Cover not available
Part of
Translating Asymmetry – Rewriting Power
Edited by Ovidi Carbonell i Cortés and Esther Monzó-Nebot
[Benjamins Translation Library 157] 2021
► pp. 269–289

Chapter 12
Small yet powerful

The rise of small independent presses and translated fiction in the UK

ORCID logo | University of Exeter

At the turn of the century many feared that the UK publishing scene was soon to be dominated by an ever-more consolidated number of conglomerates, pushing what was already a risk-averse industry even further away from bold endeavours such as translated literary fiction. Yet this has not materialised, and in the UK translated fiction has seen remarkable growth. Using data from prestigious literary prizes, this chapter analyses the shift in power away from the “big five” publishers and their imprints to small, independent publishers. It also analyses the consequences of this shift for the actions of those involved in the chain of production and consumption, including what this means not only for the profile of books that are translated and published, but also how translators approach their task.

Keywords: literary prizes, Booker Prize, Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, independent publishers, cultural capital, translated fiction, translator studies
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.2001: A turning point for translated fiction
  • 3.The data: The Booker Prize, the Man Booker International Prize, and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
  • 4.Gender: Closing the gender gap in translated fiction?
  • 5.Publishers: Smaller presses lead the way in translated fiction
  • 6.Source language and country: Slow but significant shifts towards diversity
  • 7.Translated fiction: Times of change and the role of activism
  • 8.Conclusion: Power dynamics in translated fiction: Revolution and consolidation
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 16 August 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.157.12man
References
Anderson, Chris
2004 “The Long Tail.” WIRED, 1 October, 2004. [URL]
2009 The Longer Long Tail: How Endless Choice Is Creating Unlimited Demand. New York: Random House Business.Google Scholar
BookMachine
2019 “Interview with Archna Sharma, Founder of Neem Tree Press.” BookMachine, 27 February, 2019. [URL]
Bourdieu, Pierre
2008 “A Conservative Revolution in Publishing.” Translation Studies 1 (2): 123–153. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, Mark
2009 “Booker Longlist Pits Fiction’s Finest Against First Kiss-and-Tell Chimp.” The Guardian 28 July 2009 [URL]
2010 “Amis-Free Booker Prize Longlist Promises to ‘Entertain and Provoke’.” The Guardian 27 July 2010 [URL]
2013 “Man Booker Longlist ‘most Diverse’ in Prize’s History, Say Judges.” The Guardian 23 July 2013 [URL]
2014 “Man Booker Prize: David Nicholls and Ali Smith among 13 Names on Longlist.” The Guardian 23 July 2014 [URL]
2015 “Man Booker Prize 2015: US Literary Agent among 13 Writers on Longlist.” The Guardian 29 July 2015 [URL]
2016 “Man Booker Prize Judges Reveal 2016 Longlist.” The Guardian 27 July 2016 [URL]
Cain, Sian
2016 “Man Booker International 2016 Longlist Includes Banned and Pseudonymous Authors.” The Guardian 10 March 2016 [URL]
2017 “Amos Oz and Ismail Kadare Named on Man Booker International Prize Longlist.” The Guardian 15 March 2017 [URL]
Carson, Margaret
2019 “Gender Parity in Translation: What are the Barriers Facing Women Writers?” In Other Words (52): 37–42.Google Scholar
Chandler, Mark
2019 “HarperCollins Announces HarperVia Fiction in Translation Imprint.” The Bookseller, 12 March, 2019. [URL]
Crown, Sarah
2004 “Booker Longlist Welcomes First-Timers.” The Guardian 26 August 2004 [URL]
2005 “Literary Heavyweights Dominate Booker Longlist.” The Guardian 10 August 2005 [URL]
2007 “Low-Key Booker Longlist Shuns Literary Stars.” The Guardian 7 August 2007 [URL]
Ezard, John
2002 “Booker Longlist Announced.” The Guardian 19 August 2002 [URL]
2006 “Man Booker Judges Serve up a Familiar Longlist.” The Guardian 15 August 2006 [URL]
Flood, Alison
2012 “Booker Prize 2012: New Guard Edges Out Old in Wide-Ranging Longlist.” The Guardian 25 July 2012 [URL]
2016 “ ‘Crazy but Fantastic’: Man Booker Prize Pitches Tiny Publishers into Big League.” The Guardian 29 July 2016 [URL]
2017 “Man Booker Prize 2017 Longlist Led by Arundhati Roy’s Return to Fiction.” The Guardian 26 July 2017 [URL]
2018a “Man Booker Prize 2018 Longlist Includes Graphic Novel for the First Time.” The Guardian 23 July 2018 [URL]
2018b “Man Booker International Prize Longlist: Han Kang up for Top Gong Again.” The Guardian 12 March 2018 [URL]
2019a “Man Booker International Prize 2019 Longlist Sees Small Publishers Win Big.” The Guardian 13 March 2019 [URL]
2019b “Handmaid’s Tale Sequel Leads ‘Exacting’ 2019 Booker Prize Longlist.” The Guardian 23 July 2019 [URL]
Hahn, Daniel
2017 “Hidden Bias in the Publication of Translated Literature.” In Other Words 49: 47–51.Google Scholar
Irvine, Lindesay
2011 “Man Booker Prize 2011 Longlist Announced.” The Guardian 26 July 2011 [URL]
Jack, Andrew
2015 “Translators: Publishing’s Unsung Heroes at Work.” Financial Times 6 October 2015 Accessed 2016/10/10. [URL]
Jacobs, Emma
2016 “Translators Step into the Literary Spotlight after Man Booker Win.” Financial Times 26 May 2016 Accessed 2016/06/01. [URL]
Johnston, Ian
2015 “Independent Foreign Fiction Prize: ‘Delightful Discoveries’ in Foreign Fiction Prize; Iconic Novelists and Debut Writers among 15 Books on Long-List for Prestigious Award.” The Independent 12 March 2015 Nexis UK.Google Scholar
Jordan, Justine
2003 “Booker Longlist Includes Amis, Snubs Carey.” The Guardian 15 August 2003 [URL]
Lea, Richard
2007 “Kadare Heads Foreign Fiction Prize Longlist.” The Guardian 19 January 2007 Nexis UK.Google Scholar
2008 “Imperilled Publisher Races for Foreign Fiction Prize.” The Guardian 25 January 2008 Nexis UK.Google Scholar
MacLehose Press
2019 “Company Information.” Hachette UK 2 July 2019 [URL]
Mansell, Richard
2017 “Where Do Borders Lie in Translated Literature? The Case of the Changing English-language Market.” TranscUlturAl: A Journal of Translation and Cultural Studies 9 (2): 47–63. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2020 “Strategies for Success?: Evaluating the Rise of Catalan Literature.” In Translating the Literatures of Small European Nations, ed. by Rajendra Chitnis, Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen, Rhian Atkin, and Zoran Milutinović, 126–144. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pauli, Michelle
2008 “Booker Longlist Boost for First-Time Novelists.” The Guardian 29 July 2008 [URL]
Post, Chad W.
2019 “Will Translated Fiction Ever Really Break Through?” Vulture, 7 May, 2019. [URL]
Rønning, H., and T. Slaatta
2011 “Marketers, Publishers, Editors: Trends in International Publishing.” Media, Culture & Society 33 (7): 1–12. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sapiro, Gisèle
2016 “How Do Literary Works Cross Borders (or Not)?: A Sociological Approach to World Literature.” Journal of World Literature 1 (1): 81–96. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shamsie, Kamila
2015 “Kamila Shamsie: Let’s Have a Year of Publishing Only Women – A Provocation.” The Guardian, 5 June, 2015, [URL]
Squires, Claire
2007 Marketing Literature. London: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Studemann, Frederick
2019 “How a Tiny London Publisher Picked two Nobel Prize Winners.” Financial Times, 11 October, 2019. [URL]
Testard, Jacques
2019 “Fitz, Fitz, Let’s Go – European Literature.” TLS, 18 October, 2019. [URL]
The Independent
1990 “Independent Book Award.” The Independent 31 March 1990, 35.Google Scholar
Tobler, Stefan
2013 “And Other Stories.” Logos 24 (4): 7–11. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tonkin, Boyd
2000 “Books: The Gift of Tongues; a Week In Books.” The Independent, 24 June, 2000, 10. Nexis UK.Google Scholar
2001 “Contentious French Novel on ‘Independent’ Shortlist.” The Independent 1 March 2001 Nexis UK.Google Scholar
2002 “The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize: Take Away the Tariff on Translations.” The Independent 9 March 2002 Nexis UK.Google Scholar
2003 “A Week in Books.” The People 15 February 2003 Nexis UK.Google Scholar
2004 “A Week in Books.” The Independent 6 February 2004 Nexis UK.Google Scholar
2005 “A Week in Books.” The Independent 28 January 2005 Nexis UK.Google Scholar
2006 “The Long-List for This Year’s Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.” The Independent 20 January 2006 [URL]
2009 “The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.” The Independent 27 February 2009 Nexis UK.Google Scholar
2010 “Buenos Aires to Baghdad: Reading All over the World.” The Independent 12 March 2010 Nexis UK.Google Scholar
2011 “Reading across a Continental Shift.” The Independent 11 March 2011 Nexis UK.Google Scholar
2012 “The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize Long-List Spans a Planet of Stories.” The Independent 9 March 2012 Nexis UK.Google Scholar
2013 “From Syria to Colombia, and Albanian to Afrikaans, Enjoy a Global Feast.” The Independent 2 March 2013 Nexis UK.Google Scholar
2014 “Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2014: Our Long-List Reveals a Fictional Eco-System of Staggering Diversity.” The Independent 7 March 2014 Nexis UK.Google Scholar
United Nations
1999 Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use. New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
Vassallo, Helen
2019a “Building Bridges interview series: Antonia Lloyd-Jones.” Translating Women, 19 November, 2019. [URL]
2019b “Building Bridges Interview Series: Nicky Smalley, And Other Stories.” Translating Women, 23 October 2019. [URL]
2020 “Building Bridges Interview Series: Nicci Praça.” Translating Women, 5 February, 2020. [URL]
Vogel, Saskia
2014 “Yawn No More: Americans and the Market for Foreign Fiction.” Publishing Perspectives, 11 June, 2014. [URL]
Walsh, Joanna
2014 “Small Presses Growing Translated Fiction’s Readership.” The Guardian, 23 January, 2014. [URL]
winstonsdad
2010 #translationthurs -a twitter day for the world. In Winstonsdad’s Blog, 14 July, 2010. [URL]
Yates, Emma
2001 “Booker Prize Longlist Announced for First Time.” The Guardian, 15 August, 2001. [URL]