I’ve always had a passion for translation, but my translated fiction stats haven’t always reflected that. Translation was my favourite activity during language lessons at school, all the way through to university where I studied French and Italian. Forget oral classes, give me a dictionary and let me transform a text from one language into another. I then went on to complete an MA in Translation, with aspirations of being a literary translator.
Newsflash: jobs in the literary translation sector are few and far between. This is likely due to the scarcity of translated fiction on the shelves in bookshops. Although last year, translated fiction sales in the UK increased by 5%, the percentage of fiction (and non-fiction) published in translation is still shockingly low. According to The Bookseller, already popular authors such as Jo Nesbø and Stieg Larsson make up 25% of those sales.
The Three Percent Issue
You might have heard of the 3% statistic around translated literature. If you haven’t, you can read more about it here, but it’s pretty self-explanatory. The percentage of books translated into English from other languages in the UK and in the US hovers around the 3-5% mark. Last year in the UK it was 5.63%, to be precise.
While interest in translated fiction is growing, however slowly, there is still a long way to go to raise the status of translated lit from around the world. You can tell from my favourites stack above that it’s heavily European-centred.
My Personal Translation Challenge
At the start of of 2020, I decided to read at least 40% translated literature. I then changed this to 50% when I was enjoying my translated picks so much. Since January, I’ve easily kept up the 50:50 balance between translated and non-translated reads. I’ve discovered new favourite publishers (hello Fitzcarraldo, Charco Press and Pushkin). I have visited new countries via translated fiction such as Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Armenia, Guadeloupe, Georgia and more.
I’ve also had some great opportunities, such as reading the entire International Booker longlist and reviewing the most anticipated translated titles in advance from some of the most cutting edge publishing houses in the UK.
The Future of My Reading Habits
Initially, this was going to be a year-long project. However I’ve already decided that I’m going to make this a permanent change to my reading habits. Next year I’ll maintain my 50:50 split and continue to read and review translated fiction here and on Instagram.
On this site, I want to curate reading lists and post longer reviews for translated books. There might even be a few interviews with international authors and their translators! You can keep up with all my translation-related content here.