I was invited to speak recently to the students of a college Translation and Interpreting program. The professor explained to me that most students aim for interpreting careers, thinking that translation careers are rare, not lucrative, or otherwise not for them. I brought together a set of resources and questions to help students figure out if translation could be a career option for them and the outlook of the profession. In addition, over the past several years, students anticipating graduation and professionals contemplating career changes have come to me to learn more about the work I do and how to get started with similar work.
How do you go about bringing your book to readers? Whether your book is fiction or nonfiction, there are several options you may consider. This post is all about how to navigate publishing your own book, including whether to work with a traditional publishing house or to self-publish.
One book we’d recommend for anyone planning to publish their own book is Perfect Bound: How to Navigate the Book Publishing Process Like a Pro by Katherine Pickett.
In this post, I want to bring together information and resources regarding children’s literature in Arabic. The primary impetus for this post is to inform and assist librarians and teachers, in public libraries and schools, particularly in the United States, who want to purchase and provide books in Arabic for kids and their families.
Context First, we need to introduce one key linguistic concept: diglossia. Diglossia refers to the existence of multiple levels of language usage within any given language.
Our concept of seasons is formed in part by where we live. In Rhode Island, we had four fairly equal seasons (reflected in the lineup below). Since moving to Minnesota in 2022, our seasons and weather vary dramatically. Change, sometimes very fast, is key here. What do seasons mean to you? If your seasons differ from New England, adjust accordingly (for example, if you’re in New Zealand, reverse them for below suggestions).
A couple years ago, I was contacted by Sarah Cypher (pictured here), an editing colleague who is also an author. She was in the editing phase for her novel, The Skin and Its Girl (2023), and she was looking for a sensitivity/authenticity reader to help ensure that her book would be at its best before launching. She needed someone who could provide a subject matter (sensitivity) read regarding her representation of a fictional 1950s Palestinian-American family.
Relating to the MENA/SWANA region Discretion by Faïza Guène | The best Algerian novel to my knowledge, it recounts the experience of an Algerian family fitting into life in Paris. Likeable characters, provides a view of Algerian colonial and postcolonial experience. Available in French and English. I picked this up after reading an interview with the author here. I was struck by her comment that there are very few likeable Arab men in literature, but there are plenty in real life.
The world of professional editing includes a variety of services, most of which can be envisioned as a series of levels. At each step in the editing process, the editor approaches the text from a different level, providing a piece of its transformation from raw ideas into polished content. Some texts need more work in certain areas than others, but every text will benefit from some form of editing. In this blog post, I aim to provide an overview of the stages of editing, based on the process generally followed by publishers.
Guest Post by Hend Saeed
As the world appears to move at full speed, following in the wake of technology and AI, reality disappears behind filters, illusions, photoshops, and AI thinking for us. This aspect of technology, that strips us from our reality, removes us from the blessings of having senses, feelings, emotions, and a mind that generates these. We find ourselves running a race, competing to be the best on the surface – focusing on quantity rather than quality.
In honor of Salma Khadra Jayyusi, who passed away earlier this year, I’d like to revisit Juha the famous trickster character. I was fortunate enough to study Arabic langugage and literature during the years when Jayyusi’s PROTA project was bringing many works to the attention of readers in English. One of these works is published as Tales of Juha: Classic Arab Folk Humor (Northampton, MA: Interlink, 2007). This is a great compilation and rendition of many classic Juha stories.
Houston | Photo by Vlad Busuioc
A few months ago, I picked up Black Water Rising (2009, 1st in the Jay Porter series by Attica Locke) and I was plunged into a world of daily struggle–the struggle to survive, to stay true to one’s principles, to take care of one’s family–often against the odds. I don’t find myself in the perspective of a Black man providing for his family very often, but this opportunity to view the world through someone else’s eyes for a time is a gift.
