Start: 2014
End: 2016
Partner: ICU OOD (Bulgaria) Publishers
Action: Creative Europe Literary translation projects
Summary:
The current project envisions the translation, publication and promotion of three novels by contemporary British writers. All three books dissect the anatomy of modern European consciousness and dig deep—but with sense of humor and loving care—into the painful issue of human migration. The project opens with Priya Basil and The Obscure Logic of the Heart, followed by Chris Cleave and The Other Hand, and closes with The Road Home by Rose Tremain. Selecting novels of high literary qualities, we aim to cover versatile aspects of the theme: religious and cultural differences, tension between immigrants and locals, feeling of loss and separation, love in a situation of irreconcilable religious postulates; the choice (or necessity) of leaving one’s home country to try make a living. This is central to the modern literary consciousness of multicultural Europe. The objective of our project is to involve Bulgarian readers in a larger literary context by offering a perspective that is broader than our individual lives, while at the same time invoking empathy and asking questions about identification and belonging. Tremain, Basil and Cleave and their books will be introduced for the first time to Bulgarian readership. We consider the absence from Bulgarian literary horizon of these highly acclaimed and prized British writers a gap and intend to fill it in. The issue of human migration is central not only for this project of ours but also for the publishing policy of ICU as a whole. Given the complexity of the source texts, the project pays particular attention to the quality of translation. We work with a team of experienced translators. Indologist by education, Rozova is a profiled translator of authors of Indian descend. Krysteva is a winner of Elizabeth Kostova Foundation best translation award. Karieva is personally involved with the writing of Rose Tremain for years and herself an emigrant, living in Germany.
Website: http://www.icu-bg.com