Why Publishers Are Looking Beyond English To Reach The Next Generation Of Readers
\n\nAn Istanbul literary agent sat down for an unscheduled lunch in Sharjah last week and stood up with a letter of intent. Nermin Mollaoğlu had agreed to place a novel by the Turkish writer Ayşe Kulin with a Serbian publisher, in Serbian translation. No London agent took a commission on it, and no New York editor was asked for an opinion.
\n\nThe 45th Sharjah International Book Fair opens today at the Expo Centre and runs to 15 November, carrying 1.7 million titles and 3,212 publishers and exhibitors from 126 countries, with Oman as guest of honour. The three days of rights trading that preceded it are the part the industry actually watches.
\n\nThe deals coming out of the publishers' conference share a pattern. Al Arabi Publishing and Distributing of Cairo sold Serbian rights to 'Noon Al-Niswiyya', a study of feminism from an Arab perspective. Andrea Pasion-Flores of Milflores Publishing in Manila came away with four translation agreements with partners in Jordan and Egypt, covering a novel, a short-story collection and two works of non-fiction.
\n\nEgyptian to Serbian. Filipino to Arabic. Turkish to Serbian. Not one of those…
Original source: https://www.timesnownews.com/lifestyle
