Here is one of those delightful books that lure you into the pages of their fellows. Reading it, I kept wanting to send photos of pages to particular people. And to read what she’s been reading. By the end, I felt I had made a new friend. Lydia Davis is deftly insightful about her ownContinue reading “Lydia Davis – Essays One”
Tag Archives: books
Writing with Pleasure
Writing with Pleasure is a pleasure to read. I whizzed through it on the train down to facilitate a writing retreat. I was travelling to a pleasurable writing experience, with people I had written with before as individuals, though not in the same group. But I also knew the experience would be a pain. IContinue reading “Writing with Pleasure”
We wrote a book
This week, with two colleagues, I sent a book we had edited off to the publisher for peer review. This same week, I finished the first draft translation of another book. I’m working on that one with the author and a master’s student on placement with me. So in both cases, we were a teamContinue reading “We wrote a book”
Social writing – a guide in Finnish
I am delighted to see this book come into being. Johanna Isosävi’s and Camilla Lindholm’s Yhteisöllisen kirjoittamisen opas (Art House 2023) came out last month. It’s the first guide to social writing in Finnish. The book is both practical and inspirational; it packs a lot into a handy paperback. Lindholm and Isosävi run social writingContinue reading “Social writing – a guide in Finnish”
Writing your article in 12 weeks
Well, I finished reading it in that time, but I didn’t finish working through it. Laura Belcher is brilliant – if you do most of what she says. Why most? Because I have one reservation. Not that her book Writing your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks isn’t hugely helpful. It is. Anyone who thinks it’sContinue reading “Writing your article in 12 weeks”
Violent Phenomena
Violent Phenomena (eds. Kavita Bhanot and Jeremy Tiang, Tilted Axis 2022) rolls the south and east of the globe to the top. 21 essays address racism in the publishing industry in general and literary translation in particular: If you’re dual heritage, or mixed, or more, these essays will resonate. It’s time to get over monolingualContinue reading “Violent Phenomena”
Same here
For Women in Translation Month, I’d like to remember a woman translator I missed by a whisker, and share her thoughts on writing. Tarja Roinila was a prolific, much-loved, and much-awarded translator into Finnish. She died in 2020, aged just 56. She’d been translating prose, poetry and philosophy, from French, German and Spanish, for halfContinue reading “Same here”
Pitch your book
You have a great idea for a book, you’ve begun writing it, you’re sure your readers will appreciate it. You only have to convince a publisher. Where on earth do you start? I’m going to talk about non-fiction here, particularly about creative non-fiction. That means bringing ideas out of academia to a wider readership. I’llContinue reading “Pitch your book”
Revise!
“Revise and resubmit” are three words that fill academic writers with dread. My own PhD wasn’t ready when I submitted it first. Second time round, it was, because what was on the page more closely matched what was in my head. Two decades later, I remember how that process of reworking feels. Now, editing andContinue reading “Revise!”
101 ways to write
Sometimes imposing restrictions on your writing can be freeing. Translators know about this. We turn other people’s words into new ones in a different language that doesn’t work the same way. To quote Ginger Rogers, we do everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards, in heels. If you want to ginger up your writing, get yourContinue reading “101 ways to write”
Ridge Writing Retreats 