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Kate Griffin: Taking literature to a new level
Courtesy of Kate GriffinA self-professed book lover, Kate Griffin travels the world to discover inspiring literature
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Courtesy of Kate Griffin
A self-professed book lover, Kate Griffin travels the world to discover inspiring literature.
When she finds them, Griffin, who is the international program director for the British Center for Literary Translation (BCLT), makes them available in English.
'When people find out that I work for the BCLT, they often assume I'm a translator myself. But I'm not. I'm a reader,' Griffin says.
BCLT was set up in 1989 by the German writer, WG Sebald, at the University of East Anglia. BCLT is a small center, but it works with a lot of partners in the UK and around the world.
The center is partly academic in its focus, but it also works with the literature and publishing sector to encourage more literary translation.
Griffin joined BCLT in 2010. Previously, she worked for Arts Council England as a literature officer from 2001 onward. Since 2004, she has specialized in international literature and translation, supporting a range of literary organizations, publishers, writers and translators.
Over the past couple of years, Griffin has focused on developing an extensive international program that complements the center's work in the UK. The center currently has projects in Qatar, Brazil, Estonia, China, Japan, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Singapore.
'I became interested in literary translation because I wanted to be able to read the books my friends in other countries were talking about, so that I could join in their conversation,' she says.
When traveling, Griffin says she meets people who tend to know a lot about English-language writers, but she usually knows little about theirs ' as relatively little literature from around the world is translated into English.
'If you think of literature as a dialog between countries, the UK talks but it doesn't listen much. I like listening to other people's conversations and I also like joining in sometimes, so I wanted to be able to read more books in translation,' she explained.
Personally, she said she does not have a favorite book of all time but there are a couple that she has recently enjoyed ' A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie and The Mirror of Beauty by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi ' both stories that explore ways in which independent-minded women navigate the society around them, as well as other cultures. At BCLT, Griffin and her team focus on the translation of literature from around the world into English.
'At BCLT we believe that those UK readers ' and writers ' are missing out on new ideas, literary trends, insights into other cultural contexts, the spectrum of stories from around the world,' she said.
The center, she said, focuses on languages and literatures that were currently under-represented in English ' in other words, most world literature ' but it concentrated on languages and literature for which it sees increasing interest.
As a center focusing on translation into English, she is aware that BCLT has a key role to play in global translation flows.
'International writers are keen to be translated into English, for a number of reasons. English is widely spoken and widely read, so it increases their readership around the world,' said the 49-year-old, who was born in Wantage, UK.
'Also, many publishers will read the English translation of a work in order to decide whether to translate it into their own language.'
In the UK, BCLT works with the UK readership through reading groups and public events, raising the profile of international writers, as well as awareness of the art of literary translation.
Outside the country base, BCLT also works with institutions that share its aims, including Nippon Foundation, as part of the Read Japan program; the Chinese publishing ministry, as part of the country's Going Out Program; as well as several organizations in Singapore and Indonesia.
In Singapore, BCLT collaborates with the Arts House and the National Arts Council to run a literary translation boot camp, linked to the annual Translation Symposium, with workshops translating between the languages of Singapore ' from Chinese, Tamil and Malay to English.
'In Indonesia, we were aware that translation of literature from many languages goes into Bahasa Indonesia via the English translation, so we worked with InterSastra on workshops to explore that process, bringing authors from Norway, the Netherlands and China and their English translators to work with Indonesian translators,' said Griffin.
Many of the center's projects are inspired by its Summer School model, which brings together writers and translators for a week of hands-on workshops to explore the process of translation.
As Indonesia is developing its quality of literary works by participating as guest of honor at the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair, Griffin urged for the creation of both national and international networks for the exchange of good practice, ideas sharing and experiences.
'We need to look at how you build an infrastructure to support literary translation on an ongoing basis, something the Indonesian government is currently exploring as part of the work toward the Indonesia Guest of Honor at Frankfurt Book Fair,' she said.
'Our experience in the UK and elsewhere has shown the importance of institutions such as translation centers that can offer ongoing support for literary translation, including professional development for literary translators, grants and funding for publishers to ensure that translators are paid fairly, as well as residencies for translators.'
In her third visit to Indonesia, Griffin has learned a bit about the country's literature.
'Much of what I know about Indonesian literature I've learned from the Lontar Modern Library of Indonesia; every time I visit Indonesia I go away with a pile of books,' said Griffin.
She finds the clash between tradition and modernity, and the search for identity, such as in Never the Twain by Abdoel Moeis and translated by Robin Susanto, as themes which resonate with her.
She also attended the Ubud Writers Festival in 2012, where she heard work by authors such as Oka Rusmini and Umar Kayam.
At the ASEAN literary festival in March in Jakarta, she saw performances by a number of Indonesian writers, including Khairani Barokka and Afrizal Malna.
'I know that there is a wide range of exciting writing coming from Indonesia, and I'm looking forward to reading more in the future.'
