Chekhov’s Mistess

January 05, 2009

This Thursday: Conversations on Great Contemporary Literature on Yoko Ogawa’s The Diving Pool

 

Event details below. If any bloggers are attending this event and would like to submit a post for the Words Without Borders blog, please let me know: budparr@wordswithoutborders.org

Words Without Borders Presents: First Thursdays at Idlewild Books: Conversations on Great Contemporary Literature

On Thursday, January 8th, WWB and Idlewild Books presents a discussion of The Diving Pool, an evocative and haunting trio of novellas by Yoko Ogawa, one of Japan’s most celebrated and best-selling authors. This highly anticipated book is the first major English translation of her vast body of work. Discussion will be led by The Diving Pool-translator Stephen Snyder (also the translator of Ogawa’s Housekeeper and the Professor, due out in February) and Allison Powell, guest editor of the forthcoming issue on Japanese literature on www.WordsWithoutBorders.org.

“Still waters run dark in these bright yet eerie novellas, whose crisp, almost guileless prose hides unexpected menace…Stephen Snyder’s elegant translations from the Japanese whet the appetite for more.” – The New York Times Book Review

7:00 pm
Thursday, January 8th
Idlewild Books
12 W. 19th Street
New York, NY

This event is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception.

If you’d like more information, or to schedule an interview with event participants or the editors of Words without Borders, please e-mail Tom Burke at tom@wordswithoutborders.org.

Words Without Borders is the premier online magazine of international literature in translation. A nonprofit organization, WWB promotes international exchange through the translation, publication and active promotion of some of the world’s best writing. This year, WWB is teaming up with Idlewild Books to launch a new monthly event series—First Thursdays—that pairs internationally renowned literary critics and award-winning translators to discuss exciting contemporary fiction from around the world.

This event is sponsored by the New York Council for the Humanities; it is also sponsored by the Brooklyn Brewery.

Stephen Snyder has translated works by Kenzaburo Oe, Ryu Murakami, Miri Yu, and Kafu Nagai, among others.  His translation of Natsuo Kirino’s OUT was nominated for an Edgar Award for best mystery novel. The Diving Pool, a translation of three novellas by Yoko Ogawa, was published earlier this year by Picador, and Ogawa’s Housekeeper and the Professor will appear in February.  The author teaches Japanese literature at Middlebury College.

Allison Markin Powell is a literary translator and editor in New York City.  She has worked in the editorial departments of American and Japanese book and magazine publishing, and she is the guest editor of the forthcoming Japan issue of Words Without Borders (May 2009).  Her published translations include the manga series, Eyeshield 21; the novel, Only the Ring Finger Knows by Satoru Kannagi; and a biography of Hideki Matsui written by the novelist Shizuka Ijuin. She is currently translating the novel, Sentimental Education by Kaho Nakayama, to be published by Vertical, Inc.

Yoko Ogawa’s fiction has appeared in the New Yorker, A Public Space, and Zoetrope. Since 1988 she has published more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction, and has won every major Japanese literary award.

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IDLEWILD BOOKS
Idlewild Books (www.idlewildbooks.com) is a new independent bookstore near Manhattan’s Union Square. A bookstore organized by country, Idlewild carries fiction and non-fiction from all parts of the world, including new and classic works in translation, travel guides, books about politics and culture, graphic lit, language-learning books, maps and more.

WORDS WITHOUT BORDERS
Words without Borders (www.wordswithoutborders.org) is an online magazine for literature in translation that undertakes to promote international communication through publication of the world’s best writing. Its monthly publications include fiction, nonfiction, poetry and contextual essays, all available for free online.

• posted by Bud Parr
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