it's my pleasure, I really enjoy your writing. Simple. Clean. Almost always brings a smile to my face, a relief in the face of the world today. and thank you for returning the favor!
I thought we'd better continue our conversation about translation ~ translating, trans-ferring written words between languages ~ and how this flows into our writing...
You are so far the only literary translator I've met on Substack so far, so that's an exciting common background, which may have catapulted you into writing too?
One of the reasons why I write...
I remember, back in the days when I was working as a translator and had 20+ books to my name, all proudly lined up in my bookshelf, one day the idea of be(com)ing a writer crept in.
'I've written 20+ books,' I thought, 'and none of them are mine. Maybe it's time I started writing my own...'
Well that was the first reason, the one that started my new writing chapter, nearly 30 years ago.
I wanted to write fiction (in the style of my favourite writer), and I've written five novels, none of them published (so far). It was a lot harder than anticipated 😅 I ended up writing 'creative non-fiction' for reasons explained in chapter 9 of my 'serialised non-fiction' book 'Synchronosophy' here on substack https://veronikabondsynchronosophy.substack.com/p/the-heartwood-of-synchronosophy-part-2f5
One of my first loves as a kid was Agatha Christie (followed closely by Stephen King), so for the longest time I wanted to write that type of fiction. It was only really in university, when I was exposed to other forms of literature, that I started to think more seriously about getting published. For the next few decades, I had pieces accepted in a few journals, and began to do some translation work, but it's really only in the last decade that I've become more serious about moving into literary translation (with one crime novel under the belt and another one coming up) plus work on my own (horror!) novels. But I also love non-fiction and memoir, especially experimental writing in these genres, and journal writing.
I've saved chapter 9 from 'Synchronosophy' to read a bit later. :)
As someone new to your work and Substack, is there anywhere in particular you think I should start reading first?
Thank you so much for subscribing, Ollie 🧡 🙏 and welcome to my substack(s). Synchronosophy is a book, which is easier to understand when the chapters are read in sequence. It may or may not be of interest to you, but that's obviously yours to decide.
Symbiopædia (Wordcasts for the Symbiocene) is more of a 'blog about words' and you can dive in anywhere, scroll through the archive and see which title captures your interest. In these wordcasts I am not so much looking at the usual 'etymology' but more at the differences between how words are used and distorted in anthropocentric language. A good place to start is probably the 'About' page https://veronikabondsymbiopaedia.substack.com/about
Congratulations to publishing your own writing in journals! (and of course to your novels) It sounds like your writing journey has taken you the other way round, from writing your own to literary translation.
Thank you Veronika, lovely to connect with you and I’m looking forward to exploring your work. I’m sure we’ll have loads to talk about from now on! :-)
P.S. are you thinking of serialising your work here on substack? There is also a substack library where you can enter your book titles. https://thelinklibrary.substack.com/
I’ve considered it! And I was also thinking of sharing work-in-progress excerpts of this new novel I’ve been commissioned to translate. With the horror novel, I need to decide if I start a whole separate Substack for it, or a new section within this one…
Don't I know it! Love to you, friend. Hope you will read and comment in "Lifeboat" et al.
Thank you as always for reading, Mary! I have "Lifeboat" saved and look forward to reading. Much love back.
"and I won't be here forever"❤️🩹
Jodi, thank you so much for recommending my Substack. I've been getting Subscribers via you! 🙏🏻💓
it's my pleasure, I really enjoy your writing. Simple. Clean. Almost always brings a smile to my face, a relief in the face of the world today. and thank you for returning the favor!
My pleasure 😌
This is so beautiful.
Thank you, Lia.
Because it is my sanity. 😉
And mine too! 😄
So many good reasons to write!
I thought we'd better continue our conversation about translation ~ translating, trans-ferring written words between languages ~ and how this flows into our writing...
You are so far the only literary translator I've met on Substack so far, so that's an exciting common background, which may have catapulted you into writing too?
One of the reasons why I write...
I remember, back in the days when I was working as a translator and had 20+ books to my name, all proudly lined up in my bookshelf, one day the idea of be(com)ing a writer crept in.
'I've written 20+ books,' I thought, 'and none of them are mine. Maybe it's time I started writing my own...'
Well that was the first reason, the one that started my new writing chapter, nearly 30 years ago.
Yes! I love connecting with other translators and I'm very glad to have met you here. :-)
I know a few other translators; I can recommend Bruna Dantas Lobato, though she doensn't post very often here: @bdantaslobato
When the first thoughts crept in about writing, was it a desire to write your own non-fiction, or fiction?
I wanted to write fiction (in the style of my favourite writer), and I've written five novels, none of them published (so far). It was a lot harder than anticipated 😅 I ended up writing 'creative non-fiction' for reasons explained in chapter 9 of my 'serialised non-fiction' book 'Synchronosophy' here on substack https://veronikabondsynchronosophy.substack.com/p/the-heartwood-of-synchronosophy-part-2f5
How about you?
One of my first loves as a kid was Agatha Christie (followed closely by Stephen King), so for the longest time I wanted to write that type of fiction. It was only really in university, when I was exposed to other forms of literature, that I started to think more seriously about getting published. For the next few decades, I had pieces accepted in a few journals, and began to do some translation work, but it's really only in the last decade that I've become more serious about moving into literary translation (with one crime novel under the belt and another one coming up) plus work on my own (horror!) novels. But I also love non-fiction and memoir, especially experimental writing in these genres, and journal writing.
I've saved chapter 9 from 'Synchronosophy' to read a bit later. :)
As someone new to your work and Substack, is there anywhere in particular you think I should start reading first?
Thank you so much for subscribing, Ollie 🧡 🙏 and welcome to my substack(s). Synchronosophy is a book, which is easier to understand when the chapters are read in sequence. It may or may not be of interest to you, but that's obviously yours to decide.
Symbiopædia (Wordcasts for the Symbiocene) is more of a 'blog about words' and you can dive in anywhere, scroll through the archive and see which title captures your interest. In these wordcasts I am not so much looking at the usual 'etymology' but more at the differences between how words are used and distorted in anthropocentric language. A good place to start is probably the 'About' page https://veronikabondsymbiopaedia.substack.com/about
Congratulations to publishing your own writing in journals! (and of course to your novels) It sounds like your writing journey has taken you the other way round, from writing your own to literary translation.
Thank you Veronika, lovely to connect with you and I’m looking forward to exploring your work. I’m sure we’ll have loads to talk about from now on! :-)
I look forward to those conversations, and to reading your work too, of course, abraços
P.S. are you thinking of serialising your work here on substack? There is also a substack library where you can enter your book titles. https://thelinklibrary.substack.com/
I’ve considered it! And I was also thinking of sharing work-in-progress excerpts of this new novel I’ve been commissioned to translate. With the horror novel, I need to decide if I start a whole separate Substack for it, or a new section within this one…