MEMBER BLOG TAG: bernardo atxaga
| Monday, May 3, 2010 12:26AM | | | | Alias, Author | Tags: World Voices, aliases, pseudonyms, Bernardo Atxaga, Alina Brodsky, Randa Jarrar
| | | In my visits to the various agent blogs, I’ve read about pseudonyms as a solution to a bad sales history, the idea being that U.S publishers are more willing to take on a debut author than one whose previous book(s) tanked. So when the moderator of the Friday panel “Incognito: Writers and Their Aliases,” Arnon Grunberg, asked if using a pseudonym when not forced to do so is an expression of narcissism, I though no—for the desperate author, it’s survival. However, panelist Randa Jarrar argued that writing itself is an act of narcissism, in that we create a form of art that takes up many hours of other people’s time.
Jarrar, Bernardo Atxaga, and Alina Brodsky joined Grunberg in discussing the importance of names... | | | | | | | Sunday, May 3, 2009 11:43AM | | | | Atxaga Encounter | Tags: Bernardo Atxaga, National Book Critics Circle, Instituto Cervantes, Alissa Valles, Graywolf
| | | Friday after moderating the National Book Critics Circle panel "This Critical Moment," which provided context for the work of a number of this year's PEN World Voices Festival authors, I ran into Basque author Bernardo Atxaga at the Instituto Cervantes. A crowd there was celebrating World Voices with Moet et Chandon and Soanish snacks (paella, tortilla, grilled shrimp, gazpacho).
I shared with Atxaga the remarks Alissa Valles, multilingual translator, had made about his work--including the fact that he translates his novels into Spanish first himself, making it easier for the next step of translation into English. (Graywolf is publishing two of his award-winning novels,The Accordionist's Son and Obabakoak, this year and next.) His poetry, in Basque, is not as available in English. Valles... | | | | | | | Sunday, May 3, 2009 9:48AM | | | | Readings from Around the Globe | Tags: Colm Tóibín, Bernardo Atxaga
| | | | It was on Friday night, my third at PWV, that things began to get blurry. I rushed from the Scandinavia House in the East 40's to the 92nd St Y, arriving just in time for the event to begin. This reading was another panoramic shot of writing from around the world, formally identical to the opening night's event at Cooper Union. Eight readers each read from their work in their native language while a projection of an English translation (if required) scrolled up a screen behind them. My attention was pretty unfocused, so a lot of what I heard was just sound. In fact, I can only recall two readers with any kind of clarity: Bernardo Atxaga of the Basque region in Spain, and Colm... | | | | | |
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