video – Three Percent

Little Video about Open Letter

Chad Post — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:45:56 +0000

The other week, media strategist came to the Ģ��ý to give us some media training on how best to present yourself on TV, how to buy a second to think of a good answer to a tricky question, how to speak slowly, etc., etc. (And no, that last one didn’t stick. At least not for me.)

Anyway, as part of this he filmed the following video about Open Letter Books. I’m embarrassed to watch myself on things like this, but I’ve heard from others that it’s a decent presentation of what we do. So in case anyone’s interested, here it is:

Video: Reading the World w/ International Writers and Translators from Ledig House

N. J. Furl — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Last Thursday, we held our final Reading the World Conversation Series event of the fall, featuring a group of four international writers and translators in residence at — an international writers residency in New York that specializes in hosting authors and translators from around the world.

Now, the of the event is available. Contained within this eight-part playlist is some reading, some commentary, some strong opinions on translating, and some Q&A:

And here are some more specifics about the event, Ledig House, and our four guests:

November 5, 2009 – Ledig House International Writers Residency is one of the only residences of its type in the United States. Since its creation in 1992, Ledig House has hosted hundreds of writers and translators from roughly 50 countries around the world.

At this event, Chad Post (Director of Open Letter at the URochester) leads a panel of writers and translators from around the world—all of whom are currently in residence at Ledig House. The panel includes readings and discussion from:

Kathrin Aehnlich (Germany): Her first novel, published 2007, became a bestseller in Germany.

Tom Dreyer (South Africa): His second novel received the Eugene Marais Prize. His third was shortlisted for the M-Net Prize.

Linda Gaboriau (Canada): She is an award-winning translator of Quebecs most prominent playwrights.

Pravda Miteva (Bulgaria): She has worked as a literary translator since 1994, and owns a small publishing house.

(This event is hosted by Open Letter and Ģ��ý Arts & Sciences. It is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.)

Video: Reading the World w/ Charlotte Mandell

N. J. Furl — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:00:21 +0000

Video is now up from our Reading the World Conversation Series event with the acclaimed French-to-English translator Charlotte Mandell. It’s in seven parts, and there’s interesting stuff throughout—with parts 1-3 comprising the reading and parts 4-7 comprising the questions/answer portion (conducted with aplomb by our own senior editor, E.J. Van Lanen).

Ģ��ý the event:
Oct. 6 2009 – The French translator of Balzac, Proust, Flaubert, and others reads from her new translation of Mathias Énard’s Zone (forthcoming from Open Letter) and takes questions about literary translation. Zone has already been called “The novel of the decade, if not of the century” (Christophe Claro). In short, it is a 517-page, one-sentence novel about a spy, a train ride, a briefcase, and the pervasive violence of the twentieth century.

Charlotte Mandell is one of the great French-to-English translators, and has translated such prominent works as: The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honoré de Balzac, The Book to Come by Maurice Blanchot, A Simple Heart by Gustave Flaubert, The Horla by Guy de Maupassant, Listening by Jean-Luc Nancy, and The Lemoine Affair by Marcel Proust.

(This event is hosted by Open Letter and Ģ��ý Arts & Sciences. It is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.)

Video of Jan Kjærstad & Mark Binelli

N. J. Furl — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:18:55 +0000

Last week we hosted another Reading the World Conversation Series event at the URochester (co-sponsored by PEN World Voices). This time we brought together the internationally renown Norwegian author and fab American author and Rolling Stone contributing editor . For your reference, a rundown on the event with some short bios, and the video is below. Enjoy.

from on .

The International Literature Evangelist

N. J. Furl — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:09:20 +0000

I’ll tell ya, it seems like forever since we posted a video of Chad. Luckily, Publishers Weekly has just published a lovely with our director. It’s all about things like Open Letter, the books we publish, our websites (such as this one), and literature in translation. Also, there is an accompanying .

I especially enjoyed the article’s title: “The International Literature Evangelist.” Not only does Chad spread the good news (of sorts), but it seems like only yesterday that we were philistines.