Monday 16 May 2011

(Austrian) Things to Do in London

Do you live in London? Dull, isn't it?

But not for much longer! For a plethora of exciting events will soon take you to Austrian literary heaven. Start on 26 May with the delightful and talented Anna Kim at the Austrian Cultural Forum. She and her translator Mike Mitchell will be reading from her most recent novel Frozen Time. Which is very good. Her latest book in German is an essay on travel and Greenland's colonial history, Die Invasion des Privaten. That's how cool she is.

And then only weeks later, the London Review Bookshop hosts its annual World Literature Weekend from 17 - 19 June, featuring Daniel Kehlmann. He's Austrian too! Plus, and this is particularly cool, my two favourite London publishers Meike Ziervogel and Stefan Tobler have a chat in a cake shop. Neither of them is Austrian, but I thought I'd mention it anyway because Meike is publishing the Austrian author with the wonderful name of Alois Hotschnig soon (translated by my friend Tess Lewis). And Stefan is publishing Clemens Meyer's short stories All the Lights soon, translated by me. Clemens Meyer isn't Austrian either but he once went all the way to Klagenfurt.

Back on the actual Austrian front, you can watch two top translators pitting their wits head to head when Mike The Mountain Mitchell and Shaun Big Daddy Whiteside enter the ring to do battle and fight until the blood flows down their bare fists and one of them starts crying at a live translation event! Or, as the LRB puts it: "with the help of the author and chair, the variations and nuances of the text, in both languages, are brought to light." With Daniel Kehlmann and Daniel Hahn.

Should you be of the translatorly persuasion yourself, you can also sign up for a half-day translation workshop from German, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish or Arabic. I'm only going to mention in passing that it's a bit odd they're all led by men. They're certainly all excellent translators.

So, don't be down in the doldrums, Austrian-literature-loving Londoners! Your time is now.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Ingeborg Bachmann Centre for Austrian Literature at the IGRS London loves your blog. :)
Best wishes from London!
(Find us on facebook, it'd be nice to have you on our friends-list!)

London Taxis said...

All of London's major museums are free, but most offer some special exhibitions for a fee. My favorite is the Museum of London where you can learn the history of London from Roman times to today.