Interview with Author and Translator Tiina Nunnally

The Divine Secrets of the Writing Sisterhood would like to welcome author and translator Tiina Nunnally to our blog today!

Tiina proofreading a manuscript -- with 
a little help from her cat.

Tiina Nunnally has translated more than fifty works of fiction from the Scandinavian languages into English, including Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg, and The Royal Physician’s Visit by Per Olov Enquist.  She has also done new translations of Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen and Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren. She lives in Albuquerque and makes her living as a full-time literary translator.

What languages do you work with when it comes to translation?

I translate from Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish into English.

How did you get your start in the writing industry?

I started translating in my free time because I wanted my friends to read some of the great Scandinavian books that I was reading. My first translated book was a memoir called Early Spring, written by the Danish author Tove Ditlevsen. I was lucky enough to have it published by Seal Press in 1984. It also won the American-Scandinavian Foundation Translation Prize, so that really encouraged me to continue translating. That same year, at a conference on Scandinavian literature in Seattle, I met Steven T. Murray, the editor in chief of Fjord Press. We ended up getting married the following year, and we ran Fjord Press for twenty years, publishing mostly Scandinavian and German fiction in translation. We never made a profit (and always had to have other jobs to pay our bills), but our books received excellent reviews in major newspapers. We met a lot of authors and editors, and we learned so much about the publishing business.

What is the process of becoming a book translator?

Like any art, it requires practice, practice, practice. I always encourage beginning translators to try their hand at essays and short stories, just because they’re a manageable length. And it’s best to choose a work that you really love, with a writing style that suits you. Doing technical translation is also great practice — translating financial, legal, and corporate documents. It teaches you to meet deadlines, to do the necessary research to learn the appropriate vocabulary for the job, and to adapt to different writing styles.  And technical translation pays better than literary translation! In the US there are very few translators who can make a living by translating fiction.

When it comes to translation, how do you get your foot in the door with publishers (in other words, do you query them or do they seek you out to translate specific works)?

The US or UK publisher chooses the translator for any given work. Once you’ve established a track record by having a few books published, editors will seek you out for new projects. By the way, translators don’t have agents, which means that we have to negotiate our own contracts. Over the past 25 years, Steve and I have made a point of requesting a royalty clause in our contracts with both US and UK publishers. The translator plays an essential role in the success of any translated work — so if the book is a hit, the translator should benefit financially.

Do you ever get the opportunity to meet with or have a conversation with the author of a novel you’re working on?

It’s always great if an author is willing to answer questions. These days it’s so much easier, because we can send queries via email — although I’ve worked with one Swedish author who doesn’t “believe” in email! So we’ve had many long phone conversations about specific passages in his books.

What have been some of the most difficult scenes to translate?

Humor is one of the hardest things to translate. Something that is funny in one language may not be at all funny in another language.  Swear words are also a challenge. In the Scandinavian languages, all of the worst curse words have to do with the devil. In English, we usually make reference to God or to sex when we swear. I once translated a Danish novel that was filled with swear words, and the author (whose English was not very good) sent me a frantic email asking me why I’d put all those “gods” in his book!

How does a translator weigh the lyricism/cadence of the original language with the meaning of the words? Is there ever a point where you sacrifice literal translation to try to get the poetry of a passage across?

“Literal translation” has no place in a work of fiction. Translating “word for word” will produce a flat, lifeless text that no one will want to read. Translation is an art, and the translator is rather like a musician who has to “play” the work, trying to get as close as possible to the “music” of the original composition. This involves paying attention to the style and tone. For example, if the book is written in a very colloquial style, you need to match that appropriately in English. You wouldn’t want a 17th-century monk using 21st-century slang! As a translator, it’s also important to understand the nuances and cultural references of the language that you’re translating from — but it’s even more important to be a good writer in your own language.

Is there one specific genre you prefer working with or do you enjoy translating all kinds?

I prefer to translate prose. These days Steve and I both translate a lot of crime fiction, which we enjoy because we get to use a lot of current slang (and swear words!). I’ve also translated a lot of classic novels, which can be difficult because you need to match the tone and style from a past era. In general, I like to take on projects that challenge me as a translator and a writer. I rarely translate poetry, which requires a whole different approach. I usually say that you need to be a poet yourself in order to translate a poem successfully.

Since your husband is a translator as well, do you ever work on a project together?

We always edit each other’s work. After I finish my first draft of a translation, I sit down and read through the whole thing again, making changes and corrections with a green pen. Then Steve reads the manuscript, marking changes in red. I look over his changes, either accepting them or not (using a third colored pen!), and then all the corrections have to be entered in the computer before the manuscript goes off to the publisher. When Steve translates a book, the process is reversed. So you can see that each translation is read at least four times before it leaves our house.

Do authors ever get angry about how their works are translated? Do they have any say before the translation is published?

Some authors get more involved in the translation process than others. Most Scandinavian writers speak English well, which can sometimes create problems for the translator, because the author may want to “correct” the English. We diplomatically try to discourage this type of “help.” It’s really a matter of trust. The author needs to trust the translator to present his or her novel in a way that gets as close as possible to the style and intent of the original. I always say that the translator’s first loyalty is to the author — not to the publisher or reader. It’s my job to “speak” for the author in English, and I take that responsibility very seriously.

If a writer wanted to translate his/her own work into a second language, would you encourage them to do so or caution him/her against translating their own work?

It’s usually best to have a professional translator take on that task. A bad English translation can ruin the author’s chances in the US and/or UK market.

There has been some discussion over the original translation of Sigrid Undset’s Kristin Lavransdatter after your translation was published in 1997-2000 (published in one volume in 2005). Can you explain a little why the original English translation fails to capture the essence of the story and what Undset was trying to get across to the reader?

Because the book is set in the 14th century, the first translators apparently decided to make the English sound archaic to match their idea of how people would have talked during that time period. The result is a stilted and awkward style that bears no resemblance to the beautifully clear and straightforward style of the original Norwegian. The early translations are also marred by mistakes and misunderstandings, and for some reason entire passages were deleted from the text (especially in the second volume of the trilogy). Sigrid Undset is one of my favorite authors, and I was dismayed to see her work so poorly represented in English. So I was thrilled when Penguin asked me to do a new translation of Kristin Lavransdatter that would restore the missing passages and try to get much closer to Undset’s style.

What novels are you currently working on?

I just finished translating a Danish suspense novel by Jussi Adler-Olsen called The Keeper of Lost Causes, which will be published by Dutton in August. It’s the first in a series (exciting plots, great characters, plus a sense of humor) that should really appeal to readers.

* Join me over at the Random Book Review this weekend where I will be reviewing the first novel in the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy, The Wreath!

♥ Mary Mary

Age and blood-ties: Do readers impose their taboos on the industry?

Oscar Wilde did not believe in "dangerous" books

The publishing industry claims there are no forbidden themes in fiction, agreeing with Oscar Wilde´s quip that there is no such thing as bad books, only badly-written ones. But we, readers, know very well what topics disturb us. What happens when the public refuses to read novels dealing with controversial topics? Won´t the industry budge to its clientele´s tastes? What are the once safe subjects that now upset modern sensibilities?

I begin by saying that my comments are on the American scene, since the United States is still the leader in book-publishing in the world. Other publishing industries have their own idiosyncrasies and prohibited subjects, but to all of us who write in English, it´s the American industry that matters.

I am fifty-one years old, and like most people my age, I am painfully aware of the distinction between Twentieth Century’s and contemporary cultures. Our way of thinking has evolved tremendously and that applies to literary tastes as well. A Third Millennium reader might be shocked and offended by the way classical works of literature dealt with love in times when spousal rape, underage sex, and sibling marriage used to be the norm.

As modern critics applaud the erasure of racist epithets in Huckleberry Finn, so they show antipathy towards certain subject matters in current fiction. Exploring user´s comments on Amazon and other sites, I have come to recognize what issues are considered “icky” and elicit the most “how gross!" and ”eeews!” from readers. Among those controversial scenarios are cousin-marriage and May-December affairs, even when they take place in historical settings.

From Jane Austen to Louisa May Alcott, “kissing cousins” were frequent romantic elements in Victorian novels. Over a hundred years, and several medical and social misconceptions later, marriage among cousins disgusts American audiences. Unless it is shown as illegal, incestuous and negative, such a relationship in modern literature is unthinkable. Not surprising since the only Western country that bans those unions is the United States (and it´s unlawful just in thirty states).

Cousin-marriage a la Austen

The British YA novel How I Live Now, has been widely criticized on the Internet for depicting a love affair between a fourteen-year old and her first cousin. Users and critics agree that books should carry warnings signs to alert readers about unsavory content. Not even children’s literature is safe from such displeasure. I heard that copies of the well-loved Babar series now have been censored so there is no mention that Celeste, the elephant’s wife, is also his first cousin. Are they doing the same with Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit? Because if I don’t ill recall, Peter married his first cousin, Topsy.

The same distaste applies nowadays to that old romantic staple: May-December love affairs. Even if it happened in days of yore, the idea of an underage wife makes readers flinch. It’s no use telling people that until World War I, men married old and women married in their teens. Just remember Scarlett’s fear of becoming a spinster like 20-year old India Wilkes. But perhaps, Gone with the Wind is, by present standards, a dangerous novel.

May-December romance in GWTW

I was nine-years old when I came across my first copy of Gone with the Wind. It took me two days to finish it and less than fifty pages to turn it into my favorite novel of all time. It might come as a surprise that Melanie marrying her first cousin or Scarlett marrying the much older Rhett Butler did not shock me. I am embarrassed to say, I was not even offended by Rhett raping the heroine. I guess, many felt that way because in 1987, conducting a poll among my high-schools students, I found that GWTW was still a YA bestseller. I wonder if that would hold true today. Do teen readers, and adults, still fall in love with GWTW, or are they uncomfortable with it´s racism and sexism, not to mention the odd matrimonial customs of the Old South?

Gigi and her much older paramour

With that in mind, I can understand why modern sensibility cringes at films like Gigi, based on Colette´s novel, which has a fourteen-year old reforming and marrying a bored womanizer. How do people feel about Jo March marrying old, but loving, Professor Baher? And how many complaints have I read about Twilight because 100-year old Edward is a tiny bit older than teenaged Bella? The fact that Bella is an “Old Soul”, who would much rather cook and read Jane Austen than do drugs at the nearest disco, should be taken into consideration.

Bella messing around with an "older man"

As I wrote once, Fantasy and Science Fiction offer great refuges for taboo-breaking. George R.R. Martin became a bestselling author after creating a world, in his saga Song of Ice and Fire, where incest is not a crime, thirteen-year-old brides are acceptable. The hottest craze for vampire romances lets May-December thrive as long as, quoting a reader, “the hundred-year old vampire looks good!”

Must add, so this doesn´t sound like an attack on people´s preferences, that certain novels do disturb me , even if set in fabled worlds or historical settings. Today, many of us are uncomfortable with early bodice-rippers that dealt with “rape fantasy” romances (i.e. heroine raped by hero). Visiting a romance forum, I sympathized with comments repudiating Rosemary Rogers and Kathleen Woodwise’s works for including that scenario, but then I was appalled when the same readers embraced Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander that has the villain raping the hero. Talk about a double standard!

To anyone that asks, I wholeheartedly recommend Jacqueline Carey´s Kushiel series. It offers elegant prose, plenty of intrigue and adventure stories, and Carey has created a wonderful parallel world that mirrors the European Middle-Ages. Having said that, I confess that after reading the first book in the series, I gave up on it. I found it excessive , not to mention sickening, to read about a society that made sex the number-one priority, where girls were trained to become sacred prostitutes , and where the heroine’s greatest gift was to experience pleasure through pain.

I realized that only the “Historical Fantasy” label permitted the Kushiel series to become part of mainstream literature. I don’t believe it would have worked if masochist Phedre had been the protagonist of a contemporary romance or a historical novel, because reader tolerance does not encompass historical settings. And one of the best examples is The Kindly Ones, Jonathan Littel’s award-winning novel.

American- born Littell chose to write this novel in French, he had it published by the prestigious Gallimard publishing house, and eventually went on to get Le Prix Goncourt, the French equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize. The Kindly Ones is an exploration of the Holocaust written from the point of view of an SS officer, a highly educated, but deeply-disturbed human being.

Although vastly praised, The Kindly Ones has come under fire by several critics that begrudge its historical inaccuracies, the handling of the Holocaust, and last but not the least, the almost pornographic juxtaposition of sex and violence. Add to the fact that the protagonist is homosexual and has this obsession with somodizing his sister, and you´ve said it all.

There´s even a story that Littell, having been rejected initially by many American publishing houses, eventually rewrote his novel in French. What fuels the possibilities of this rumor being true is that The Kindly Ones’ translation, bought by HarperCollins, did very poorly in the American market. Which shows the industry knows its readers and their likes and dislikes.

Now it´s your turn to tell us what subjects you find repellent? What novels have made you cringe? And should the industry stay away from controversial themes?

Interview with Editor Nick Harrison

I'm delighted to have Mr. Nick Harrison in our blog here today. Mr. Harrison is an editor at Harvest House Publishers and also a published author.

Welcome Mr. Harrison to the Divine Secrets of the Writing Sisterhood!




Q: How you did you get your break in publishing?

A: I’ve always wanted to write. In college I majored in English and minored in Journalism. I eventually went into bookselling and during slow times, wrote articles. When I grew too fast, I lost my bookstores and had to start over. Amazingly, I got my first contract for a book easily. The second followed. Subsequent contracts have been harder to get.

Q: Please tell us about Harvest House Publishers. What are your responsibilities there?

A: I’m one of five senior editors at Harvest House—a mid-sized Christian publisher. I acquire new books and edit those assigned to me. Our website is at http://www.harvesthousepublishers.com/

Q: What genres do you acquire?

A: Both fiction and non-fiction. In fiction, historical romance is hot right now. Contemporary fiction is pretty slow for us. We tried fantasy and that didn’t work for us, I’m sorry to say.

Q: Is there anything in particular you are looking for at the moment?

A: I’d like to see some fiction with quilting as a backdrop. Fiction that has warm and fuzzies associated with it.

Q: What are your top three authors of all time?

A: Barbara Pym, Sherwood Anderson, Willa Cather.

Q: What are your top three books?

A: A Glass of Blessings by Pym, Winesburg, Ohio by Anderson, and probably My Antonia by Cather.

Q: Do you accept unagented writers’ submissions?

A: Yes, but it’s best to meet us at a writer’s conference for that to happen.

Q: What is the average time it takes you to respond to a submission?

A: A month.

Q: What percentage of the submissions that you receive do you end up buying?

A: One percent, perhaps.

Q: What is the most common mistake you find in manuscripts? What kinds of problems are deal-breakers for you?

A: Poor writing and submitting to the wrong publisher are the two biggest mistakes. Authors who perceive as being unteachable would be deal-breakers.

Q: Have you ever acquired a book from someone you met at a conference?

A: Oh yes, several times.

Q: Please tell us what the day in the life of an editor is like.

A: Most of my time is spent editing manuscripts assigned to me. The rest of the time is reviewing manuscripts and book proposals.

Q: Could you take us through the process of acquiring a book? How many people are involved in the final decision?

A: Really only five. These five people are on the publisher’s committee and they make the ultimate decision as whether or not to publish a book. I don’t have a vote. The five are the president of the company, the head of sales, the head of marketing, the head of editorial, and our acquisitions director.

Q: How much weight does the personal taste of an editor have in the decision of acquiring a book?

A: Very little. What matters is if the book will match the personal tastes of our readers.

Q: How much marketing/self promotion does Harvest House expect from a writer aside from internet interviews/blogs?

A: When the book is new (front list), it gets some attention from our marketing department. But the following season, it’s backlist and the burden falls to the author, although we still do what we can in booking radio or TV appearances.

Q: Is it true that it is now harder for new writers to sell fiction? In your experience, do authors more often than not exceed their advances with debut novels?

A: I don’t think that’s necessarily true. If a new writer is a good writer, their fiction should sell to a publisher and then to the public. That’s provided they have the right publisher. Some good fiction doesn’t sell because the publisher isn’t able to reach the readers for that book. Publishers are distinctive in that way. They don’t all have the same readership.

Q: I understand you write a lot of non-fiction. Have you ever written or considered writing fiction? If so, what genre appeals to you?

A: Oh yes. I wrote two historical novels years ago. I may try again. My problem is that I come home from working on other people’s manuscripts and the last I want to do is sit in front a computer working on yet another one….even though it’s mine.

Q: As a writer, it must be handy to also be a professional editor, but how much does your inner critic prevent you from letting your creative side loose?

A: I try not to listen to my inner critic during the first draft. After the thing is down on paper, then I turn him loose.

Q: Finally, what advice do you give new writers on how to get published? Do you think nowadays it is indispensable for a writer to have an agent?

A: It’s not indispensable, but increasingly important. My advice is always have project underway, attend conferences, read the writing magazines, know the market, and persist.

Thank you, Mr. Harrison!

For more information and advice from Nick Harrison, please visit his blog:
http://www.nickharrisonbooks.com/blog/