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Intan Paramaditha's 'Gentayangan' receives PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants
First established in 2003, PEN/Heim Translation Fund awards grants to promote the publication and reception of translated world literature in English.
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Written in the style of a choose-your-own adventure novel, Intan Paramaditha’s latest book Gentayangan: Pilih Sendiri Petualangan Sepatu Merahmu (The Wandering: Choose Your Own Red Shoes Adventure) hands you a pair of pretty red shoes and sets you free to roam the earth. (Shutterstock/File)
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ntan Paramaditha’s book, Gentayangan: Pilih Sendiri Petualangan Sepatu Merahmu(The Wandering: Choose Your Own Red Shoes Adventure), was among recipients of the 2019 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants.
First established in 2003, PEN/Heim Translation Fund awards grants to promote the publication and reception of translated world literature in English. According to PEN America’s website, the Translation Fund received 237 applications from a wide array of languages, genres and time periods.
The committee had chosen 10 works, including Gentayangan: Pilih Sendiri Petualangan Sepatu Merahmu, and each project will receive US$3,500 to assist the completion of the translation.
Intan said in an email to The Jakarta Post that the book’s translator, Stephen J. Epstein, associate professor at Victoria University of Wellington, received the grant.
“This is our second collaboration after my collection of short stories Apple and Knife, which was published by Brow Books in Australia and Harvill Secker in the United Kingdom. Endorsements for Gentayangan: Pilih Sendiri Petualangan Sepatu Merahmu also mean that the book is appreciated beyond national borders, and I feel really honored for that,” she said.
Read also: Intan Paramaditha's 'Gentayangan' crosses many borders
“In the past few months I have been preoccupied with the publication of Apple and Knife in the United Kingdom, and the literary festivals in Hong Kong in Singapore, so I didn’t really think about grants and therefore receiving the great news from PEN America was quite unexpected,” added Intan.
Gentayangan: Pilih Sendiri Petualangan Sepatu Merahmu brings the readers to various cities, including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Berlin, Amsterdam and Tijuana.
Intan said the book was a reflection of travel, saying that she was inspired by the movement of people transcending national boundaries.
“As someone who has lived in different cities and countries, I ask many questions about what the global flows of people, images, capital. What moves us? Who has access to mobility, and who is disenfranchised in the circuit of global mobility? What is home and what is away? What if you are always in between, gentayangan – like ghosts, not quite ‘here’ in the world but also not quite ‘there’? These are the questions that shape the novel,” she said. (kes)
