CONVERSATIONS ON THE FUTURE OF TRANSLATION
World Literature Today|Spring 2020
Good Storytelling Still Trending - An Interview with Antonia Lloyd-Jones
Veronica Esposito
CONVERSATIONS ON THE FUTURE OF TRANSLATION

Antonia Lloyd-Jones has translated works by many of Poland’s leading contemporary novelists, including Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk, Jacek Dehnel, Mariusz Szczygiel, and Artur Domoslawski. She has been a mentor for the Emerging Translator Mentorship Program and co-chair of the UK Translators Association. In 2018 she was honored with Poland’s Transatlantyk Award for the most outstanding promoter of Polish literature abroad.

Veronica Esposito: You’re someone who is able to make a living off of being a literary translator. How do you do it?

Antonia Lloyd-Jones: It’s thanks mainly to good luck and hard work. I went entirely freelance in 2001, but for fifteen years before that, translation was a paid hobby, while I had what I call “sensible” jobs, earning a regular salary. Those jobs allowed me to take out a mortgage and buy property, which means I don’t have to pay rent and can always rent out the place if my work dries up. Part of the secret of financial survival is accepting a wide variety of jobs (good for developing the craft), and although I can afford to be choosy now, I still accept unusual jobs, partly to stretch my skills. These smaller jobs bring in useful income as well as providing variety.

This story is from the Spring 2020 edition of World Literature Today.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the Spring 2020 edition of World Literature Today.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM WORLD LITERATURE TODAYView All
Our Revenge Will Be the Laughter of Our Children
World Literature Today

Our Revenge Will Be the Laughter of Our Children

What is it about the revolutionary that draws our fascinated attention? Whether one calls it the North of Ireland or Northern Ireland, the Troubles continue to haunt the land and those who lived through them.

time-read
10+ mins  |
Winter 2021
Turtles
World Literature Today

Turtles

In a field near the Gaza Strip, a missile strike, visions, and onlookers searching for an explanation.

time-read
6 mins  |
Winter 2021
Surviving and Subverting the Totalitarian State: A Tribute to Ismail Kadareby Kapka Kassabova
World Literature Today

Surviving and Subverting the Totalitarian State: A Tribute to Ismail Kadareby Kapka Kassabova

As part of the ceremony honoring Kadare as the 2020 laureate—with participants logging in from dozens of countries around the world— Kadare’s nominating juror, Kapka Kassabova, offered a video tribute from her home in Scotland.

time-read
6 mins  |
Winter 2021
Dead Storms and Literature's New Horizon: The 2020 Neustadt Prize Lecture
World Literature Today

Dead Storms and Literature's New Horizon: The 2020 Neustadt Prize Lecture

During the Neustadt Prize ceremony on October 21, 2020, David Bellos read the English language version of Kadare’s prize lecture to a worldwide Zoom audience.

time-read
10+ mins  |
Winter 2021
Ismail Kadare: Winner of the 2020 Neustadt International Prize for Literature
World Literature Today

Ismail Kadare: Winner of the 2020 Neustadt International Prize for Literature

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, World Literature Today presented the 2020 Neustadt Festival 100 percent online. In the lead-up to the festival, U.S. Ambassador Yuri Kim officially presented the award to Kadare at a ceremony in Tirana in late August, attended by members of Kadare’s family; Elva Margariti, the Albanian minister of culture; and Besiana Kadare, Albania’s ambassador to the United Nations.

time-read
3 mins  |
Winter 2021
How to Adopt a Cat
World Literature Today

How to Adopt a Cat

Hoping battles knowing in this three-act seduction (spoiler alert: there’s a cat in the story).

time-read
6 mins  |
Winter 2021
Chicken Soup: The Story of a Jewish Family
World Literature Today

Chicken Soup: The Story of a Jewish Family

Chickens, from Bessarabia to New York City, provide a generational through-line in these four vignettes.

time-read
10 mins  |
Winter 2021
Awl
World Literature Today

Awl

“Awl” is from a series titled “Words I Did Not Understand.” Through memory—“the first screen of nostalgia”—and language, a writer pieces together her story of home.

time-read
10+ mins  |
Winter 2021
Apocalyptic Scenarios and Inner Worlds
World Literature Today

Apocalyptic Scenarios and Inner Worlds

A Conversation with Gloria Susana Esquivel

time-read
10+ mins  |
Winter 2021
Marie's Proof of Love
World Literature Today

Marie's Proof of Love

People believe, Marie thinks, even when there’s no proof. You believe because you imagine. But is imagination enough to live by?

time-read
10+ mins  |
Winter 2021