female cultural icons’ triumphs.’

Raphael Cormack has a first in classics from Oxford and a PhD in Egyptian theatre from the University of Edinburgh. He co-edited the first collection of Sudanese stories translated from Arabic, The Book of Khartoum (Comma Press). One of the stories in this collection won the Caine Prize 2017. He is also currently editing for Comma The Book of Cairo, which will appear next. He has written on Arabic culture for the London Review of Books, TLS, Apollo, Prospect and elsewhere.

Saqi says that for all rights outside the UK, enquiries should be addressed to  Elizabeth Briggs elizabeth@saqibooks.com

Saqi Books announces that Sudanese writer Leila Aboulela wins Saltire Award

press release from Saqi Books Elsewhere, Home by Leila Aboulela wins Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award We are absolutely thrilled to share the news that Leila Aboulela has won the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award 2018 for Elsewhere, Home. The winners of Scotland’s most prestigious annual book awards were announced on Friday 30 November at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh. Sarah Mason, the programme director for the Saltire Society, said: ‘This year’s awards are a testament to the outstanding calibre of modern Scottish literature in all its varied forms. Every one of the awards was hotly contested, making the judges’ decisions particularly challenging.’ Our extended congratulations to all the award winners. A Guardian Summer Read, Elsewhere, Home deftly captures the search for home in our fast-changing world, offering a rich tableau of life as an immigrant. It is the most recent work by British-Sudanese writer and playwright Leila Aboulela, whose novels have been translated into more than fourteen languages. To celebrate, we’re offering 20% off Elsewhere, Home when ordered direct from the Al Saqi Bookshop. Simply enter Saltire2018 at checkout to claim your discount. ‘A lovely collection about love, loneliness and spirituality’ Nadiya Hussain, Good Housekeeping ‘A beautiful collection … There is so much quiet brilliance.’ The Observer   ‘Thoughtful, wry, funny … The deceptively quiet tales in Elsewhere, Home are barbed with tension and conflict.’ Scotland Herald Facebook Twitter Instagram Website Copyright © 2018 Saqi Books, All rights reserved.