The translator, translated

I’ve been gratified beyond measure by the attention in Brazil to my translation of a Brazilian god, including letters from academics and journalists starting nerdy discussions with me on fine points–my happy place! An unexpected development has been media coverage ……
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Sheltering in the Prose of a Master

I recently had an email conversation with Miguel Conde, the reviews editor at the venerated online magazine of international literature Words Without Borders. Miguel is a perceptive and intimidatingly well-informed reader and it was a very fun exchange but I ……
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Why is Graciliano Ramos barely read outside of Brazil?

My thoughts on it are here: a piece for the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative on one of Brazil’s best-loved writers and why we’ve never heard of him. Graciliano Ramos: All educated Brazilians have read at least one of his books and more ……
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Why Maggie Nelson Is Always My Favorite

Because she’s the best. Check out this New Yorker piece, which offers fresh things to find in Go, Dog, Go and Natalia Ginzberg and tedium and social isolation in our time.

The Plague Boom

Like many writers in the pandemic age (it feels like an age, but it’s only been a few weeks so far), I have been wondering how best to respond. Poets and nonfiction writers have been the quickest off the mark, ……
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Prelude to the Plague

Every few years, I make another attempt at restarting posting on this “blog,” an effort that seems ever quainter as “blog” itself now sounds quaint. My very failure to maintain it should be, by now, comforting–surely I’m destined again to ……
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Found: Gun, damp

Now that the police have come, I can talk about this: Yesterday, as I was leaving the house with kids, dog, mother, I passed, for the second time, what looked like a damp glove on our street. This time, as ……
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Gaveaway again!

These five people won Audible.com copies of The Toss of a Lemon–congrats to them and thanks to all for entering!