Like many people born in English speaking countries, most of stories I read come from Britain or America.
We have the richest literary history, don’t we? You know, because of Shakespeare, Whitman, Dickens and Poe.
Hollywood movies have the highest budgets and the BBC makes great comedy and drama, so there’s no need for foreign art. No?
This was me before I’d travelled.
I’d heard of Don Quixote, and watched the occasional quirky French film, but I was pretty sure that English was the dominant cultural language for a reason — it was superior.
Like with almost all of my past ideas, I was wrong.
I’d like to think that attitudes towards translated fiction are changing, but it’s moving at quite a slow pace.
In 2016, only 1.5% of UK book sales were translations. That meant nearly 99% of our cultural intake was from our own culture.
Does that really promote empathy and understanding in the world?
Thankfully, translated literature is on the rise in the UK. Since 2016, it’s quadrupled. Publishers are now investing marketing money in order to sell books from authors outside of the anglophone world.
Readers are getting curious about the stories which exists outside their immediate lives, and publishers are looking to cash in.
But one thing that publishers make very little money from is short fiction.
Translation is both a skillful process and an expensive business. Why would publishers translate collections of African stories, or Chinese, or Brazilian, if they’re not going to sell more than a few hundred copies?
The reading public in English-speaking countries look set to miss out many little gems that were written in another tongue.
For me, short stories show an entirely different side of other cultures compared to journalism, screenplays and novels. We need more translated shorts!
I get such a kick out of sharing (English) stories with readers from around the world in my Story Discussion Club, and I get the same kick out of unpicking the differences and similarities in the non-English stories I read.
Thankfully, some brave souls are doing their best to promote non-English short fiction. Here, I highlight a few organisations promoting short stories from outside the English speaking world.
The good guys:
Electric Literature is a high quality Lit Mag based in the states. It really champions diversity and published this list of translated story collections in 2019.
Commonwealth Writers is an organisation that promotes literature throughout the countries involved. They run events to discuss literature by region and publish stories from around the world in their yearly prize shortlist. While many Commonwealth countries use English as an official or shared language, the prize accepts translations.
British Council Literature - Another non-profit that seeks to promote ties between the English speaking world and the countries outside of it. They offer opportunities to non-anglophone writers and run literature events in conjunction with host countries.
Comma Press is an independent publisher based in Manchester. They have a tight focus on both short stories and foreign literature. I love their ‘Reading the City’ series, which compiles stories from one world city into a book. Through these excellent stories, you can truly understand the worlds of Khartoum, Rio, Tbilsi, Jakarta and many more exotic locations.
Storya - An interesting new platform relying on AI to share stories from creators across the world. Writers upload their work and readers can see it in their target language. Of course, AI is not the same as professional translation, but the site seeks to open up publishing to writers of serials and short fiction.
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Recommendations:
This month, my recommendations focus on work in translation or from foreign-born writers.
Listen - The Moth is a major organisation from the USA which seeks to promote real life stories from a variety of people. Check out these spoken word stories from outsiders on immigration and travel.
Magazine - Wasifiri - Championing international voices and work in translation
Short Story - Barn Burning by Haruki Murakami. Edgy and distant. This is Japanese fiction at its finest.
Novel - Wild Swans. This story of three daughters in post revolutionary China taught me so much about family, hardship and history. It was perhaps one of the first books I read which was written by a non-native English speaker. Although it was first published in English, it certainly contains the language of Jung Chang’s family roots. It is still banned in mainland China.
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So there you have it. My opinions have changed.
Read more translated short fiction. It will change your opinions too.
I won’t be publishing next month, as I’m taking a break to visit the UK in August.
See you in mid September.
Smokelong Quarterly has a Spanish edition, Smokelong en Español, with translation to English available. https://www.smokelong.com/smokelong-en-espanol-numero-tres/
Lol. As a Swede, I didn't have to read it all. Yea, skip that colonial attitude/ignorance. It's enough that we all learn English, but how many Anglosaxans even care to learn a second language? There is so much they don't know if they stay self-centered. Diversity requires difference, tend all cultures/nations, so we don't lose out. What does it say about America that they need remakes of European films to be interested, for example Swedish "Låt den rätte komma in". The future is more multi-cultural. I'm bilingual, it's like English has colonised my brain - but I throw in Swedish terms/words/quirks and if you miss out, well make an effort if you wanna. Big respect to the likes of Rosalia, Jean-Paul Belmondo who refuse. It's probs the same problem as men not being feminist because they don't have to put themselves in women's shoes - hello, men kept us from voting, all over the world limitations on women appeared, and we pay for menstrual necessities - not born equal - is that how we want it?