Listen to a podcast recording of the writer and translator Daniel Hahn in conversation with Vayu Naidu, Royal Holloway’s Royal Literary Fund Fellow, 2019-20.
Daniel Hahn. Photograph (c) John Lawrence.
Daniel Hahn is a British writer, editor and translator and former chair of the Society of Authors. He visited us on 22 January 2020 to talk about what it’s like today working in the writing and publishing sector, and about the many kinds of work he does with a range of organisations which support literature, reading and free expression.
Much of his own work has to do with international writing, and Daniel is himself the prizewinning translator of many innovative and trailblazing works. Among these A General Theory of Oblivion, by Angolan writer José Eduardo Agualusa, deals with the ghosts of empire which become those of decolonisation. It was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize and won the International Dublin Literary Award. Daniel discussed being both a writer and translator, what the ‘point’ of literature/creative work in translation is, and why it has just become even more vital to our sanity and social peace.
You can access and/or download the podcast here: https://backdoorbroadcasting.net/2020/01/daniel-hahn-translating-worlds-and-why-it-matters-writing-and-publishing-in-translation-in-the-uk-today/
