2 and 2

Landscape with Dog and Other Stories is featured today at Three Percent, as one of the works of fiction longlisted for the Best Translated Book Award—here’s an excerpt:

From the very first story, there is a familiarity that draws the reader in, that reminds of something comforting. But Sotiropoulos layers on top of that security a sense of foreboding. There is an ambiguity to her scenes and to her characters so that we are left to question our own instincts. She infuses the narrative of each story with a controlled terror that makes characters’ relationships seem like they could snap at any moment. Yet, she never gives us that release or makes it that easy for the reader, that definitive. The beginnings, middles and ends are blurry and we are left to decide where the story began and ended. This is not to say that the stories in this collection are not definitive, they are. They present the moments in life that fall into the grey area, that at one point may look white and then years later, pitch black. This requires a very deliberate prose, a deep understanding of narrative tension and skilled working knowledge of human behavior. Even more impressive is that Karen Emmerich’s translation lets all of Sotiropoulos’ style and depth showcase itself in a sparse fluidity. …

Read the rest here—

This week the folks at Three Percent announced their top 25 translated books of the year. We’re so pleased that our most recent book, Ersi Sotiropoulos’s Landscape with Dog, translated by Karen Emmerich, is among the books chosen. You can get it here, or get it from your favorite bookstore. I hope that’s not too old-fashioned to say. Three Percent is directing people to the wonderful Idlewild bookstore in New York, for any of the honored books.

Speaking of Landscape, stories from the collection are out recently in The Literary Review, an international journal of contemporary writing, and in the new issue of Two Lines, Wherever I Lie Is Your Bed, from the Center for the Art of Translation, both of which are making for great bedtime reading in our house. (By which I mean nothing other than reading. Ah, to be a student, or a ten-year-old, and read all day long.)

—Pam

Clockroot’s forthcoming Landscape with Dog and Other Stories by Ersi Sotiropoulos, translated by Karen Emmerich, has been selected by the Best Translated Book panelists at Three Percent as a recommended summer read.

Since Landscape with Dog is a November release, unfortunately it won’t be generally available to read in the actual summer—but I promise it’s more than worth the wait!  (I’ve been looking forward so greedily to getting to reread it this weekend…)

Thank you to the BTB panelists, for this and all the great work going on over there—

—Hilary

A brief note: The wonderful Karen Emmerich read at the Center for the Art of Translation this past week—catch a lovely summary of her reading here, at the Quarterly Conversation.

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And to top it off: Three Percent has a note about/summary of Scott Esposito’s summary. Which I think is officially “buzz.” We’re sorry to have missed seeing Karen in person—