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Contributor

Bud Parr

Contributor

Bud Parr

Articles by Bud Parr

PEN World Voices – Master/Class: László Krasznahorkai and Colm Tóibín
By Bud Parr
On my way to see Colm Tóibín interview László Krasznahorkai I read Will Self's Guardian article “The novel is dead (this time it's for real).” I can…
Looking in the Wrong Direction: An Interview with Jordan Stump
By Bud Parr
Jordan Stump has translated many authors from the French including Marie Redonnet, Eric Chevillard, and Honoré de Balzac. His translation of The Jardin des Plantes by Claude Simon won the 2001…
PEN World Voices Festival: Master Class with Eduardo Galeano
By Bud Parr
“I learned the art of writing and the art of storytelling in the cafés of Montevideo,” said the great and loved Eduardo Galeano during his hour-long conversation with Jessica Hagedorn…
Understanding is Not the Most Important Thing: Shishkin, Schwartz, and Post in Conversation
By Bud Parr
At the end of Book Expo America events on June 7, readers gathered at McNally Jackson Books for a Bridge Series discussion with Russian author Mikhail Shishkin, his translator Marian Schwartz, and editor…
Can Literature Bear Witness?
By Bud Parr
As part of the PEN World Voices Festival, Herta Müller spent an afternoon at NYU's Deutsches Haus on May 3 to discuss whether it's possible for literature to bear witness. When I arrived…
Translating the Invisible with Tahar Ben Jelloun
By Bud Parr
Literature, claims the director of this year's International Literature Festival in Berlin, Ulrich Schreiber, can be our society's political and moral compass. Since 2001, the Festival…
Reimagining Hölderlin: A Discussion between Writers and Translators
By Bud Parr
In a courtyard gathering at NYU’s Deutches Haus, Martin Rauchbauer and Deike Benjoya sat down with Ross Benjamin, Alfed Goubran, and Richard Sieburth last month to discuss the life and work of Friedrich…
Intuitive Translation and Experimental Writing: Ashbery and Rimbaud
By Bud Parr
When a translator and author are well-paired, we have what Joy Williams has called John Ashbery’s new translation of Arthur Rimbaud’s Illuminations, “a marriage divine.” Ashbery,…
Writing in a Majority/Minority Cultural Context: Local Identity vs. a Broader Nation
By Bud Parr
PEN created this video of the panel our editorial director, Susan Harris, moderated (and we co-sponsored) as part of the PEN World Voices Festival, with Nadine Bismuth, Nicolas Dickner, Dominique Fortier,…
2011: Year of Milosz!
By Bud Parr
Over the past few weeks, New York has begun to celebrate the centenary of one of Poland’s—and maybe the world’s—greatest poets, Czeslaw Milosz,as the “Year of Milosz” kicks…
On Reviewing Translations: Suzanne Jill Levine tells us what the “Subversive Scribe” might add:
By Bud Parr
Throwing one’s hat into this ring can be a two-edged plume, mark my mixed-up metaphor.  If we, wearing our translator hats (though not many of us can afford hats), tell reviewers that any adjective,…
On Reviewing Translations: Rigoberto González
By Bud Parr
With so few titles getting translated into English, it seems ludicrous to impose too many conditions in terms of matching a book reviewer to a translated project, or even in terms of determining whether…
Getting Personal and Universal in Joseph Roth’s Job
By Bud Parr
As translator Ross Benjamin said during his discussion with The New Republic‘s senior editor Ruth Franklin this past February at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Job: The Story of a Simple…
Peter Cole on Silence in Writing and Translation
By Bud Parr
“Only by sucking, not by knowing can the subtle essence be conveyed— sap of the word and world’s flowing” –Peter Cole, from Things on Which I've Stumbled   Peter…
A look at Mario Vargas Llosa
By Bud Parr
We are experimenting here with a new way of collecting news called Storify. While it certainly wouldn't replace long form writing, it seems to be a nice webby way of creating broad brush strokes around…
Lydia Davis blogging on Translating Madame Bovary at The Paris Review
By Bud Parr
We're very excited about the new translation of Flaubert's Madame Bovary by Lydia Davis, whom, you may recall, also translated Proust's Swann's Way. Davis is blogging over at the (newly…
A Conversation with Alex Epstein, author of “Blue has no South”
By Bud Parr
Last week, Rohan and I sat down with Alex Epstein who was in New York City visiting from Tel Aviv. We had a very nice discussion on his book, Blue has no South, on mythology, angels, Jorge Luis Borges…
BookExpo in Brief: Reading Lit in Translation is “Groovy Again”
By Bud Parr
The mood at the BookExpo America conference this year was decidedly upbeat and busy. The shortened, mid-week schedule seemed to work better than anticipated by exhibitors*, reports of good sales numbers…
Discovering “The Black Minutes” at the PEN World Voices Festival
By Bud Parr
I went to see the NBCC's* “This Critical Moment” panel for the single reason that last year I hadn't and missed Rigoberto González's discussion of Álvaro Enrigue (whose…
Resonances: Contemporary Writers on the Classics at PEN World Voices Festival
By Bud Parr
My goal each day of the PEN World Voices Festival is to find one writer or one book I've never heard of that sparks my interest. What more could one ask for? Thursday's find was Marcel Möring…
Some of the Things We’re Excited About For the Upcoming PEN World Voices Festival #PWVFEST
By Bud Parr
We are as always excited about the upcoming PEN World Voices Festival, to be held this year from Monday, April 26th, to Sunday May 2nd. Notably this year the festival will travel to six other cities around…
$9.99, A Film Based on the Short Stories of Etgar Keret
By Bud Parr
I taught my son a simple rule when he, at the age of four or so, began to see the barrage of books that are part of the marketing effort behind movies. If the book came out first, the book is better,…
Searching for rue Simon-Crubellier
By Bud Parr
 “Play with all your mind, play” I think, echoing here the epigraph to Life A Users Manual with my own substitution, that Georges Perec would have liked the “Searching…
Classics in Translation: Georges Perec
By Bud Parr
When I began reading Words Without Borders some years ago my first reaction was always “who the hell are these people?”  – the writers, that is, all these authors I'd never…
Marías in America
By Bud Parr
It is significant, we learned from Javier Marías's U.S. publisher Barbara Epler recently at the New York Public Library, that he was in America. Marías refused to come to the United…
Around the Web: Marías, Bolaño, Best Translated Book Long-list
By Bud Parr
I'll be reporting here a bit more about Javier Marías, but ran across this today (when reading a letter to the editor of TLS by the wonderful writer Gabriel Josipovici) and think it will be of interest…
Weekend Reading and Listening
By Bud Parr
Agur Schiff and Edward Gauvin, reading at a recent Words Without Borders event in Hudson, N My favorite piece of the week is a conversation between Michael Silverblatt, Álvaro Uribe and Cristina…
Bolaño Mi Bolaño
By Bud Parr
Garth has started a Bolaño “syllabus” over at the Millions. It’s meant to be a primer for those new to his writing, but I also think it’s a good departure for discussion…
Weekend Reading, Sept. 4th
By Bud Parr
End of summer here in upstate New York and the cool weather is already beginning to show its face. That means more reading soon instead of our usual summery frolicking. But until then we leave you with…
Weekend Reading (listening, watching)
By Bud Parr
Our late August weekend reading suggestions continue to be brief as we’ve spent our mental energy willing Hurricane Bill out into the ocean, so here are a few tidbits that you might enjoy:Listening:…
Weekend Reading: The Wall in My Head
By Bud Parr
My shiny new galley of The Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain arrived yesterday. This of course isn’t any ol’ galley, this is Words Without Borders’…
Romanian Literature is Hot: Filip Florian’s “Little Fingers”
By Bud Parr
Filip Florian, Michael ScammellWhere did the New York Times Book Review decide to publish its very first foreign-language edition? In Romania, of course. Of course? Yes! Writing about the Review, Jennifer…
Alane Mason on Publishing Literature in Translation
By Bud Parr
At the “Big Think”, Alane Salierno Mason, a founder of Words Without Borders talks about Words Without Borders and the challenges of publishing literature in translation. View it here.
Weekend Reading
By Bud Parr
I’ve recently begun reading Eduardo Galeano’s beautiful Mirrors, which is one of those books that defy categories as well as time. Instead of one long narrative, the book is full of short…
Fight For Your Independents: Archipelago Books
By Bud Parr
Archipelago books is a non-profit publisher that has brought into English 50 books so far from 21 languages. I think Jill Schoolman, Archipelago’s founder, puts it best when she describes their…
Looking for Something to Read?
By Bud Parr
Then head over to the Three Percent blog and see what the Best Translated Book Award panelists are reading. I think this constitutes something like a pre-long-list list, so get in on the action early.…
Call for Submissions: two lines World Writing in Translation
By Bud Parr
This is great news – the next volume of two lines will be edited by Natasha Wimmer and Jeffrey Yang. Natasha Wimmer of course translated Roberto Bolaño’s monumental 2666 and The Savage…
The Reckoning
By Bud Parr
I want to take a moment to let you know about a project that I’ve been involved with that I believe is important and that you might find of interest. I bring it up now because the film that this…
Weekend Reading
By Bud Parr
The Brooklyn Rail’s Jed Lipinski interviews translator Susan BernofskyRail: As a fiction writer, have your translations had any effect on your writing style?Bernofsky: Walser has such a strong,…
The Wall in My Head
By Bud Parr
This is very exciting. Words Without Borders’ next book is being published by Open Letter Books this fall and is available for pre-order now. What’s more, there will be a “The Wall in…
Susan Harris on “Radio Without Borders”
By Bud Parr
Jean Feraca of Wisconsin Public Radio's “Here on Earth” program (subtitled, coincidentally, “Radio Without Borders”) chats with our own Susan Harris about Words Without Borders,…
The Observer Translation Project Roundtable
By Bud Parr
The Observer Translation Project just posted a roundtable discussion on our favorite topic, including our very own Susan Harris along with Chad Post of the Three Percent blog and Open Letter publishers,…
Weekend Reading
By Bud Parr
I happen to be reading Francisco Goldman’s The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop? and ran across this interesting dialogue between Goldman and Silvana Paternostro, the author of My…
Of Note…
By Bud Parr
Georges Perec fans will be glad to know that Godine will release a revised 20th anniversary edition of Life A User’s Manual this fall. The Review of Contemporary Fiction is updating its Perec issue…
The Fantasy and the Far-Out
By Bud Parr
Why do people want to listen to an author when they have their books? From time to time, I’m plagued by this question.The last week of May, the Third International Forum on the Novel took place…
Words Without Borders Staff Picks for Summer Reading
By Bud Parr
It was awkward at first. Halfway through our annual Memorial Day Words Without Borders vs Doctors Without Borders softball game, Joshua – our shortstop – starts asking us all what we’re…
Book Critics Circle Asks: Which Work in Translation has had the Most Effect on your Reading and Writ
By Bud Parr
James Marcus (who recently contributed to our PEN World Voices Festival coverage) asked members of the Book Critics Circle “Which work in translation has had the most effect on your reading and…
PEN World Voices Festival: Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction
By Bud Parr
When you’re around a lot of authors it may be easy to forget what a rare and precious thing that is, being a published author. Even more so is being a published author in the United States if you…
PEN World Voices Festival: Photos from 1,000 Words: The Power of Visual Storytelling
By Bud Parr
Photos by Mary Reagan, text from the PEN Website. “What can pictures provide that words cannot? Our panelists have all used pictures to tell challenging and compelling stories: Shaun Tan, from Australia,…
PEN World Voices Festival Roundup for Friday
By Bud Parr
My second day at the PEN World Voices Festival. Tired from being up late talking about Thursday’s events with our contributors Nicolle Elizabeth and David Varno, blogging friend Sam Jones and earlier,…
PEN World Voices Festival: Evolution/Revolution Event Photos
By Bud Parr
Before our written report comes in from last night’s PEN World Voices Festival event, Evolution/Revolution. Here’s PEN’s description of the event:Join us to celebrate the fifth annual…
PEN World Voices Festival
By Bud Parr
As you may know we at Words Without Borders have dedicated our April to the PEN World Voices Festival. We began with our monthly issue full of writing from festival participants and we’ve just started…
April Book Reviews: Robert Buckeye on Ingo Schulze’s New Lives
By Bud Parr
This month’s issue of Words Without Borders explores the work of writers who will soon gather in New York City for the PEN World Voices Festival. This year’s festival explores the theme “how…
Finding Keret: Two Israeli Editors Discuss the Author’s Discovery
By Bud Parr
The two Israeli editors who brought Etgar Keret to national attention met recently to reminisce for the record about their brief but memorable association with him. Hannan Hever and Moshe Ron had a history…
My Favorite Etgar Keret Story: A Brief Appreciation
By Bud Parr
When I saw Etgar Keret at the PEN World Voices Festival last year I was disappointed because he chose to read “Hat Trick,” a story that is as unsettling in its implications as it is gruesome.…
Words Without Borders Video: Miriam Schlesinger and Philip Lopate discuss Etgar Keret
By Bud Parr
Here's part one of a video with Miriam Schlesinger and Philip Lopate discussing Etgar Keret as part of our Conversations on Great Contemporary Literature Series. Links to other posts in our Girl on…
Oulipo In New York: A Workshop Of Experimental Literature
By Bud Parr
The French Embassy in New York is sponsoring “Oulipo In New York: A Workshop Of Experimental Literature” from April 1st through the 4th in locations around the city. The Oulipo, Ouvroir de…
Photos from our “Conversations on Great Contemporary Literature” Discussion Series
By Bud Parr
You know Words Without Borders knows no boundaries so it should come as no surprise that we're on Flickr as well as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Here's a Flickr slideshow from some of our latest…
Words Without Borders Video: Edith Grossman on Don Quixote as Tragedy and Comedy
By Bud Parr
Here's a clip from our last Conversations on Great Contemporary Literature with Edith Grossman discussing Don Quixote as Tragedy and Comedy. There are more videos from this event at our Words Without…
Keret Contest: What’s your favorite Etgar Keret Story?
By Bud Parr
If you've read Etgar Keret's stories you know they're as addicting as they are short. You probably find yourself retelling or even reading them to your friends. Well how about sharing your…
This Thursday: A Conversation on Miguel de Cervantes’s “Don Quixote” with translator Edith Gro
By Bud Parr
This is going to be a great event. There are few greater novels and fewer still where the translator plays such an important role. The Quixote in Spanish, in all its stories and stories within stories,…
Reading for BOMB’s issue dedicated to Montevideo, Santiago & Buenos Aires
By Bud Parr
The following event may be of interest to our readers in New York City:Please join us in celebrating the publication of BOMB #106, dedicated to Montevideo, Santiago & Buenos AiresReading & Launch…
Translated Around the Web
By Bud Parr
If you’re reading 2666 yet not interested in the gossip columns on Roberto Bolaño, you may enjoy the thoughtful conversation going on about the book in this “bolaño-l”…
Best Translated Book of 2008: Fiction and Poetry Finalists
By Bud Parr
Chad Post of Open Letter Books just announced the ten fiction and ten poetry finalists for the 2008 Best Translated Book of the Year award. The goal of the award is to help bring attention to great works…
From Ghazal to Zuihitsu: A Conference on Translating Asian Languages and Cultures
By Bud Parr
This recently came in from Roger Sedarat at Queens College:The Queens College MFA Program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation hosts a translation conference from March 26-March 28, 2009, with…
Stephen Snyder talks about “The Diving Pool
By Bud Parr
In the second installment in our Diving Pool book club, Stephen Snyder, the translator of the book and of Ogawa’s Housekeeper and the Professor (forthcoming from Picador), speaks to Amber Qureshi…
Yoko Ogawa Discussion on Video
By Bud Parr
If you missed the terrific discussion between Stephen Snyder and Allison Powell on Yoko Ogawa's The Diving Pool last week, you're in luck, because we're making a video available on YouTube.…
The Lost in Translation Project, Questions for Frances Evangelista
By Bud Parr
The Lost in Translation reading challenge, created by Frances Evangelista who blogs at Nonsuchbook, is bringing together readers and bloggers to read and discuss literature in translation. There are over…
The Words Without Borders Staff Favorites of the Year
By Bud Parr
This time of the year the Words Without Borders staff sits around the Words Without Borders fireplace with our mugs of hot toddy, chatting about the books we’ve been reading. Into the wee hours…
Thank You Caro Llewellyn!
By Bud Parr
From The Literary Saloon, we see that Caro Llewellyn, who has headed the PEN World Voices Festival in past years, is leaving for a new position in Melbourne.The way I understand it, planning for one festival…
Horacio Castellanos Moya’s “Senselessness” chosen among “The Best Books of 2008” at NPR
By Bud Parr
For their Best Books of the Year list, National Public Radio (NPR) chose Horacio Castellanos Moya's Senselessness among the top five foreign novels of the year. Senslessness is the story of an unnamed…
Three Percent’s Book-a-day
By Bud Parr
As we mentioned last week, the publisher devoted to literary translations, Open Letter, has introduced their “Best Literary Translation Award” starting last week with a long-list of 25 titles.…
A Great Conversation on 2666
By Bud Parr
I think I could have listened to Francisco Goldman tell stories all night long, despite the heat raditating from over a hundred of us standing, eager Bolaño fans at Idlewild Bookstore Thursday…
News from the Translation Front
By Bud Parr
The Elizabeth Kostova Foundation offers its second annual summer fiction-writing seminar in historic Sozopol in Bulgaria. The seminar consists of intensive daily fiction workshops, roundtable discussions,…
Toussaint, Camus
By Bud Parr
Martin Riker from Dalkey Archive Press has an interesting piece at “The Front Table“* on his love for Jean-Philippe Toussaint’s work. Regarding why it’s important to publish several…
This Thursday: Francisco Goldman and Natasha Wimmer on Bolaño’s 2666
By Bud Parr
Novelist Francisco Goldman and translator Natasha Wimmer will discuss Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 this Thursday at Idlewild Books in New York City. Brought together as part of the Words Without…
Karl Pohrt in China
By Bud Parr
Over at Three Percent, Karl Pohrt, owner of Shaman Drum bookstore and part of a US delegation of booksellers visiting the Beijing book fair, has been blogging his visit to China. Karl’s most recent…
2008 Saif-Ghobash Banipal Prize Call for Entries (UK)
By Bud Parr
A call for entries for the 2008 Saif-Ghobash Banipal Prize from our friends at Banipal. Note that the deadline is 31 January! (And that this is for books published in the UK.)The end of this month, 31…
Another Word for Murder
By Bud Parr
It’s hot. It’s humid. We’re sticky. It’s Friday and already this week we’ve watched the New York City Transit system crumble in the wake of a tornado in Brooklyn(?!) It’s…
Welcome Three Percent!
By Bud Parr
The indefatigable Chad Post and E.J. Van Lanen have just launched their wide-ranging blog at the University of Rochester, appropriately entitled Three Percent, which reflects the percentage of books translated…
The Brooklyn Rail in Translation
By Bud Parr
The Brooklyn Rail has boldly launched a new initiative to publish translations of both short fiction and plays online. In Translation promotes literary translations and encourages collaboration between…