Europe
Europe – PEN Transmissions
Telling Europe’s stories
The creative producer for the European Literature Festival shares his highlights of 2016, and considers the importance of European stories in Britain after Brexit.
In praise of longhand
The Polish–English literary translator reflects on the UK’s EU membership referendum – its tone and its aftermath – and considers the role of literary translators in this brave new world.
The great replacement
On the day of #EURef in the UK, award-winning French-Algerian author Faïza Guène highlights the importance of citizen journalism in imagining and understanding Europe.
Am I a European writer?
As PEN Atlas considers the theme of Europe ahead of the UK’s EU membership referendum on 23 June, novelist and essayist Janne Teller reflects on her multiple identities as a writer.
Letter to Britain
As the UK considers its place in the European Union ahead of a likely referendum in June, the German author sends a personal message.
The European Mohammed and the Ignorance of the Educated
The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize-winning author of The Iraqi Christ responds to the European refugee crisis.
Lost and Found: Shortlisting for the European Literature Night Translation Pitch 2015
How does the future look for European fiction? Rajendra Chitnis and Rosalind Harvey discuss their experiences of shortlisting for this year's ELN Translation Pitch event
The Red Terror and Maximilian Voloshin
Robert Chandler writes about one of the hidden gems in The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry
You speak such good German
Alina Bronsky, Russian-born but writing in German, charts the challenges and opportunities faced by the multilingual author
Publishers’ translation highlights 2015
Halt your book purchases: PEN Atlas has everything you need
Yule love these books in translation 2014
Roasting chestnuts on an open fire, taking the first whiff of mulled wine, and cracking open a great work of literature in translation: find your stocking-filler or winter-cheerer with these recommendations
Memory and Responsibility
Having won the 2014 Jan Michalski Prize for Road to Donbass, Serhiy Zhadan writes for PEN Atlas
But why do you write your books in English and Turkish?
Elif Shafak investigates what makes the bilingual author choose to write in one language and not another
PEN Atlas Q&A: Helle Helle, author of ‘This Should Be Written in the Present Tense’
Helle Helle is one of Denmark’s most widely read writers. In This Should Be Written in the Present Tense, her first novel translated into English, she writes about a young woman, Dorte Hansen
PEN Atlas Q&A: Arno Camenisch, author of The Alp
Tasja Dorkofikis interviews Arno Camenish about his bilingual novel
The Weight of Language
Elena Ferrante writes for PEN Atlas about the impact of reading Madame Bovary
Soldier No. 9
Andrey Kurkov reports on the latest news from Ukraine,
'You must keep feeding the lake'
Michelle Bailat-Jones writes for PEN Atlas about Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, a contemporary of Robert Walser
'While the Gods Were Sleeping'
To commemorate the centenary of The Great War, PEN Atlas takes us to Belgium
When my cat tried to have breakfast at Tiffany's
To celebrate International Cat Day, Lena Devani writes from Greece for PEN Atlas
Horror and words
Michel Laub, author of Diary of the Fall, writes for PEN Atlas on the importance of defining a vocabulary of atrocity
The shot at Sarajevo
Bosnian writer Alma Lazarevska ruminates on the events that triggered the First World War
Playing Vietnamese
For PEN Atlas this week Mariusz Szczygieł writes about the strange case of a Vietnamese literary prodigy in the Czech Republic who proved that fact is stranger than fiction
PEN Atlas Q&A: Joël Dicker, author of The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair
Tasja Dorkofikis talks to Joël Dicker about his literary and geographic inspirations, his method of plotting, and his novel in translation that has been a huge bestseller around the world
Kiev’s Militant Spring
Alexei Nikitin writes for PEN Atlas about the tense atmosphere in Kiev, where the café-goers listening to jazz and the remaining protesters on the Maidan barricades await further news from the east of the country
Finding the sworn virgin
Elvira Dones takes PEN Atlas to the mountains of Albania, where the story of an ancient custom, ideas about gender, and the resilient women who subverted both, helped the author to find a connection back to her homeland
Who invented the graphic novel?
Ahead of European Literature Night, and the forthcoming British Library exhibition on comics, Paul Gravett writes about the history of the term 'graphic novel'
The Greatest Turkish Novel?
Kaya Genç discusses the cultural and literary legacy of Hamdi Tanpınar whose 1961 novel 'The Time Regulation Institute' was published this year as a Penguin Classic.
PEN Atlas Q&A: Otto Dov Kulka
PEN Atlas talks to Otto Dov Kulka, author of Landscapes of the Metropolis of Death
Once I Was a Dog
Jacek Hugo-Bader writes about the scavenging life of the journalist for this week's PEN Atlas, and how living down and out in Moscow and Warsaw prepared him for his bicycle and Volvo journeys across Central Asia
World War III: a dress rehearsal
In another exclusive dispatch from Ukraine, Andrey Kurkov describes the atmosphere of tension and surreality in Kiev and Crimea, the schizophrenia of the political situation, and the ominous absence of birds before the arrival of war.
Imagining the past – a few notes on the art of the historical novel
Otto de Kat writes for PEN Atlas about the risks and benefits of using history in the novel, a device that when used badly can lead to over-writing and when used well serves the novelist like a butler.
Comics, cartoons and controversy
Michele Hutchison reports from the 41st Angoulême Comics Festival, the opportunities for, and resistance to, translation, and how the irreverent form of comics still finds plenty of time for controversy
PEN Atlas: literary dispatches from Turkey
Maureen Freely introduces an exclusive new e-book from PEN Atlas, collecting some of the best journalism, memoir, essays and dispatches from Turkey, at a moment when the country is poised in the middle of great changes, both political and literary
Publishers’ highlights in 2014: part 1
Chase away those stormy blues with a new book for the new year.
Living by the pen
What is the cost of going on the payroll for a writer in Turkey?
Yule love these books in translation – 2013
Want some expert advice on what to read in translation? Then look no further. Top writers, literary scouts, critics and festival directors recommend books to give - and devour - during the festive season. Enjoy!
Poetry in translation – The Popescu Prize 2013
David Wheatley writes about the genius of mistranslation, Finnegans Wake syndrome, and being a judge on The Popescu Prize for poetry in translation, which was awarded this year to Alice Oswald
A literature in search of its language
Ciwanmerd Kulek charts the ongoing struggle for the Kurdish language, and whether being a language that is now more written than spoken threatens it in new and troubling ways
Any questions for the author?
Jacek Dehnel writes a taxonomy of the literary event attendee, including 'the star', 'the obsessive', 'the well-meaning person' and 'the fixer', all of whom keep life interesting - and strange - for the travelling author
What next for Greece?
Maria Margaronis writes for PEN Atlas on the complex and at times chaotic relationship between Greek media and the people of Greece, and what their future together might hold
PEN Atlas Q&A – Hanna Krall, author of Chasing the King of Hearts
PEN Atlas editor Tasja Dorkofikis interviews Hanna Krall, author of Chasing the Kings of Hearts, a book which recreates the Holocaust not as an historical event but as a terrifying shared experience. Her literary reportage about the Holocaust is unparalleled in its power and immediacy and is available in the UK for the first time
An ‘archival identity’
This week PEN Atlas hears from Carmen Bugan, daughter of Romanian dissident Ion Bugan, on the discovery of previously classified files about her family that were kept by secret police during the 1980s in Romania. A fascinating and moving account about dissidence, family and identity.
Translations and Mutations
Adam Thirlwell takes us through the utopian goals and surprising results of Multiples, an experiment in translation. Charting dozens of countries, languages and authors, this anthology is playful yet subversive, questioning the purpose of translation, the idea of style and the future of the novel
On #OccupyGezi, the Turkish Government prefers conspiracy theories to engagement
Our man in Berkhamsted
Kaya Genç introduces PEN Atlas readers to Şavkar Altınel: travel writer, inspiration for a famous literary character, translator of famous British poets and resident of Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. But above all Altınel is a poet in his own right, comparable with Larkin for his 'dry lyricism' and nostalgia.
Writing in the Language of ‘the Other’
In another fascinating piece for PEN Atlas, Gazmend Kapllani recounts his journey through languages, the difficulties and opportunities of being a multi-lingual author and how the language of the Other goes back to Homer and the birth of storytelling
Recommended Summer Reading in Translation from PEN Atlas
Need a good book to go with the good weather? In the lead-up to this evening's English PEN Summer Party, Marina Warner, James Meek, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Blake Morrision, and many more offer their tips for what to read in translation this summer.
A wind blows from Gezi Park
This week PEN Atlas returns to Turkey for an update on Gezi Park. Müge İplikçi reflects on recent events and draws parallels between the treatment of protestors and the ongoing stifling of Turkish writers, who work in a system in which profit is the only validation.
The Earthquake Method
From constant earthquakes to a Borges story, Giorgio Vasta's dispatch for PEN Atlas offers an original, honest and illuminating take on the current state of Italy and its politics
On the sublimation of authority
Hakan Günday unpacks the notion of authority and censorship, and considers its effects on civilians
The Art of the Novella
In this week's second PEN Atlas dispatch, Meike Ziervogel from Peirene Press makes the case for the novella, charting the history of the form, and reflecting on her experience publishing great novellas in translation from around Europe
The Walnut Tree of Gezi Park
Following recent events, PEN Atlas is running an additional dispatch this week from Turkey. Kaya Genç writes for us about Nâzım Hikmet Ran, whose poem 'The Walnut Tree' has taken on a prophetic turn and an inspirational one in light of Gezi Park
The Sounds of Istanbul
In the latest of our literary dispatches from Turkey, Mario Levi contemplates the sounds of the city he grew up in, and the stories that lie behind them for those willing to listen
Taking a stand
Oray Egin reports on the continuing protests in Turkey, why they began in Gezi Park and what the writers of the country owe to those marching on the streets
The Tale of Two Adrians
Strange coincidences bring together two literary traditions in today's PEN Atlas piece by Oksana Zabuzhko, which explores Ukrainian and Eastern European authors, their debt to history and their unjustly hidden classics
The Mussel Feast
Birgit Vanderbeke introduces PEN Atlas readers to her book The Mussel Feast - a subtly political work that is steeped in metaphor - and her experience of penning her first novel at such a poignant moment in German history
A Little Honey
This week's PEN Atlas features a moving piece of writing by Jáchym Topol about a man and his ailing mother.
What’s authentic about global literature?
Michele Hutchison investigates what the future might hold for the 21st Century novel: provincial literature with a global reach, or the literature of the cosmopolitan flâneur?
What is a country?
Following her visit to the UK last week for the London Book Fair Turkey Market Focus, Ece Temelkuran reflects on 'Writing Turkey' and what the term 'country' has come to represent for her.
New frontiers for translated fiction
Jonathan Ruppin writes for PEN Atlas about the shortlist for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, what it can tell us about the context of translated fiction in the present and which names to keep an eye out for in the future
The Silk Road
In the run-up to London Book Fair 2013, for which Turkey is the market focus, Murathan Mungan writes for PEN Atlas about how East and West view each other, what Henry James could have learnt from Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil and the building of a new Tower of Babel
What is Official? Turkish writing, from state discourse to civil literature
As part of our ongoing series of PEN Atlas dispatches from Turkey, Kaya Genç describes the struggle for the soul of his country's literature between state officials and independent creative writers
PEN Atlas Q&A – Gerbrand Bakker, author of The Detour
PEN Atlas Editor, Tasja Dorkofikis talks to Gerbrand Bakker about his novel, The Detour, walking in Wales for two weeks, and translating Emily Dickinson
Literature rises in the East
Ayfer Tunç writes for PEN Atlas about the importance of looking beyond the clichés so that Turkish literature is seen in the context of World Literature.
No offence meant
Award-winning translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones experiences extreme reactions to the latest crime novel she has translated on a recent trip to Poland...Here she tells the PEN Atlas of her time in Sandomierz, where she visits the setting of the novel by Zygmunt Miłoszewski.
Ghentish Talent – Graphic Novels from Flanders
Michele Hutchison takes us on a far-ranging tour of the European comics scene, with a focus on the beautiful, moving and innovative graphic novels coming out of Belgium
Tadeusz Różewicz and The Struggle for Poetry
Basia Howard writes about Tadeusz Różewicz, Poland's most translated author
Publishers’ highlights in 2013: part 2
In part 2 of our Publishers' Highlights for PEN Atlas, we find out about Japanese crime fiction from Little Brown, Balkan stories from Istros Books, Iranian memoirs from Oneworld Publications, and many more
Publishers’ highlights for 2013
This week PEN Atlas asks UK publishers about the translated books they are excited about publishing in 2013 - an intriguing list of books to look forward to this year, so clear your bookshelves!
High Impact from the Low Countries
We begin PEN Atlas in 2013 with Michele Hutchison, who reports on the 'High Impact' tour that will bring Dutch authors to the UK later this month
Yule love these books in translation
Writers, scouts, literary festival directors, translators & publishers recommend great literature in translation
Walking the Tightrope: Globalisation and Localism
Michele Hutchison explores the globalisation debate for PEN Atlas. Do authors consciously write for an international market and, if so, what does that means for authenticity?
The Wizard and the Ghetto
Antonia Lloyd-Jones tells the story of a Polish hero, Janusz Korczak, the children's author who ran an orphanage in the Warsaw ghetto
Fiction Uncovered writers and their favourite books in translation
From writers David Park, Cressida Connolly, Susanna Jones, Dan Rhodes, Peter Benson, Doug Johnstone and Jill Dawson
Literary festivals: playground or construction site?
This week's PEN Atlas piece reports from the Tanpınar literary festival in Turkey. Journalist Ece Temelkuran gives her personal response to this year's festival
PEN Atlas recommends: ITD2012 speakers on their favourite translated books
To celebrate the annual International Translation Day symposium, taking place tomorrow at King's Place, London, Tasja Dorkofikis asks speakers to recommend their favourite books and writers in translation
PEN Atlas – Editor’s Round Up
In the first of a monthly series, PEN Atlas editor Tasja Dorkofikis rounds up some of the highlights so far, and suggests some great further reading for our literary travellers
PEN Atlas Q&A – Artur Domosławski, author of Ryszard Kapuściński: A Life
PEN Atlas editor Tasja Dorkofikis talks to Artur Domosławski, author of the controversial and popular biography Ryszard Kapuściński: A Life.
Entertainment for the Middle Classes? – The success of Herman Koch
Over a million copies sold, multiple translations, a stage adaptation - does Herman Koch's The Dinner show us a new way for Dutch literature? Michele Hutchison investigates for PEN Atlas
Way to an unknown world
Krys Lee reports for PEN Atlas from the Edinburgh International Book Festival, where she appeared on the panel 'New American Voices'.
Scottish Translation
Sold-out duels, ninjas versus saints, and the invisible translator made visible... Daniel Hahn reports from Edinburgh International Book Festival for PEN Atlas
Roots of Corruption: the perils of free expression in Azerbaijan
In this week's PEN Atlas piece Azerbaijani writer and dissident Emin Milli discusses the power - and corruption - of words and reflects on journalist Khadija Ismayilova's recent experience of blackmail by the authorities
History and hysteria: The private libraries of dictators
In this week’s PEN Atlas piece from Gazmend Kapllani, we hear about the books that were damned and banned during the communist regime in Albania, only to resurface in some unlikely places…
Grammar and Glamour: On Translating Diego Marani’s New Finnish Grammar
Following our previous PEN Atlas piece by Diego Marani, his English translator Judith Landry talks us through the strange music of Finnish and translation as walking a tight-rope
Translation as a Creative Process
In this week's PEN Atlas piece, award-winning Italian writer and European Commission official Diego Marani considers the role of the author in the translation process
Memories put in mothballs
In his second despatch for the PEN Atlas, Athens's based Gazmend Kapllani looks back to the Greek Civil War and considers what effect Civil War has had on the nation's literature
How international is poetry?
In this week's PEN Atlas piece, Michele Hutchison reports from the 43rd Poetry International festival in Rotterdam, investigating why it is certain poems are more likely to be translated
Endangered Species
This week's PEN Atlas despatch is from Dubravka Ugresic, who considers a specific human species and its survival: the writer.
Great Flemish Voices: Louis Paul Boon and Beyond
In this week's PEN Atlas despatch editor and translator Michele Hutchison introduces some of the greatest Flemish writers...
Writing In A City That’s Collapsing
English PEN Launches the PEN Atlas with this piece by Athens based writer Gazmend Kapllani.
