Jen Calleja | Fair | 16th June @ 7pm

Join us during Indie Bookshop Week for a discussion with Jen Calleja to discuss her new work Fair : The Life art of Translation. 

Fair is a satirical, refreshing and brilliantly playful book about learning the art of translation, being a bookworker in the publishing industry, growing up, family, and class.

Loosely set in an imagined book fair/art fair/fun fair, in which every stall or ride imitates a real-world scenario or dilemma which must be observed and negotiated, the book moves between personal memories and larger questions about the role of the literary translator in publishing, about fairness and hard work, about the ways we define success, and what it means – and whether it is possible – to make a living as an artist.

Fair is also interested in questions of upbringing, background, support, how different people function in the workplace, and the ways in which people are excluded or made invisible in different cultural and creative industries. It connects literary translation to its siblings in other creative arts to show how creative and subjective a practice it is while upholding the ethics and politics at play when we translate someone else’s work.

Blurring the lines between memoir, autofiction, satire and polemic, Fair is a singularly inventive and illuminating book by one of the UK’s most original and admired writers and translators.

Jen is the author of Fair: The Life-Art of Translation, Goblinhood: Goblin as a Mode, Vehicle, Dust Sucker, I’m Afraid That’s All We’ve Got Time For, and Serious Justice. She has also translated around twenty book-length works of contemporary German-language fiction and literary non-fiction into English for publishers including Fitzcarraldo Editions, Faber & Faber, Serpent’s Tail, Scribe, Other Press, Peirene Press, and Unnamed Press.

Book Voucher and Event Ticket - this ticket means you have £5 to spend on books on the night of the event if you fancy a little retail therapy. This option also helps us keep our events programme running

Event Ticket Only - A classic option, timeless even, absolutely does what it says on the tin

Event Ticket with a copy of Fair

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