(photo from my home office in Seattle, around the time I was translating the 3 Wallander procedurals by Henning Mankell that I did)Come on down and meet us (Tiina Nunnally and Steven T. Murray) at Elliott Bay Book Co. at 5 p.m. on Sunday, September 12th. We'll be talking about translating Nordic crime fiction and other stuff, and will answer all your questions about Stieg Larsson's books that we know the answers to! Also any other of our many translations. Reg Keeland promises he will show up too.
Good evening Steven/Reg! Both Mrs Scrobs and I thought that your translation of the three books was exceptionally clear and concise.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that the trilogy has been the best trio of books I've probably ever read, and perhaps you deserve more praise for your input than you expect!
It was a good yarn wasn't it!
Thanks for the kind words -- did you attend our little show at Elliott Bay by any chance?
ReplyDeleteWe do our best to make our translations read as though the books were written in English, even though our UK editors sometimes throw in some ringers for an American audience. It's gratifying to reap some praise for 11 months of solid work 4 years ago!
Do check the blog occasionally, where I announce all our upcoming publications, many of which come out in the UK first. Watch for MISTERIOSO by Arne Dahl from Pantheon in February, I believe, translated by my wife Tiina Nunnally. It's a good one, by a true literary author.
Yes, Stieg's yarn was stupendous and had me gripped all the way through -- since I don't read thrillers before starting the work, because I like to be as surprised as the reader will be. I think that preserves some additional freshness in the tone.
And we're also planning to revive some of the books we published at Fjord Press, this time on Kindle and possibly other e-platforms. We were just ahead of our time doing Nordic books in the 80s and 90s!
Best wishes from Albuquerque,
Steve