Fiction from Wales translated to meet Asia demand

Apr 26 2008 by Rhodri Clark, Western Mail

FICTION by Welsh authors is being translated into Turkish and Arabic to meet Asian bookworms’ growing interest in contemporary Wales.

Publishers in the Middle East have chosen some of the grittiest portrayals of life in Wales for their readers – but that can cause a few difficulties.

Stories have to be chosen with care because ripe language and descriptions of sexual activity might not pass the censors or could offend readers in some countries.

And one translator said it was impossible to translate into Arabic the vernacular used by author Niall Griffiths in his novel Runt, which revolves around a teenage savant on a Welsh hill farm.

“The translator found it hard to find the equivalent in written Arabic, which is different from spoken Arabic,” said Sioned Puw Rowlands of Welsh Literature Abroad, which promotes Welsh books for translation.

“They didn’t have any problem with the content of Runt.”

Another difficulty is that no Arabic translators can work directly from Welsh-language texts, so books or poetry in Welsh must be translated into English before the translator can start – and before the publisher can decide whether the material would suit their market.

Welsh-language books have been translated into many other languages, including Italian and Japanese, by people proficient in Welsh and the local language.

Despite this difficulty, an Arabic translation is now under way of Manon Rhys’s Welsh-language novel Rara Avis.

Turkish readers should soon be able to read, in their own language, The Long Dry by Cynan Jones and Overland by Richard Collins. One Turkish publisher is interested in Fresh Apples, a book of short stories by Rachel Tresize. An Egyptian publisher has also bought rights to The Long Dry.

Dr Rowlands said her organisation had been promoting Welsh writing at book fairs in the Middle East for the last two years.

“That’s going to continue,” she said. “I think it will develop towards Asia, rather than in the African direction.

“There’s a lot of potential in India. That’s one of our targets for this new financial year. Many new publishers are appearing at the moment in India and there’s great interest in publishing work from overseas. We’ve had inquiries from publishers in India.”

The fast-growing Chinese economy was another target, she said. Poetry by RS Thomas had been published in Mandarin, and Welsh Literature Abroad had exhibited at the main book fair for the Far East in Taiwan.

Dr Rowlands said reading books by foreign authors improved international understanding.