Publishing from the Margins: the Challenges, Opportunities and Responsibilities of Working with ‘Under-Represented’ Languages

Translating and publishing writing from relatively under-represented languages provides as many opportunities as it does challenges – to act as a curator, create a context, and push against ‘commercial censorship’. Deborah Smith, whose translation of South Korean author Han Kang’s The Vegetarian was awarded the Man Booker International Prize earlier this year, and whose not-for-profit press Tilted Axis publishes innovative contemporary fiction translated from Bengali, Thai and Uzbek (and more to come), will discuss canon formation, gender imbalance, and cultural stereotypes from the perspective of both her roles.