Daniel Hahn on Being a Translator

Danny Hahn is a very nice and very busy man, as a writer and translator and general advocate for both professions. Apparently, he found that many of the writers he knew had little idea of what their translators are expected to do. Translators into English tend to be in contact with the living writers we translate, at least to some extent, and in my experience they take great interest in our work and are rather flattered that someone would take the time to do it. But for some reason, that seems to be less the case the other way around. So Danny wrote an article for the British Society of Authors, neatly explaining our curious condition. It's an excellent summary of what makes literary translation a source of both joy and headaches. So many people wanted to read it that they kindly put it online.