The Malahat Review congratulates Rebecca Foust on winning this year's Constance Rooke CNF contest! Her memoir, "Venn Diagrams," was chosen as the best overall piece by contest judge Priscila Uppal.
Malahat volunteer Jake Hólm will be interviewing Rebecca for December's Malahat lite, so stay tuned!
See the Creative Nonfiction Award announcement page for Rebecca's win.
Canadians Translate the World: Three Interviews to Celebrate the Malahat's Translation Issue (188)
Patrick Friesen on Ulrikka Gernes' Danish Poetry
Malahat volunteer Katie Weaver talks with Patrick Friesen about his four translated poems in Issue 188, co-translated with P. K. Brask.
KW: As I'm reading your translations, I'm thinking about how often a directly-translated text doesn't make as much sense or doesn't read as nicely as it would in its own language. Did you end up taking any artistic liberties with the pieces? How much? Did you feel right or wrong in doing so?
PF: A few days ago my wife mentioned that Amichai had said about translation that it was a bit like kissing one's bride through a veil. That suggests something fundamental about translation, that it is always an approximation of the first-hand experience. This is obvious; each language has its uniqueness, and some of the uniqueness can't be translated.
Read the rest of this interview on the Malahat website.
Joyce Zhang on Alice Munro in China
Malahat editor John Barton talks with Joyce Zhang about her essay "Too Much Happiness: On Translating Munro into Chinese." Her answers have been translated from Chinese into English by Daniel Fried.
JB: What other Canadian writers are read in China or translated into Chinese? Are there others besides Munro of special interest to you?
JZ: In recent years, the best-known Canadian author in China has been Margaret Atwood, and scholarly circles had been anticipating that she would get a Nobel; her books are often translated and published. In addition, Yann Martel’s Life of Pi is very famous. And here I have a point of pride—the publication of their work, as well now of Munro, has mostly been the work of Nanjing publishers and Nanjing translators.
Read the rest of this interview on the Malahat website.
Neil Smith on Bruno Hébert's Québécois Fiction
Malahat volunteer Megan Welsh talks with Neil Smith about his translation of the first chapter of Quebec writer Bruno Hébert's novel C'est pas moi, je le jure, his contribution to Issue 188.
MW: Can we talk a bit about why you chose to translate this excerpt from Bruno Hébert’s novel, It’s Not Me, I Swear?
NS: I chose C’est pas moi, je le jure because I absolutely love the novel, which perfectly captures the surreal nature of childhood. I was surprised it had never been translated. The book was a big success in Quebec and made into an excellent film by Oscar-nominee Philippe Falardeau. Sadly, many gifted Québécois novelists are never translated into English.
Read the rest of this interview on the Malahat website.
