Looks like Lovers and Strangers Revisited might have a French connection. A publisher in France with an interest in South East Asia has expressed an interest in translating Lovers and Strangers Revisited into French, after reading two of my stories, “Neighbours” from my website and “On Fridays” in Cha. Nothing is official, but they just ordered two copies of the collection to explore that very possibility. That’s a good start. Now they need to know the details of my contract with MPH so we can work out a solution, a win-win for all three of us.
Two of the stories from collection have already been published in France, though in English. “Sister’s Room” was published in the French literary journal, Paris Transcontinental back in 1992 the year before Heinemann Asia brought out the original Lovers and Strangers in Singapore.
Then in 2003, “On Fridays” was published in Frank as a joint publication with The Literary Review after Frank’s editor, David Applefield was their guest editor for the Expat Writing issue.
Is this the start of my European period? Last month Dr Rashidi, a friend who teaches Lovers and Strangers Revisited at USM here in Malaysia saw one of my short stories in Silverfish anthology at a German university, and then I was contacted from The Netherlands, when the Expatriate Archive Centre at The Hague requested a copy of Tropical Affairs: Episodes from an Expat’s Life in Malaysia for their library. And now France.
*Here's an update - it's official Lovers and Strangers Revisited is going French!
*Here's an update - it's official Lovers and Strangers Revisited is going French!
*Update, the 20th anniversary of Lovers and Strangers Revisited, my collection of short stories set in Malaysia
**Update: Book orders for Trois autres Malaisie. E-book orders. Or recommend it to your friends, especially those who would like to know more about Malaysia or have an interest in Southeast Asia.
***Here’s an update to the French blog about Trois autres Malaisie and my meeting the French translator Jerome Bouchaud in Kuching, and my involvement in a French documentary for Arte (June 2017) on The Sensual Malaysia of Somerset Maugham.
**Update: Book orders for Trois autres Malaisie. E-book orders. Or recommend it to your friends, especially those who would like to know more about Malaysia or have an interest in Southeast Asia.
Here's a link to the
intro and excerpts, and to four reviews of Trois Autres Malaisie in
eurasie.net, Malaisie.org,
easyvoyage.com,
and Petit
Futé mag.
***Here’s an update to the French blog about Trois autres Malaisie and my meeting the French translator Jerome Bouchaud in Kuching, and my involvement in a French documentary for Arte (June 2017) on The Sensual Malaysia of Somerset Maugham.
Here are links to some
of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:
Golda
Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.
Preeta
Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day.
Chuah
Guat Eng, author of Echoes of Silence and Days
of Change.
Plus:
Five part Maugham
and Me series
Beheaded on
Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part
I
2 comments:
Fingers-crossed for you!
Thanks. Your link was a big help. They originally came across only one story, then when I send them your link, they got pretty excited. Said if the quality of the stories were all at this calibre, would have no problem selling it in France!
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