Award-winning author and Brooklyn resident Nicole Krauss will celebrate the forthcoming release of the latest edition “Best European Fiction,” by hosting a conversation with the anthology’s editor, MacArthur Genius Grant Award-winning writer Aleksandar Hemon. The anthology, which is the third volume in the annually published series, offers one piece of fiction per European country per language, and for the first time, will feature an introduction by an American author — Krauss herself.
“These stories are so different from each other,” Krauss said of the collection. “It’s amazing to see how many different styles they are — some are crushingly realistic and others are so fantastical; it isn’t a straight anthology.”
Krauss explained her reverence for translation, and translators — the anthology, published in English, spotlights writers whose prose has been translated from dozens of languages — as a primary interest, and as inspiration in her own literary life. Krauss said that it is through works of translation, she is able to peek into other worlds, cultures and experiences from which she’d be otherwise barred as an English-speaker with nominal knowledge of French and Spanish.
“My reading diet depends on translations; I’m a charity of translators,” said the author, who earned a National Book Award nomation for her most recent novel, “The Great House,” and whose work has been translated into more than 35 languages. “It widens your consciousness. When you read a writer who comes to you through the porthole of translation, you’re entering into a whole new way of looking at things.”
Nicole Krauss and Aleksandar Hemon at Book Court [163 Court St. between Pacific and Dean streets in Cobble Hill, 718) 875-3677]. March 25, 7 pm, free. For info, visit www.bookcourt.com.
