Books Without Borders: Daniel Hahn and Stella Sabin

In an increasingly fragmented world, it is more important than ever for ideas, stories and witness accounts to cross borders, whether as fiction or non-fiction, and the importance of the translator is being increasingly recognised.

Literary prizes, including the Booker, are beginning to reflect international literature in translation in its own right and several publishing houses only publish in translation.

Join us as we discuss this and more with translator, writer and editor Daniel Hahn OBE and Stella Sabine, Co-Director of Periene Press.

Daniel is an award-winning translator, writer and editor, with about a hundred books to his name. His long involvement in the translation community includes two years chairing the Translators Association, four years as one of the directors of the British Centre for Literary Translation, four years as editor of the journal In Other Words (and occasionally guest-editing assorted other publications), speaking at events, writing about translation, reviewing translated literature, running workshops, judging competitions and winning prizes. He has also served on the Council of the Society of Authors and the Council of Shakespeare’s Globe, as well as a number of advisory groups (And Other Stories, Cheltenham Literature Festival, Public Lending Rights). In 2017, he donated half his winnings from the International Dublin Literary Award to help establish a new prize for debut literary translation – the TA First Translation Prize. https://www.danielhahn.co.uk/

Stella is co-director of Peirene Press, an award-winning independent publisher of international literature, bringing great books from around the world to English-language readers. Founded in 2008, they’ve been a key player in the UK independent publishing scene for over a decade, publishing books from 26 countries, translated from 22 different languages. Traditionally a publisher of European novellas, Peirene has been expanding their list to publish literary fiction of all forms from every hemisphere. Recent successes include the Dublin Literary Award-winning book Marzahn, Mon Amor by Katja Oskamp (tr. Jo Heinrich), which was also selected as Book at Bedtime on BBC Radio 4, and the late Victor Heringer’s The Love of Singular Men (tr. James Young). Peirene also runs its own translation prize, the Peirene Stevens Translation Prize, offering emerging translators a new way into the industry. https://www.peirenepress.com/