Skip to main content

Words Without Borders Logo

Words Without Borders Monagram
—
Discover by Country
—
Discover by Theme
—
Discover by Contributor
—
Surprise Me!
Read
Learn
Events
About
Follow Us
Go to instagram
Go to twitter
Go to facebook
Go to youtube
Read
—
Surprise Me!
Discover by Country
—
Discover by Theme
—
Discover by Contributor
—
Learn
Events
About
Outdated Browser

For the best experience using our website, we recommend upgrading your browser to a newer version or switching to a supported browser.

More Information

Contributor

Eric M. B. Becker

Words Without Borders Digital Director Senior Editor and Award-winning Translator Eric M B Becker
Contributor

Eric M. B. Becker

United States

Eric M. B. Becker is digital director and senior editor of Words Without Borders and an award-winning literary translator from the Portuguese. He has earned fellowships and residencies from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fulbright Commission, PEN America, and the Louis Armstrong House Museum....

 In 2019, his translation of Mia Couto’s Rain and Other Stories received honorable mention from the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize, and his translation of Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida’s That Hair (Tin House 2020) is a finalist for the 2021 PEN Translation Prize. He is a cofounder of the transatlantic Pessoa Festival. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Freeman’s, and other publications.

Read More

Articles by Eric M. B. Becker

A portrait of Ko Ko Thett in red suspenders standing in front of a field of yellow flowers
Picking Off New Shoots Will Not Stop the Spring: An Interview with ko ko thett
By Eric M. B. Becker
Even under a most repressive censorship regime or even in a most watched jail cell, writers and artists will find channels to express themselves.
Dusty piano
Photo by Patrick Schneider on Unsplash
Inside “Outside Music”
By Eric M. B. Becker
A playlist for Hernán Bravo Varela's eulogy for his father and the music that he loved
Multimedia
Global Blackness: Black Writers in Translation
By Eric M. B. Becker
Engaging the evolving dialogue that broadens definitions of global Blackness.
Toward Our Common Destruction: Humans and the Environment
By Eric M. B. Becker
The protagonist of this month’s work is the natural world in its multitudes.
A Message to Our Friends on the Moon: The Pandemic of 2020
By Milton Hatoum
The wars never ceased, the surveillance and control wrought by our digital world eroded our liberties, unemployment and poverty grew.
Translated from Portuguese by Eric M. B. Becker
Lisbon – 1971
By Arménio Vieira
In point of fact, Lisbon was not waiting there [to greet us.
Translated from Portuguese by Eric M. B. Becker & Shook
Caviar, Champagne, and Fantasy
By Arménio Vieira
The Esplanada, thick with the scent of fragrant [DDT
Translated from Portuguese by Eric M. B. Becker & Shook
A Life Diverse and a Life Inverse
By Rogério Manjate
my pact with hope is evergreen: / immense this green that makes a heart.
Translated from Portuguese by Sandra Tamele & Eric M. B. Becker
From Voids
By Mbate Pedro
and now my eyes are knives slicing the night to / split the mist
Translated from Portuguese by Sandra Tamele & Eric M. B. Becker
De(s)igns
By Hélder Faife
She tattoos the wavering future / on the bare skinned wall.
Translated from Portuguese by Sandra Tamele & Eric M. B. Becker
An Elemental Man
By Lucílio Manjate
The man stood for hours before the tiny stone, gazing at nothing, much less the aforementioned stone. Finally, his lips opened like a clam, and out came a baritone voice. Atop the rows of acácias,…
Translated by Eric M. B. Becker
Shadow and Light: Three Poems
By João Luís Barreto Guimarães
18ème arrondissementTo Nuno JúdiceThesculptors of Montmartre must havestudied anatomy (in depth)to chisel such beauty into theirsacred figures. Orelse wandered around (from brotheltobrothel)…
Translated by Eric M. B. Becker
Another Country: Afro-Brazilian Writing, Past and Present
By Eric M. B. Becker & John Keene
If the literature of a country with the second largest black population worldwide (only Nigeria has a larger black population) does not include that population in its literature, one must ask which Brazil we’re speaking of when we speak of Brazilian…
Black Teeth and Blue Hair
By Afonso Henriques de Lima Barreto
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Ignorance is a kind of blindness.”
Translated from Portuguese by Eric M. B. Becker
Alms for the Versemaker: An International Appreciation of John Ashbery
By Eric M. B. Becker
One year after the passing of John Ashbery, three poets and translators pay tribute to the great American poet.
2018 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Antonio Muñoz Molina
By Eric M. B. Becker
Antonio Muñoz Molina and his translator Camilo A. Ramirez are shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for Like a Fading Shadow. Words Without Borders (WWB): ​Tell…
2018 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Camilo A. Ramirez
By Eric M. B. Becker
Camilo A. Ramirez is shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for his translation of Antonio Muñoz Molina’s Like a Fading Shadow.Words Without Borders (WWB):…
Interviews with 2018 Man Booker International Prize Finalists
By Eric M. B. Becker
The Man Booker International Prize is awarded annually to a single work of international fiction that has been translated into English and published in the UK. The 2018 shortlist of…
2018 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Ahmed Saadawi
By Eric M. B. Becker
Ahmed Saadawi and his translator Jonathan Wright are shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for Frankenstein in Baghdad. Words Without Borders (WWB): Tell us about…
2018 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Jonathan Wright
By Eric M. B. Becker
Jonathan Wright is shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for his translation of Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad. Words Without Borders (WWB): What drew you to Ahmed…
2018 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Deborah Smith
By Eric M. B. Becker
Deborah Smith is shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for her translation of Han Kang’s The White Book. Words Without Borders (WWB): What drew you to Han Kang’s work?Deborah…
2018 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Virginie Despentes
By Eric M. B. Becker
Virginie Despentes and her translator Frank Wynne are shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for Vernon Subutex 1. Words Without Borders (WWB): Tell us about how you became…
2018 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Frank Wynne
By Eric M. B. Becker
Frank Wynne is shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for his translation of Virginie Despentes’s Vernon Subutex 1. Words Without Borders (WWB): What drew you to Virginie Despentes’s…
2018 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Jennifer Croft
By Eric M. B. Becker
Jennifer Croft is shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for her translation of Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights. Words Without Borders (WWB): What drew you to Olga Tokarczuk’s work?Jennifer…
2018 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Olga Tokarczuk
By Eric M. B. Becker
Olga Tokarczuk and her translator Jennifer Croft are shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for Flights. Words Without Borders: What’s your favorite book from a literary…
Several Worlds Simultaneously: A Deeper Look at Argentina
By Eric M. B. Becker
The writers here lead us to a much more nuanced understanding of twentieth-century Argentina and its literature.
Why Buenos Aires Is Not Paris
By Beatriz Sarlo
The comparison of Buenos Aires to Paris is an image of desire.
Translated from Spanish by Eric M. B. Becker & Julia Tomasini
Multilingual
An Interview with the Editors of “Querido Pablito / Julissimo Querido”
By Eric M. B. Becker
Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative recently published Querido Pablito / Julissimo Querido: Selected Correspondence, 1950–1971, the letters exchanged between Paul Blackburn…
From “Journey to the Heart of the American Dream: America by the Book”
By Isabel Lucas
The following excerpt is from Portuguese journalist and literary critic Isabel Lucas's Journey to the Heart of the American Dream (published in Portugal by Companhia das Letras in 2017).…
Translated by Eric M. B. Becker
Experimental Poetry Press Closes Shop: An Interview with Burning Deck’s Rosmarie Waldrop
By Eric M. B. Becker
After fifty-six years, Burning Deck—one of the country’s most important experimental poetry presses—is closing up shop. We spoke with Rosmarie Waldrop, who cofounded the press with Keith…
My Life as an Intellectual
By Elvira Vigna
In this short crônica, Brazilian writer Elvira Vigna—who just last week was named a finalist for the 2017 Oceanos (former Portugal Telecom) Prize—gives a self-deprecating account of…
Translated by Eric M. B. Becker
A Different Solitude: Colombian Literature Today
By Eric M. B. Becker
The writers here capture the past and present of a country remaking itself and its history.
Fact or Fiction: Latin American Reportage
By Eric M. B. Becker
The writers in this month’s feature provide assurance that the genre is source of some of today’s most vibrant and compelling stories, fictional or otherwise.
Remembering Elvira Vigna: 1947–2017
By Eric M. B. Becker
WWB editor and translator Eric M. B. Becker remembers the Brazilian writer, who passed away on July 10, 2017.On Sunday morning, July 9, I was on the island of Sal, Cape Verde, preparing for the last of…
No Fairy Tale: Paul Binding on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Ice Virgin”
By Eric M. B. Becker
Eric M. B. Becker speaks with Paul Binding about his translation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ice Virgin (Angel Classics, 2016; The Overlook Press, 2017). Binding’s is the…
Interviews with 2017 Man Booker International Prize Nominees
By Eric M. B. Becker
The Man Booker International Prize is awarded annually to a single work of international fiction that has been translated into English and published in the UK. The 2017 longlist of thirteen…
Three Fires
By Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida
“Three Fires” originally appeared in the Brazilian journal Revista Pessoa. It appears here as a part of WWB’s ongoing partnership with Revista Pessoa. Each month, WWB…
Translated by Eric M. B. Becker
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Yan Lianke
By Eric M. B. Becker
Yan Lianke and his translator Carlos Rojas were longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for The Explosion Chronicles. Words Without Borders (WWB):Tell us about how you became…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Carlos Rojas
By Eric M. B. Becker
Carlos Rojas was longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for his translation of Yan Lianke’s The Explosion Chronicles. Words Without Borders (WWB): What drew you to the work…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Charlotte Mandell
By Eric M. B. Becker
Charlotte Mandell is shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for her translation of Mathias Enard’s Compass.Words Without Borders (WWB): What drew you to the work of your writer?Charlotte…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—John Hodgson
By Eric M. B. Becker
John Hodgson was longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for his translation of Ismail Kadare’s The Traitor’s Niche.Words Without Borders (WWB): What drew you to the…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Helen Stevenson
By Eric M. B. Becker
Helen Stevenson was longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for her translation of Alain Manbanckou’s Black Moses.Words Without Borders (WWB): What drew you to the work…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—David McKay
By Eric M. B. Becker
David McKay was longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for his translation of Stefan Hertman’s War and Turpentine.Words Without Borders (WWB): What drew you to the…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Stefan Hertmans
By Eric M. B. Becker
Stefan Hertmans and his translator David McKay were longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for War and Turpentine. Words Without Borders (WWB):Tell us about how you became a…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Don Bartlett & Don Shaw
By Eric M. B. Becker
Don Bartlett and Don Shaw are shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for their translation of Roy Jacobsen’s The Unseen.Words Without Borders (WWB): What drew you to the…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Dorthe Nors
By Eric M. B. Becker
Dorthe Nors and her translator Misha Hoekstra are shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for Mirror, Shoulder, Signal. Words Without Borders (WWB): Tell us about how you…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Misha Hoekstra
By Eric M. B. Becker
Misha Hoekstra is shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for his translation of Dorthe Nors’s Mirror, Shoulder, Signal.Words Without Borders (WWB): What drew you to the…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Katy Derbyshire
By Eric M. B. Becker
Katy Derbyshire was longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for her translation of Clemens Meyer’s Bricks and Mortar.Words Without Borders (WWB): What drew you…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Eliza Marciniak
By Eric M. B. Becker
Eliza Marciniak was longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for her translation of Wioletta Greg’s Swallowing Mercury.Words Without Borders (WWB): What drew you to…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Samanta Schweblin
By Eric M. B. Becker
Samanta Schweblin and her translator Megan McDowell are shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for Fever Dream. Words Without Borders (WWB): Tell us about how…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Megan McDowell
By Eric M. B. Becker
Megan McDowell is shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for her translation of Samanta Schweblin’s Fever Dream.Words Without Borders (WWB): What drew you to the work of your…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Jessica Cohen
By Eric M. B. Becker
Jessica Cohen is shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for her translation of David Grossman’s A Horse Walks Into a Bar. Words Without Borders (WWB): What drew you to…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Jón Kalman Stefánsson
By Eric M. B. Becker
Jón Kalman Stefánsson and his translator Philip Roughton were longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for Fish Have No Feet. Words Without Borders (WWB):Tell us about…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Philip Roughton
By Eric M. B. Becker
Philip Roughton was longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for his translation of Jón Kalman Stefánsson’s Fish Have No Feet. Words Without Borders…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Amos Oz
By Eric M. B. Becker
Amos Oz and his translator Nicholas de Lange are shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for Judas. Words Without Borders (WWB):Tell us about how you became a writer. Was it…
2017 Man Booker International Prize Q&A—Nicholas de Lange
By Eric M. B. Becker
Nicholas de Lange is shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for his translation of Amos Oz’s Judas. Words Without Borders (WWB): What drew you to the work of your writer?Nicholas…
From “Revista Pessoa”—Three Poems
By Vilma Arêas
These poems by Vilma Arêas are a part of a monthly series resulting from a partnership between WWB and Brazil’s Revista Pessoa. Each month, WWB will bring readers new work that originally…
Translated by Eric M. B. Becker
Moonshine
By Felipe Franco Munhoz
It wasn't our fault . . . it was mostly the fault of William Faulkner.
Translated from Portuguese by Eric M. B. Becker
João Guimarães Rosa’s “Grande Sertão,” featured in “Words without Borders,” gains new translation
By Eric M. B. Becker
The wait appears to be over: on the sixtieth anniversary of its publication, Grande Sertão: Veredas (Bedeviled in the Badlands), the masterpiece of twentieth-century Brazilian writer João…
In the Middle of the Road There Was a (Rolling) Stone: Bob Dylan in Brazil
By Eric M. B. Becker
When the Swedish Academy announced Bob Dylan as the winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize for literature, the decision was greeted with certain consternation. One pre-announcement prediction even went so far…
FLIP 2016: Some Considerations
By Eric M. B. Becker
Image: Gabriela Wiener presents with Juliana Frank at FLIP. Photo by Luisa Leme.This year the Festa Literária International de Paraty—the international literary festival better known as FLIP,…
Brazil Beyond Rio
By Eric M. B. Becker
The writers here—both those from abroad and those from Brazil—set out to rediscover and portray the diverse Brazils within this dynamic country.
Coral Reef
By Micheliny Verunschk
Everything clamors: / an hour hand gone berserk.
Translated from Portuguese by Eric M. B. Becker
MultimediaMultilingual
Ephemeral Invention
By Edival Lourenço
my children look to me / and grasp after / absolute truths.
Translated from Portuguese by Eric M. B. Becker
MultimediaMultilingual
Rowan Ricardo Phillips: The Poet as Translator and Translator as Poet
By Eric M. B. Becker
Words Without Borders spoke with poet and translator Rowan Ricardo Phillips, whose work appears in WWB's April 2016 issue feature, (In)Verse: Poets Translate Each Other, for which he and…
WWB Weekend: Alcibiades in Brazil, or Machado de Assis for the Impeachment Debacle
By Eric M. B. Becker
Unless you’ve been taking a break from the international headlines, you’ve no doubt caught wind of the turmoil sweeping Brazil in recent weeks, culminating with Brazil’s chamber of deputies…
2016 Man Booker International Prize Finalists at Words without Borders
By Eric M. B. Becker
The Man Booker International Prize is awarded annually to a single work of international fiction that has been translated into English and published in the UK. The 2016 longlist of…
2016 Man Booker International Q&A: Jessica Moore
By Eric M. B. Becker
Jessica Moore was longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for her translation of Maylis de Kerangal's Mend the Living. Her other translations include Maylis de Kerangal's Birth…
2016 Man Booker International Q&A: Charlotte Collins
By Eric M. B. Becker
Charlotte Collins is shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for her translation of Robert Seethaler's A Whole Life. Charlotte's other translations include Robert Seethaler's…
2016 Man Booker International Q&A: Jordan Stump
By Eric M. B. Becker
Jordan Stump was longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for his translation of Marie NDiaye's Ladivine. Jordan's has translated many authors from French, including Marie Redonnet,…
2016 Man Booker International Q&A: Eka Kurniawan
By Eric M. B. Becker
Eka Kurniawan and his translator Labodalih Sembiring were longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for Man Tiger. Eka was born in Tasikmalaya, Indonesia in 1975, and he studied…
2016 Man Booker International Q&A: Labodalih Sembiring
By Eric M. B. Becker
Labodalih Sembiring was longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for his translation of Eka Kurniawan's Man Tiger. Labodalih Sembiring is the pen name of Muhammad Dalih…
2016 Man Booker International Q&A: José Eduardo Agualusa
By Eric M. B. Becker
José Eduardo Agualusa and his translator Daniel Hahn are shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for A General Theory of Oblivion. José was born in Huambo, Angola…
2016 Man Booker International Q&A: Daniel Hahn
By Eric M. B. Becker
Daniel Hahn is shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for his translation of José Eduardo Agualusa's A General Theory of Oblivion. His other translations include…
2016 Man Booker International Q&A: Deborah Smith
By Eric M. B. Becker
Deborah Smith's translations from the Korean include two novels by Han Kang, The Vegetarian (shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize) and Human Acts, and two by…
2016 Man Booker International Q&A: Stefan Tobler
By Eric M. B. Becker
Stefan Tobler was longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for his translation of Raduan Nassar's A Cup of Rage. Stefan's other translations include the works of Rodrigo…
2016 Man Booker International Q&A: Yan Lianke
By Eric M. B. Becker
Yan Lianke was born in 1958 in Henan Province, China. He is the author of many novels and short story collections and has won China's two top literary awards, the Lu Xun in 2000 for Nian, yue,…
2016 Man Booker International Q&A: Carlos Rojas
By Eric M. B. Becker
Carlos Rojas is the translator of Yan Lianke's The Four Books (2015), which is shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize. His other translations include Yan Lianke's Lenin's…
2016 Man Booker International Q&A: Fiston Mwanza Mujila
By Eric M. B. Becker
Fiston Mwanza Mujila and his translator Roland Glasser were longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for Tram 83. Fiston was born in 1981 in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic…
2016 Man Booker International Q&A: Roland Glasser
By Eric M. B. Becker
Roland Glasser is the translator of Fiston Mwanza Mujila's Tram 83 (2015), which was longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize. He translates literary and genre fiction…
2016 Man Booker International Q&A: Aki Ollikainen
By Eric M. B. Becker
Aki Ollikainen and his translators Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah were longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for White Hunger. Ollikainen's second book, Musta satu…
2016 Man Booker International Q&A: Emily Jeremiah & Fleur Jeremiah
By Eric M. B. Becker
Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah are the translators of Aki Ollikainen's White Hunger (2015), which was longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize. Emily and Fleur Jeremiah's…
We Have a New Blog Editor!
By Eric M. B. Becker
We’re pleased to welcome Katrine Øgaard Jensen as the new blog editor of Words without Borders. She joined us this week and has hit the ground running with new, exciting plans for our Dispatches…
The Week in Translation
By Eric M. B. Becker
GO what: ALTA38: Translation & Traffic when: Oct 28-31where: Tucson, AZmore info: http://ow.ly/SKSBH what: The Bridge: On Translating Non-Fiction with Sal Robinson, Shelley Frisch,…
Words without Borders Conversations: Clarice Lispector with Benjamin Moser & Edgard Telles Ribeiro
By Eric M. B. Becker
Recently, New Directions released Clarice Lispector's The Complete Stories (reviewed here in the New York Times), translated by Katrina Dodson and edited by Benjamin Moser. During Moser's recent…
As It Happened: PEN America Translation Committee at the Brooklyn Book Festival
By Eric M. B. Becker
A Round-Up from the2015 Brooklyn Book FestivalThe crowd leaked out onto the streets from the offices of A Public Space last Friday, September 18, for “Expressive Expedients,” a Brooklyn Book…
Remembering Carol Brown Janeway, 2014 WWB Ottaway Award Winner
By Eric M. B. Becker
Words without Borders is saddened to learn of the loss of distinguished editor, translator, and 2014 Ottaway Award winner Carol Brown Janeway, who passed away the morning of August 3.“As both…
Words without Borders Contributors: We Want Your Latest News
By Eric M. B. Becker
Over the last twelve years, Words without Borders has published over two thousand pieces of prose from 104 languages and 127 countries. We're proud of our contributors and the important…
2015 National Translation Award Long List at Words without Borders
By Eric M. B. Becker
For the last seventeen years, the American Literary Translators Association has given out the annual National Translation Award, the only national award for translated fiction, poetry, and literary…
2015 Man Booker International Prize Questionnaire: Hoda Barakat
By Eric M. B. Becker
Hoda Barakat was born in Beirut in 1952 and brought up in Bsharré, Lebanon. She has worked in teaching and journalism, and has published five novels, two plays, a book of short stories and a book…
2015 Man Booker International Prize Questionnaire: Ibrahim al-Koni
By Eric M. B. Becker
Born in 1948 in Ghadames Oasis, Ibrahim al-Koni was brought up on the tradition of the Tuaregs, popularly known as “the veiled men” or “the blue men.” Mythological elements,…
2015 Man Booker International Prize Questionnaire: Katherine Silver
By Eric M. B. Becker
Katherine Silver is an award-winning translator of literature from Spanish and is the co-director of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre (BILTC) in Alberta, Canada. Her most recent translations…
2015 Man Booker International Prize Questionnaire: Michiel Heyns
By Eric M. B. Becker
Michiel Heyns attended school in South Africa, in Thaba Nchu, Kimberley, and Grahamstown, and studied at the universities of Stellenbosch (B.Comm., MA, D. Litt.) and Cambridge (MA). He served as professor…
2015 Man Booker International Prize Questionnaire: William Maynard Hutchins
By Eric M. B. Becker
William Maynard Hutchins (b.1944) was the principal translator of The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz. He has been awarded National Endowment for the Arts grants for literary translation for…
2015 Man Booker International Prize Questionnaire: Marilyn Booth
By Eric M. B. Becker
Marilyn Booth is the Khalid bin Abdullah Al Saud Professor of the Study of the Contemporary Arab World at the University of Oxford, and a Governing Body Fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford. In 2014-15…
2015 Man Booker International Prize Questionnaire: Maryse Condé
By Eric M. B. Becker
Maryse Condé was born in Guadeloupe in the French Caribbean. She studied at the Université de Paris III (Sorbonne Nouvelle), where she took her doctorate in comparative literature (1975).…
2015 Man Booker International Prize Questionnaire: Richard Philcox
By Eric M. B. Becker
Richard Philcox is the translator of 2015 Man Booker Prize International finalist Maryse Condé and Franz Fanon.Words without Borders: It must be gratifying to see the writer you translate…
2015 Man Booker International Prize Questionnaire: George Szirtes
By Eric M. B. Becker
George Szirtes is a poet and translator. He was born in Budapest in 1948 and came to England as a refugee in 1956, following the Hungarian Uprising. His thirteen books of poetry, which include New…
2015 Man Booker International Prize Questionnaire: László Krasznahorkai
By Eric M. B. Becker
László Krasznahorkai was born in 1954. He gained considerable recognition in 1985 when he published Satantango which he later adapted for the cinema in collaboration with the filmmaker…
2015 Man Booker International Prize Finalists at Words without Borders
By Eric M. B. Becker
The 2015 Man Booker International Prize recognized writers whose work appeared in English or was translated into English for literary achievement over the duration of their careers. Among…
2015 PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature: Coverage at Words without Borders
By Eric M. B. Becker
The PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature returns for an eleventh year, this time focusing on the literatures of Africa. Words without Borders will be be covering many of the…