Lydia Davis, a contributor to Issue 1 of Interlitq, awarded the Man Booker International prize

Lydia Davis

Lydia Davis, the U.S. author who contributed fiction to Issue 1 of Interlitq, has been awarded the Man Booker International prize for her “achievement in fiction on the world stage” (BBC News, 22.05.13).

Lydia Davis, a contributor to Issue 1 of Interlitq, shortlisted for Man Booker prize 2013

Lydia Davis

Lydia Davis, the U.S. author who contributed fiction to Issue 1 of Interlitq, has been cited in “URA shortlisted for Man Booker prize” (Deccan Herald, 20.05.13):  ”Noted litterateur U R Ananthamurthy has been shortlisted as one of the ten finalists for the fifth Man Booker International Prize 2013 that is given away in recognition of the winner’s achievement in fiction and comes with a cash reward of £60,000.

The winner will be announced at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on Wednesday. Besides Ananthamurthy, other finalists are Aharon Appelfeld (Israel), Lydia Davis (USA), Intizar Husain (Pakistan), Yan Lianke (China), Marie NDiaye (France), Josip Novakovich (Canada), Marilynne Robinson (USA), Vladimir Sorokin (Russia), and Peter Stamm (Switzerland).”

U.R. Ananthamurthy

Aharon Appelfeld

Intizar Husain

Yan Lianke

Marie NDiaye

Josip Novakovich

Marilynne Robinson

Vladimir Sorokin

Peter Stamm

George Szirtes, a contributor to Issue 1 of Interlitq, awarded the 2013 Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) Poetry Award

George Szirtes

George Szirtes, the Hungarian-born who was a contributor to Issue 1 of Interlitq, has been cited in “Szirtes wins poetry award” (Benedicte Page, The Bookseller, 01.05.13): “Hungarian-born poet George Szirtes’ In the Land of Giants, illustrated by Helen Szirtes and published by Salt, has won the 2013 Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) Poetry Award.”

Helen Szirtes

A.C. Grayling, Alberto Manguel and Marina Warner, Consulting Editors for Interlitq, and George Szirtes, a contributor to Issue 1 of Interlitq, signatories to letter “Plea for artistic freedom in China”

A.C. Grayling

Alberto Manguel

Marina Warner

George Szirtes

A.C. Grayling, Alberto Manguel and Marina Warner, Consulting Editors for Interlitq, and George Szirtes, a contributor to Issue 1 of Interlitq, are signatories to the letter “Plea for artistic freedom in China”, published in The Guardian, May 2nd, 2013: “We cannot, however, listen to China’s great and emerging creative voices without hearing the silence of those whose voices are forcibly restrained. These include 2010 Nobel peace prize recipient Liu Xiaobo, who remains in prison; his wife, Liu Xia, who lives under house arrest; and more than 40 other writers and journalists currently jailed for their work. We cannot appreciate the accomplishments of Chinese creators across disciplines without thinking of the works we are not able to enjoy because of censorship in the arts, in the press, and on the internet – or of the many other works that cannot be imagined or created because of these constraints. The impact of these restrictions is set out vividly in a new Pen International report, Creativity and Constraint in Today’s China.”

Liu Xiaobo

Liu Xia

Lydia Davis, a contributor to Issue 1 of Interlitq, describes how, in translating Proust’s Swann’s Way she gave in a “certain immersion” where “no amount of effort was too much”

Lydia Davis

Lydia Davis, the U.S. author who contributed fiction to Issue 1 of Interlitq, has been cited in “LectureHop: Lydia Davis On Translation” (Bwog, 27.04.13): Davis translated a variety of books, but the opportunity to do Swann’s Way was definitely a high point in her career.  She understood it to be a huge responsibility and put “tremendous effort” into it.  Davis could spend a full day working on one sentence, or an hour on just one word.  She looked up the French etymologies to make sure she had things exactly right (helping her own handling of the English language).  In translating, she had “given into a certain immersion” where “no amount of effort was too much.”  It was rewarding but wearing.  The first draft came out quickly, and included some invented word games (i.e. translate one word at a time, without reading the rest of the sentence), but the second draft was a slower, more particular process.

Marcel Proust