Michael Henry Heim (1943-2012)

 

Michael Henry Heim (1943-2012)

By Chad W. Post

I’m really not sure how to write this post . . . I didn’t know Michael Henry Heim as well as a lot of other people, such as Esther Allen, Susan Bernofsky, Sean Cotter, and the like, but I did have a number of really amazing interactions with him, and his passing is incredible sad and hitting me pretty hard. We’re quickly organizing a number of events at ALTA to honor Mike, who was definitely one of the greatest translators ever (not a hyperbole), and whose kindness, brilliance, passion, and giving nature have impacted more people than can be named. Simply put, in ways explicit and secret, Michael Henry Heim accomplished more for international literature over the past half-century than probably anyone else in the world. (Read to the bottom for a truly newsworthy revelation. And yes, I know I’m burying the lede, but I have my reasons.)

First off, just look at this incomplete list of authors that Mike translated: Milan Kundera, Bohumil Hrabal, Danilo Kis, Karel Capek, Peter Esterhazy, Dubravka Ugresic, George Konrad, Bertold Brecht, Gunter Grass, and Anton Chekhov. Yes. All of them.

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Fiction Longlist Announced for 2011 Best Translated Book Awards

By Hannah Johnson

Now in its fifth year, the Best Translated Book Awards (BTBA) fiction longlist highlights 25 translated works of literature published in the United States in 2010. The longlist represents authors from 19 countries writing in 12 languages.

The award was started in 2007 by Three Percent, a blog about literature in translation from Open Letter Press. Co-founder Chad W. Post said the list is a “testament to the number of high-quality works in translation that are making their way to American readers, thanks to a number of talented translators and exciting publishing houses.”

Criteria for selecting was based on the quality of both the original work and the translation.   …read more