Last no man's land Event

The online magazine no man's land has been going for ten years now. It started as a side shoot to the Berlin literary magazine and writing lab lauter niemand, with the first issue basically showcasing young German-language writers picked by the team and translated into English. It launched with a bang – my friend Isabel Cole, editor-in-chief throughout, got funding for a print issue, a translation workshop and two readings. I translated one of the texts and attended the events and I remember being very impressed by the whole thing. Since then the magazine has gone online-only (international distribution was too complicated) and relied on submissions of contemporary German poetry and prose from translators. I've been co-editing on the prose side since 2009, alongside (variously) Liesel Tarquini, Alistair Noon and Catherine Hales.

In the meantime, Isabel, Steph Morris and I set up the no man's land translation lab, which is still going strong. It's not rocket science – we meet once a month in a room above a pub and workshop each others' translations – but it has helped forge a very strong literary translation community in Berlin and beyond. I can say it has prompted me to think about and articulate my work in a very clear way and has definitely made me a better translator. Our next lab is on 1 December at 8 p.m., as always in the "library" upstairs at Max & Moritz on Oranienstraße. The format has been adopted by translators in other cities, including Dublin and London. It costs next to nothing and makes me happy.

This Sunday we launch the final issue of no man's land. It will be a bumper issue with some killer pieces by German-language prose writers and poets, plus our first and obviously last literary essay. We also offered the translators a chance to share something about the translation process, which I'm very glad worked out. Ten years feels like a good point to stop and I think we're all proud of the body of work we've accumulated on the website. There are now so many more opportunities for publishing translations than there were ten years ago that we decided it would do no harm for us to stop.

So we're having a party on Sunday. There will be readings from issue #10 and then there will be dancing, with Steph Morris and myself reactivating our old DJ persona Lang 'n' Scheidt (he's very tall; I'm not very good). Retro translator-mafia music, all vinyl, for dancing to. Please come along to ACUD to help us go out with a bang as big as the one we came in with.

Call for Submissions – no man’s land # 10 (Final Issue)

Contemporary German-language fiction and poetry in English translation.
Deadline: August 6, 2015.

no man’s land, the online journal for contemporary German literature in translation at www.no-mans-land.org, is seeking submissions for its 10th and final issue.

It’s been an exciting and rewarding journey since 2006. We’ve published work by over 120 writers and 70 translators. We’ve held too many readings, contests, workshops and Translation Labs to count. We’ve witnessed an astonishing renaissance of translation culture in the English-speaking world, and a surge of interest in German literature. We’re proud to have been a part of that.

With mixed feelings, we’ve decided that Issue # 10 will be the last issue of our translation journal. Of course, all the issues will remain available under www.no-mans-land.org. Our monthly Translation Lab will continue as before, and we have plans to relaunch no man’s land in a new form as a forum for translation and German literature in Berlin and beyond. So stay tuned! But now we’re focusing on making Issue # 10 the best issue ever. And for that, we’re counting on you to send us your most compelling work to round out the spectrum of new German literature we’ve presented so far.

For prose, send up to 3 texts (stories or self-contained novel excerpts, max. 4,000 words each) by one or different contemporary* writers. For poetry, send work by up to 3 poets, each to a maximum of 5 poems. Electronic submissions only. No simultaneous submissions, please, and – with some exceptions** – no previously-published translations. The deadline is August 6, 2015, and we will inform contributors by early October 2015; the issue will go online by late November. We regret that we cannot offer honoraria.

Please include your contact information, biographical and publication information (for both translator and author) and a copy of the original. Also, please provide proof of permission from the original publisher and/or author – whoever holds the rights to the piece (this could be a scanned letter, or forward us an e-mail).

Please send submissions electronically to Isabel Cole at isabel@no-mans-land.org.

To save time and avoid misplacing your work, we ask that you observe the following guidelines:

Please name the file with your translation as follows: pr for prose, ly for poetry_your last name_the author’s last name_e. So Anthea Bell’s translation of prose by E. T. A. Hoffmann would be: pr_bell_hoffmann_e.doc.

Name the file with the original the same way, but ending with _dt (pr_bell_hoffmann_dt.doc). Stephen Mitchell’s translation of Rilke poems would be ly_mitchell_rilke_e.doc, and the original would be ly_mitchell_rilke_dt.doc. 

With scanned originals, please put all the pages in one file.

Apologies if this sounds complicated, but it really is a great help!

For more information, see our “Translators’ Tips” on the no man’s land website, and feel free to contact us at the above e-mail address.

We look forward to reading your work!



The Editors, no man’s land

www.no-mans-land.org



*Defined broadly as writers currently active, or active in the later 20th/early 21st century. When in doubt, query!



** We are willing to make exceptions for translations that have appeared previously in very limited circulation and that we feel deserve a new audience. Again, please feel free to query.

no man's land #9

By the way, the ninth issue of our outstanding online magazine of contemporary German-language writing in English translation is now out there. no man's land #9 features fiction by Nina Jäckle, Anja Jardine, Angelika Klüssendorf, Ursula Krechel, Ralf Rothmann, Christian Schärf, Ronald M. Schernikau, Vladimir Vertlib and Feridun Zamoglu, and poetry by Marius Hulpe, Michael Krüger, Frederike Mayröcker, Peggy Neidel, Sabine Scho and Achim Wagner.

No man's land Launch!!!!

We're launching the ninth issue of no man's land, the magazine featuring first-ever translations of fiction and poetry by some of the finest writers working in German today. This Friday! In Berlin!

This time we have some astoundingly good prose (I know because I helped to choose it) and some astoundingly good poetry (although I have nothing to do with that side of things). Please come and join us to celebrate the general astounding quality of German-language literature in excellent translation.

no man's land # 9
Launch Reading
December 5, 8:30 p.m.
Saint Georges Bookshop
Wörther Str. 27
Berlin - Prenzlauer Berg

German poet Sabine Scho with her translator, Bradley Schimidt
Vladimir Vertlib with his translator, David Burnett
Donna Stonecipher reading her translations of Frederike Mayröcker's poems
Joseph Given reading his translations of Michael Krüger's poems
Steph Morris reading his translation from Feridun Zaimoglu's novel "Artist for Rent"
Lucy Renner Jones reading her translation from Ronald Schernikau's "Small-Town Novella"

Call for Submissions – no man’s land # 9

Contemporary German-language fiction and poetry in English translation.
Deadline: September 1, 2014.

no man’s land, the online journal for contemporary German literature in translation, is seeking submissions for its 2014 issue.

For prose, send up to 3 texts (stories or self-contained novel excerpts, max. 4,000 words each) by one or different contemporary* writers. For poetry, send work by up to 3 poets, each to a maximum of 5 poems. Electronic submissions only. No simultaneous submissions, please, and – with some exceptions** – no previously-published translations. The deadline is September 1, 2014, and we will inform contributors by early October 2014; the issue will go online by mid-December. We regret that we cannot offer honoraria.

Please include your contact information, biographical and publication information (for both translator and author) and a copy of the original. Also, please provide proof of permission from the original publisher and/or author – whoever holds the rights to the piece (this could be a scanned letter, or forward us an e-mail).

Please send submissions electronically to Isabel Cole at isabel@no-mans-land.org.

To save time and avoid misplacing your work, we ask that you observe the following guidelines: Please name the file with your translation as follows: pr for prose, ly for poetry_your last name_the author’s last name_e. So Anthea Bell’s translation of prose by E. T. A. Hoffmann would be: pr_bell_hoffmann_e.doc.
Name the file with the original the same way, but ending with _dt (pr_bell_hoffmann_dt.doc). Stephen Mitchell’s translation of Rilke poems would be ly_mitchell_rilke_e.doc, and the original would be ly_mitchell_rilke_dt.doc.

Apologies if this sounds complicated, but it really is a great help!

For more information, see our “Translators’ Tips” on the no man’s land website, and feel free to contact us at the above e-mail address.

We look forward to reading your work!

The Editors, no man’s land
www.no-mans-land.org


*Defined broadly as writers currently active, or active in the later 20th/early 21st century. When in doubt, query!

** We are willing to make exceptions for translations that have appeared previously in very limited circulation and that we feel deserve a new audience. Again, please feel free to query.
--

no man's land issue 8 out now!

Isabel Cole, Catherine Hales and I have put together our annual exciting selection of contemporary German writing in translation at no man's land. The magazine works by calling for submissions from translators of work that they love, and I like to think that shows when you read it. This year we have poetry from Steffen Popp, Martin Jankowski, Utz Rachowski, Helwig Brunner, Tom Schulz and Volker Sielaff, and prose on big, big subjects by Christoph Ransmayr, Dehe and Engstler, Margarita Iov, Mirko Bonné, Francis Nenik, Carmen Stephan, Michael Buselmeier, Franz Fühmann, Jörg Bernig and Liane Dirk. Many, many thanks to all the translators who devoted their time, enthusiasm and skill to the issue.

Translation Idol Mark V – Welcome to the Republic of no man's land

For the fifth time, the magazine of German literature in translation www.no-mans-land.org invites you to pit your wits against your peers in the now legendary talent contest Translation Idol – no man’s land sucht den Superübersetzer*.

To celebrate our monthly literary translation lab, no man’s land invites all those budding, successful and prizewinning German-English translators out there to join in our translation talent contest. Our previous events featuring Ron Winkler, Selim Özdogan, Jan Böttcher and Verena Rossbacher were huge successes with submissions from around the globe, which you can read on our website. After a brief hiatus, this year it’s back to prose of the challenging kind. All you have to do is send us your translation of the passage below, an extract from a story by Deniz Utlu.

Translate it any which way you like – fast and loose, slow and steady, straight from the hip, give it a dialect, put it into iambic pentameter, set it to music – whatever you want to do. You don’t have to be a seasoned professional – a passion for words is all it takes. Please send your translation for the contest (in Word or rtf format) by 30 September to: katy@interalia.de. Don’t forget a brief paragraph about yourself and a telephone number where we can reach you, as we’ll be calling the winners live from the competition.

Ideally, you should be able to attend the contest itself, at 8 pm on 3 October at Alte Kantine Wedding, Uferstrasse 8-11, 13357 Berlin (Wedding). Just turn up with your translation, ready to read. The audience will vote on the winning version, and the writer will choose his own personal favourite. There’ll be prizes galore for the top Translation Idols. If you can’t attend, your text will be read on your behalf. It’s still well worth entering, as all entries will be published on the no man’s land website. Please let us know whether you’ll be coming to the contest when you send your translation.

So get your dictionaries out and get translating! Or just come along to participate in the audience vote and enjoy an entertaining evening of literature and translation.

no man’s land reserves the right to make a prior selection of entries for the contest itself, should the response be overwhelming. 

* Oder die Superübersetzerin.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deniz Utlu’s Text

 

Verlusttiere

„Forget it Jake, it’s chinatown.“

Aus Roman Polanskis Chinatown

Wer nicht finden kann, verlustiert sich. Mit Blicken und Zungen. Mit Fingern und Händen. Im Klaren und im Suff. Nach geschlagener Nacht, Heimkehr der Verlusttiere.

Bewegen, nicht stehen bleiben, immer weiter, immer weiter. In der Bahn, in der Metro, im Verkehr, überall, überall gleichzeitig, immer. Omnipräsent. Wir halten uns wach, denn was wach ist, lebt. Und wir halten uns taub, denn was taub ist, spürt nicht.

Durch die Nase, durch die Kehle. Durch die Ohren, close your eyes. Wein aus Tetrapackkanistern, aus Flaschen manchmal, Bier in Sechserträgern, Wodka mit oder ohne Grashalm, gimme dope Joanna. Bass, Bass. In den Ohren. Bass, Bass. In dem Mund Zunge. Fremde Zunge, nass und kalt und zart und mehrfordernd wie Haut in fester Faust. Rauch. Rauch, in dem wir; Rauch, der in uns: die Stadt ist eine fette schwarze Lunge und in guten Zeiten treibt man sich in den Bronchien herum.

Man berührt sich mit Ellenbogen oder mit Genitalien. Mit Ellenbogen tags und mit Genitalien nachts.

Was verloren ist, soll vergessen sein. Wir haben das Recht zu vergessen. Aber auch, wenn vergessen ist: es bleibt die Angst vor weiterem Verlust. Und wenn etwas vergessen wurde, was nicht da war, was Illusion war und wirklich sein sollte, aber vergessen wurde, weil es nicht wirklich werden konnte, dann ist die Angst, die bleibt, die selbe; nur noch unnötiger. Verlusttiere sind Angsttiere. Sie brauchen die Betäubung.

Ich kann das. Ich kann über die Schwelle eines Kebabgeschäfts in Barbès schreiten, um vor einer Tür in Chinatown zu stehen. Ich kann mich in ein Café in einer Seitengasse in Taksim setzen und bekomme meinen Tee bei Melek in der Oranienstraße serviert.

In letzter Zeit zieht es mich immer häufiger nach Chinatown. Die Tür wird geöffnet und eine weißgepuderte junge Frau mit zugeschnürtem, blumigem Mantel und Chucks an den Füßen, begrüßt mich mit einem höflichen Knicks. Es folgt ein kurzer, dunkler Gang. Die junge Frau öffnet eine Tür und es strömt mir sofort ein süßlicher Duft entgegen. Hinter der Tür befindet sich eine Halle mit zahlreichen Holzetagen. An den Böden und Wänden hängen Teppiche. Leicht bekleidete junge Frauen laufen leisen Schrittes über und durch diese Teppiche. Sie tragen Pfeifen mit sich. Die Pfeifen liegen so zaghaft in den Händen, als hätten sie Seelen. Ich glaube sie haben Seelen. Sie hauchen sie aus und wir atmen sie ein, daher auch der süßliche Duft. Ich folge immer noch der jungen Frau, die mich durch den Rauch und die Teppiche führt. Wir gelangen zu einem kleinen hölzernen Aufzug, der mit Seilen hochgezogen wird. In der dritten oder vierten Etage hält er. Ich weiß schließlich nicht mehr, auf welcher Höhe wir sind und ob vorne oder hinten, Norden oder Süden. Es gibt keine Himmelsrichtungen mehr, es gibt gar keine Richtungen mehr, alle Kapitäne sind entlassen.

Sie hält mich an der Hand und legt mich sanft auf einen Teppich. Dann geht sie. Ich sehe ihren Rücken, ihren Zopf, ich sehe, wie sie verschwindet in dem Rauch, in den Teppichen, in der Seele. Sie verlässt mich. Ich liege da – ein gelähmtes Tier. Es kommt eine Pfeifenträgerin. Sie legt mir die Pfeife auf die Brust und schließt mit ihren kühlen Fingern meine Augen. Mit der anderen Hand hebt sie leicht meinen Kopf. Ich spüre einen Schlauch im Mund. Mit einem tiefen Atemzug ziehe ich daran. Die Seele dringt in mich ein. Jetzt kann ich lächeln.

Call for Submissions - no man's land #8

Contemporary German-language fiction and poetry in English translation.
Deadline: September 15, 2013.

no man’s land, the online journal for contemporary German literature in translation at www.no-mans-land.org, is seeking submissions for its 2013 issue.

For prose, send up to 3 texts (stories or self-contained novel excerpts, max. 4,000 words each) by one or different contemporary* writers. For poetry, send work by up to 3 poets, each to a maximum of 5 poems. Electronic submissions only. No simultaneous submissions, please, and – with some possible exceptions** – no previously-published translations. The deadline is September 15, 2013, and we will inform contributors by mid-October 2013; the issue will go online by mid-December. We regret that we are unable to offer honoraria.

Please include your contact information, biographical and publication information (for both translator and author) and a copy of the original. Also, please provide proof of permission from the original publisher and/or author – whoever holds the rights to the piece (this could be a scanned letter, or forward us an e-mail).

Please send submissions electronically to Isabel Cole at isabel@no-mans-land.org.

To save time and avoid misplacing your work, we ask that you observe the following guidelines for electronic submissions:

1)     Submit all texts (poems or prose) by one author in the same file (i.e. not a separate file for each poem).
2)     Name the file with your translation as follows: pr for prose, ly for poetry_your last name_the author’s last name_e. So Anthea Bell’s translation of prose by E. T. A. Hoffmann would be: pr_bell_hoffmann_e.doc. Name the file with the original the same way, but ending with _dt (pr_bell_hoffmann_dt.doc). Stephen Mitchell’s translation of Rilke poems would be ly_mitchell_rilke_e.doc, and the original would be ly_mitchell_rilke_dt.doc.

Apologies if this sounds complicated, but it really is a great help!

For more information, see our “Translators’ Tips” on the no man’s land website, and feel free to contact us at the above e-mail address.

We look forward to reading your work!

The Editors, no man’s land
www.no-mans-land.org


*Defined more or less as writers currently active, or active in the later 20th/early 21st century. When in doubt, query!

** We are willing to make exceptions for translations that have appeared previously in very limited circulation and that we feel deserve a new audience. Again, please feel free to query.

...And it's live

Featuring fiction by Christian Helm, Johanna Hemkentokrax, Kemal Kurt, Clemens J. Setz, Thomas Stangl, Thomas von Steinaecker, Antje Rávic Strubel, Steven Uhly, and poetry by Sylvia Geist, Dagmara Kraus, Arne Rautenberg, Ulrike Almut Sandig, Katharina Schultens, Lutz Seiler, Judith Zander, and members of the g13 poetry collective: no man's land issue #7.

Thanks to everyone who came along to our launch last night.

Speaking of no man's land

We're launching issue #7 tonight! Everybody come along.

no man's land # 7 launch reading

with Sylvia Geist, Katharina Schultens, Lutz Seiler and Antje Rávic Strubel. November 5, 2012, 8 p.m. Saint Georges Bookshop Wörther Str. 27 Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg The bilingual launch of no man's land Issue # 7 features authors Sylvia Geist, Katharina Schultens, Lutz Seiler and Antje Rávic Strubel with their translators Catherine Hales, Bradley Schmidt and Zaia Alexander. Award-winning poet Sylvia Geist's Periodic Song reflects her background in chemistry, while her up-and-coming colleague Katharina Schultens offers a very different fusion of scientific and poetic language. Antje Rávic Strubel will read via Skype from her novel When Days Plunge Into Night, a dark love story long-listed for the German Book Prize. And Bachmann-Prize-winning Lutz Seiler will read from his latest short story collection, The Balance of Time. Issue # 7 will appear early November at www.no-mans-land.org, with fiction by Christian Helm, Johanna Hemkentokrax, Kemal Kurt, Clemens J. Setz, Thomas Stangl, Thomas von Steinaecker, Antje Rávic Strubel, Steven Uhly, and poetry by Sylvia Geist, Dagmara Kraus, Arne Rautenberg, Ulrike Almut Sandig, Katharina Schultens, Lutz Seiler, Judith Zander, and members of the g13 poetry collective. As usual, drinks will be available from the Saint Georges bar, and we hope you'll linger to chat and celebrate with us after the reading!

Call for Submissions – no man’s land # 7

Contemporary German-language fiction and poetry in English translation.
Deadline: August 1, 2012.

no man’s land, the online journal for contemporary German literature in translation, is seeking submissions for its 2012 issue.

For prose, send up to 3 texts (stories or self-contained novel excerpts, max. 4,000 words each) by one or different contemporary* writers. For poetry, send work by up to 3 poets, each to a maximum of 5 poems. No simultaneous submissions, please, and – with some possible exceptions** – no previously-published translations. The deadline is August 1, 2012 (postmark date), and we will inform contributors by early September 2012; the issue will go online by November. We regret that we are unable to offer honoraria.

Please include your contact information, biographical and publication information (for both translator and author) and a copy of the original. Also, please provide proof of permission from the original publisher and/or author – whoever holds the rights to the piece (this could be a copy of a letter, or forward us an e-mail).

If you can include the original text in file format (PDF or other), we prefer that you send submissions electronically to Isabel Cole at isabel@no-mans-land.org. Otherwise, mail them to no man’s land, PO Box 02 13 04, 10125 Berlin, Germany.

So that we can save time and avoid misplacing your work, we ask that you observe the following guidelines for electronic submissions:

1)     Submit all texts (poems or prose) by one author in the same file (i.e. not a separate file for each little poem).
2)     Name the file with your translation as follows: pr for prose, ly for poetry_your last name_the author’s last name_e. So Anthea Bell’s translation of prose by E. T. A. Hoffmann would be: pr_bell_hoffmann_e.doc. Name the file with the original the same way, but ending with _dt (pr_bell_hoffmann_dt.doc). Stephen Mitchell’s translation of Rilke poems would be ly_mitchell_rilke_e.doc, and the original would be ly_mitchell_rilke_dt.doc.

Apologies if this sounds complicated, but it really is a great help!

For more information, see our “Translators’ Tips” on the no man’s land website, and feel free to contact us at the above e-mail address.

We look forward to reading your work!

The Editors, no man’s land
www.no-mans-land.org


*Defined more or less as writers currently active, or active in the later 20th/early 21st century. If in doubt, query!

** We are willing to make exceptions for translations that have appeared previously in very limited circulation and that we feel deserve a new audience. Again, please feel free to query.

no man's land Events

no man’s land in Hamburg: sailing on The Story Boat
8 pm – 11pm,  Friday, 25th November
Centro Sociale, Sternstraße 2, Hamburg-Sternschanze (U-Bahn: Feldstraße)

In a Hamburg first, The Story Boat is hosting no man’s land, the online magazine for new German literature in translation. With translators Mark Terrill and Henry Holland and work by Jörg Fauser, Peter Rühmkorf, Christine Marendon and Mirko Bonné.

no man's land # 6 launch reading
November 28, 8 p.m.
Saint Georges Bookshop
Wörther Str. 27, Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg
with Zehra Çirak, Michael Roes and Daniela Seel.
no man's land launches Issue # 6 with a bilingual reading featuring authors Zehra Çirak, Michael Roes and Daniela Seel. Zehra Çirak holds the prestigious Chamisso Prize for writing in German as a second language, along with numerous other awards. One of Germany's leading "poets of the foreign", Michael Roes is a novelist, poet, anthropologist and filmmaker. Daniela Seel, publisher of Berlin's legendary KookBooks, is also an accomplished experimental poet.

Tonight's authors reflect the range of an issue that also includes poetry by Lars-Arvid Brischke, Dieter M. Gräf, Christine Marendon, Monika Rinck, Peter Rühmkorf, Ulrike Almut Sandig, Donna Stonecipher and Jan Wagner and fiction by Eleonore Frey, Michael Lentz, Eva Menasse, Lutz Seiler and Keto von Waberer, and a documentation of Ann Cotten's and Monika Rinck's performance "The Igel Flies Tonight". Issue # 6 will appear November 28 at www.no-mans-land.org.

As usual, drinks will be available from the Saint Georges bar, and you are welcome to linger, chat and celebrate with us after the reading!

Translation Idol Tonite!

Come over to the lovely new Dialogue Books in Berlin for a night of fascinating translation fun, featuring Verena Rossbacher and versions of her tricky text from as far afield as Kreuzberg, New York and Israel. no man's land Translation Idol rules.

Oh, and there'll be cheap drinks on sale.

Translation Idol Mark IV – This Time It’s Personal

For the fourth time, the magazine of German literature in translation www.no-mans-land.org invites you to pit your wits against your peers in the now legendary talent contest Translation Idol – no man’s land sucht den Superübersetzer*.

To celebrate our monthly literary translation lab, no man’s land invites all those budding, successful and prizewinning German-English translators out there to join in our translation talent contest. Our previous events featuring Ron Winkler, Selim Özdogan and Jan Böttcher were huge successes with submissions from around the globe, which you can read on our website. And now that we’ve done poetry, prose and song lyrics, this time we have something in between. All you have to do is send us your translation of the passage below, an extract from the wonderful Verena Rossbacher’s forthcoming novel schlachten. Ein Alphabet der Indizien.

Translate it any which way you like – fast and loose, slow and steady, straight from the hip, give it a dialect, put it into iambic pentameter, recreate it as an opera libretto – whatever you want to do. You don’t have to be a seasoned professional – a passion for words is all it takes. Please send your translation for the contest (in Word or rtf format) by 1 July to: katy at interalia de. Don’t forget a brief paragraph about yourself and a telephone number where we can reach you, as we’ll be calling the winners live from the competition.

Ideally, you should be able to attend the contest itself, at 8 pm on 5 July at Dialogue Books, Schönleinstraße 31, 10967 Berlin (Kreuzberg). Just turn up with your translation, ready to read. The audience will vote on the winning version, and the writer will choose her own personal favourite. There’ll be prizes galore for the top Translation Idols. If you can’t attend, your text will be read on your behalf. It’s still well worth entering, as all entries will be published on the no man’s land website. Please let us know whether you’ll be coming to the contest when you send your translation.

So get your dictionaries out and get translating! Or just come along to participate in the audience vote and enjoy an entertaining evening of literature and translation.

no man’s land reserves the right to make a prior selection of entries for the contest itself, should the response be overwhelming.



* Oder die Superübersetzerin.



The TEXT:

Josef von Nazaret bei der Diavorführung

Und es ist nur die Diashow, es sind doch und eigentlich nur anderer Leute Angelegenheiten und fremder Nachbarn Sitzgarnitur, aber da, da drauf und drin und mittendrin, da eingekastelt in gehortete Bilder und geworfen auf klaren Grund: deine Frau und als gehöre sie dazu, da sitzt und geht und steht auf anderer Leute Urlaubsbildern deine Frau und sie ist jung, sie ist schön und fremd und lacht, da lacht dir die Maria entgegen aus einer anderen Welt, da hat sie sieben Gesichter und alle kein Teil von dir, da ist die Maria und integriert, da ist die Maria und einer umfasst sie, da hat einer sie so um die Hüften gefasst und sie gehört zu mir, da schaut sie in die Kamera und von hinten um die Hüften gefasst, weil die Frau gehört zu mir, da steht inmitten andrer Leute Getümmel ein fremder Mann und hält eine Maria im Arm, um die Hüften, hat er die Hand auf dem Bauch und knapp über der Scham und ganz nah den Mund an ihrem Hals und als flüstere er ihr was zu, da hat der Mann einen Kopf mit kupfrigen Locken und schlanke Finger umfassen sanft ihren Bauch, was, sagt der Josef und als wär er taumeln, was ist, sagt der Josef und alles dreht sich um, die Hand am Glas, im Knabbergebäck, den Mund im Gelächter und heiteren Gespräch und wo ist das, fragen sie, wo ist das, das, sagt der Josef und schaut den Leuten in die Augen und ein allgemeines Innehalten im Kauen und Schlucken und lauschigen Abendvergnügen und wo ist das, sagen sie, wo ist das Problem wo ist denn das Problem, das, sagt der Josef, was, sagt der Josef und schaut sie an aber keiner schaut zurück, weil das gibt keiner zu, da will keiner der erste sein und der ders ihm sagt, da will keiner nichts gesehen haben und rein gar nichts gewusst und vor allem niemand dem Josef, was, sagt der Josef, und er steht auf und als würden sie zurückweichen und von ihm weg, zurück, sagt er, da tritt er hart ins poröse Licht und von dem schnaufenden Projektor, da ist er im Mittelpunkt und der Spot direkt auf ihm, da hat er im Rücken die bunten Bilder und die Welt dreht sich schnell, exakt und perfekt und korrekt mit der Diashow im Dreisekundentakt, das ist der Gang, der Lauf, das ist der Galopp der Welt, dreht sich ziemlich rasch, ist ganz schön schnell, zurück, das sagt er und wandert über die Gesichter mit den Augen zum sich wo festhalten, aber alle aalglatt und perfekt poliert und wie gut ausgebuttert und dass er abrutscht darauf, zurück, sagt er, und das meint er, da würde er gerne zurückspulen, die Bilder und das Hasten der Welt, anhalten, sagt er und Panik steigt auf, weil da rennt ihm was weg und weil die Bilder gehen und laufen und da rennt ihm was davon und da würd er gern was haschen und greifen, aber: spulen sich fort, da taktet die Maschine im Dreisekundenschrittt, da sind die Bilder Perlen auf der Schnur und Tropfen höhlen was aus, ausschalten, ruft der Josef und dreht sich um und keiner tut was, weil das geht keinen was an und wo in aller Welt ist denn das Problem, weil es würden die Leute gerne weiterknuspern und Getränke trinken und ganz unbescholten und behaglich dem unverbindlichen Verziehen der Münder frönen.

Call for Submissions – no man’s land # 6

Contemporary German-language fiction and poetry in English translation.
Deadline: August 6, 2011.

no man’s land, the online journal for contemporary German literature in translation, is seeking submissions for its 2011 issue.

For prose, send up to 3 texts (stories or self-contained novel excerpts, max. 4,000 words each) by one or different contemporary* writers. For poetry, send work by up to 3 poets, each to a maximum of 5 poems. No simultaneous submissions, please, and – with some possible exceptions** – no previously-published translations. The deadline is August 6, 2011 (postmark date), and we will inform contributors by early September 2011; the issue will go online in November. We regret that we are unable to offer honoraria.

Please include your contact information, biographical and publication information (for both translator and author) and a copy of the original. Also, please provide proof of permission from the original publisher and/or author – whoever holds the rights to the piece (this could be a copy of a letter, or forward us an e-mail).

If you can include the original text in file format (PDF or other), we prefer that you send submissions electronically to Isabel Cole at isabel@no-mans-land.org. Otherwise, mail them to no man’s land, PO Box 02 13 04, 10125 Berlin, Germany.

To save us time and keep us from misplacing your work, please observe the following guidelines for electronic submissions:

1) Submit all texts (poems or prose) by one author in the same file (i.e. not a separate file for each little poem).
2) Name the file with your translation as follows: pr for prose, ly for poetry_your last name_the author’s last name_e. So Anthea Bell’s translation of prose by E. T. A. Hoffmann would be: pr_bell_hoffmann_e.doc. Name the file with the original the same way, but ending with _dt (pr_bell_hoffmann_dt.doc). Stephen Mitchell’s translation of Rilke poems would be ly_mitchell_rilke_e.doc, and the original would be ly_mitchell_rilke_dt.doc.

Apologies if this sounds complicated, but it really would be a great help!

For more information, see our “Translators’ Tips” on the no man’s land website, and feel free to contact us at the above e-mail address.

We look forward to reading your work!

The Editors, no man’s land
www.no-mans-land.org


*Defined more or less as writers currently active, or active in the later 20th/early 21st century. When in doubt, query!

** We are willing to make exceptions for translations that have appeared previously in very limited circulation and that we feel deserve a new audience. Again, please feel free to query.

no man's land issue 5 now online

Incredibly, amazingly, we can hardly believe it ourselves-ly, the fifth issue of no man's land is now online at www.no-mans-land.org.

The only magazine devoted entirely to new German writing in English translation, it's chock-full of delights this time around. We have fiction by Volker Braun, Werner Bräunig, Dietmar Dath, Johanna Hemkentokrax, Kai Gero Lenke, Siegfried Lenz, PeterLicht, Milena Oda, Gerhard Roth and Lutz Seiler and poetry by Lars-Arvid Brischke, Ulrike Draesner, Jörg Fauser, Claudia Kohlus, Fitzgerald Kusz, Marcus Roloff, Ulrike Almut Sandig and Tzveta Sofronieva.

We were thrilled to receive an unprecedented number of submissions this year, and I'd like to say a big thank you to all the excellent translators who sent us the fruits of their hard work.

And now take the rest of the day off work and read the damn thing! You won't regret it.

no man's land issue #5 launch - don't ask me...

The wonderful, amazing online magazine of contemporary German-language literature in translation no man's land (which I co-edit) launches its fifth issue on Wednesday! In Berlin! Come along! The new issue should go live at about the same time. Please don't ask me what to expect at the launch, as I have no idea whatsoever. Here's the announcement:

DER IGEL FLIEGT HEUT NACHT/THE IGEL FLIES TONIGHT
Launch of the 5th edition of no man’s land
- the online magazine for new German literature in English

November 24, 2010
8:30 p.m.
CCCP
Rosenthaler Str. 71, Berlin
5 € / 3 € / 0 €

Founded in 2006, no man’s land (www.no-mans-land.org) is the only online magazine to publish exclusively new German literature in English translation. For many readers, it their first comprehensive introduction to contemporary German literature. And no man’s land’s vital culture of translation builds bridges between the local literary scene and English-language translators, writers and readers in Berlin and all around the world.

The 5th edition presents fiction by Volker Braun, Werner Bräunig, Dietmar Dath, Johanna Hemkentokrax, Kai Gero Lenke, Siegfried Lenz, PeterLicht, Milena Oda, Gerhard Roth and Lutz Seiler and poetry by Lars-Arvid Brischke, Ulrike Draesner, Jörg Fauser, Claudia Kohlus, Fitzgerald Kusz, Marcus Roloff, Ulrike Almut Sandig and Tzveta Sofronieva.

Instead of the usual launch reading with German writing and English translations, we’re celebrating with a special event. This time the two languages will be shaken and mixed in a bi- and interlingual edition of the infamous “analysis show” ROTTEN KINCK OHNE: “The Igel Flies Tonight” with star poets Ann Cotten and Monika Rinck, a performance that will also be documented in the issue.

Monika Rinck and Ann Cotten: For the launch of no man’s land # 5 we present ROTTEN KINCK OHNE, a reduced edition of the format known as the ROTTEN KINCK SCHOW, this time with Ann Cotten und Monika Rinck, unfortunately without Sabine Scho, who is in Sao Paolo at the moment.

Under the title "THE IGEL FLIES TONIGHT" the NOVEMBER RKO will enlighten the dark corridor of language. Language as in English and in German, corridor as in Buñuel. The whole drudgery of translation will come into play: Hypnosis-Cabin, Etym-Oubliette, Hackepeter-Hedgehog.

THE RKS and RKO try by all (epistemological) means possible to produce ANSCHAULICHKEIT. Associations are eo ipso arguments. Nothing is simplified - even though it can get rough sometimes. Things will be used.

We await the Igel in suspense… and hope to see you there!

Yours truly,


The Editors, no man’s land


+*#+#'*'#*#*#**'''#+'+##*'##*#*''#*#*''
#' THEIGELFLIESTONIGHT *#
*##*''*#'#+*#'#*##'*''###*#*#*##*#*##

I TOLD YOU LIKE IT WAS: THE IGEL FLIES TONIGHT
GERMAN-English RKO – with Ann Cotten, Monika Rinck,
JUST THIS ONCE WITHOUT Sabine Scho

HYPNOSIS-CABIN
KASPAR HAUSER FORCESLEEP-HORTUS
Hackepeterhedgehog – Too Important To Go Away
#WHERE SLEEPS HETSCHHOTSCH TONIGHT?
# DOOMSDAY for the TRANSLATOR (Exorcism or: BRIDGE of VOMIT)
# TO REVERBERATE – ALIEN VOICE
# READING HORSE'S FACES (after Silvan S. Tomkins)
# GENERAL KNUSEMONG – en general que nous aimons
# WATTHAPPEN? IDONNO IWILLASCK

ENSUITE: .. The ERROR-stretch of imagination -- the dark shaft of details .. the psycho-physio analogy of vis inertiae .. work performance of natural beings … land ownership comme competence … expelled from the circle of juices .. pièce de resistance ..auri sacra fames .. exculpation par sameness of conditions .. The centripetal and the centrifugal tendency in schmantz .. the blessing of being with very close people the veiling nivellement of kludge. --- the rhythm in the rolling of indifference.. "On the Terminology of the Sales Tax in Switzerland"

Your Chance To Shine

Call for Submissions – no man’s land # 5

Contemporary German-language fiction and poetry in English translation.
Deadline: August 20, 2010.

no man’s land, the online journal for contemporary German literature in translation, is seeking submissions for its 2010 issue.

For prose, send up to 3 texts (stories or self-contained novel excerpts, max. 4,000 words each) by one or different contemporary* writers. For poetry, send work by up to 3 poets, each to a maximum of 5 poems. No simultaneous submissions, please, and – with some possible exceptions** – no previously-published translations. The deadline is August 20, 2010 (postmark date), and we will inform contributors by late September 2010; the issue will go online in November. We regret that we are unable to offer honoraria.

Please include your contact information, biographical and publication information (for both translator and author) and a copy of the original. Also, please provide proof of permission from the original publisher and/or author – whoever holds the rights to the piece (this could be a copy of a letter, or forward us an e-mail).

Submissions should be sent to no man’s land, PO Box 02 13 04, 10125 Berlin, Germany. If you can include the original text in file format (PDF or other), submissions can be sent electronically to Isabel Cole at isabel@no-mans-land.org.

For more information, visit our website at www.no-mans-land.org, and feel free to contact us at the above e-mail address.

We look forward to reading your work!

The Editors, no man’s land
www.no-mans-land.org


*Defined more or less as writers currently active, or active in the later 20th/early 21st century. When in doubt, query!

** We are willing to make exceptions for translations that have appeared previously in very limited circulation and that we feel deserve a new audience. Again, please feel free to query.

Translation Idol 2010 - The Winners

I just know you're all on tenterhooks, but readers, it was all so mentally exhausting it's taken me until now to recover. So thank you so much for your patience.

Son of Translation Idol - no man's land sucht den Superübersetzer went rather well, if I do say so myself. The task this time was to put a song into English, which is no mean feat. But we had a good few submissions from Berlin-based translators and literature lovers, and from more far-flung climes too. Our poet was the delightful Jan Böttcher, who also regaled us with his own German versions of formerly English songs on the guitar.

As time-honoured tradition has it, Jan got to bestow the Poet's Prize on his own favourite, which was Tony Crawford's version. I don't think anyone spotted the hidden Paul Simon reference though. Sadly Tony couldn't be with us on the night and the live Hollywood link-type technology was down due to human error. So he'll have to collect his amazing prizes another time.

The democratic part of the event though is the balloting process to determine the winner of the Audience Award. There was some dissent among the rank and file over the first-past-the-post system, with calls for a more European voting modus. But in the end everyone just marked their favourites with a cross because the electoral committee (i.e. me) was in no mood for mental arithmetric.

Third place went to the inimitable John Manning, a veteran of the no man's land translation lab. Second came the young newcomer Lesley Dean, who was even accompanied live on the guitar by her friend Nina. And number one by a substantial majority, Translation Idol 2010 was...

Steph Morris (aka DJ Lang) for his free version liberally strewn with references to seventies soul tunes.

All the translations should be up on the no man's land website in the next few days, where you can also listen to the original tune.

no man's land #4 launch reading

no man’s land # 4 launch reading
with fiction by Emma Braslavsky, Claudius Hagemeister and Julia Schoch
November 3, 2009
8 p.m.
Saint Georges Bookshop
Wörther Str. 27, Prenzlauer Berg
Free admission

no man’s land is proud to launch Issue # 4 with a bilingual reading of fiction by three very different young writers. Just in time for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Emma Braslavsky traces the crisscrossing arcs of pre- and post-Wall friendship, while Julia Schoch’s “Capturing in Passing” evokes the GDR as brutal summer camp. And Claudius Hagemeister’s Grim Reaper escorts us unceremoniously from post-Wall to posthumous reality.

Emma Braslavsky will read with her translator Andrew Boreham, Claudius Hagemeister will read with translator Nicholas Grindell, and Zaia Alexander will read her translation of Julia Schoch.

After the reading, we hope you’ll stick around for a celebratory beer from Saint Georges’ reasonably-priced bar! We look forward to seeing you.

no man’s land # 4 will appear on November 1, 2009 with translations of fiction by Emma Braslavsky, Claudius Hagemeister, Sudabeh Mohafez, Julia Schoch and Keto von Waberer and poetry by Carl-Christian Elze, Hendrik Jackson, Adrian Kasnitz, Nicolai Kobus, Birgit Kreipe, Christoph Wenzel and Harald Weinrich at www.no-mans-land.org.

The Editors, no man’s land
www.no-mans-land.org