In Review: The Week of November 18th

On the Blog

~ We emerged after our greasy-spoon feed to bring you our sixth annual Literary Awards Hangover where we match the deserving nominees and winners with equally-deserving indie followups~ Our annual #ALUGiftGuide includes recommendations from Téa Mutonji, Lauren Carter, Lindsay Nixon, and Tyler Hellard for just about everyone on your holiday-book-buying list.

Around the Web

~ Because language is always in flux, here’s a look at words that dawned in the 2010s~ In feel-good books news, a bookstore owner in Nova Scotia lets her fostered kittens roam the store to the delight of customers~ In not-so-great books news, the RBC Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction is on its way out in 2020 

via GIPHY

ICYMI (last week)

Off/Kilter: Interview with Translator Rhonda MullinsWe sat down with Rhonda Mullins to talk about her experience translating some of the dark and fantastical lit from Coach House Books:“ALU: The importance of accuracy vs. the lyrics of translation: Are the two mutually exclusive and when it comes to books with elements of the dark, strange or surreal, like those mentioned above? Do you lean more in one of these directions than another in order to convey the meaning of the text?RM: There is usually a way to manage both. In a pinch, I will tend toward lyrics, knowing if I stray too far from accuracy, I will be pulled back by my editor. I translate prose, so you have the leeway to make it longer if need be. That’s why I’m in awe of poetry translators. They have so many hard decisions to make.”