Book News: MBFI and BEA Team for Translation Marketplace Summit

by Aida Bardales -- Library Journal, 10/08/2007

The Miami Book Fair International (MBFI) and BookExpo America (BEA) have joined forces to present the Translation Marketplace (www.thetranslationmarket.com), a one-day summit on world literature and translation. The seminar, which will take place November 8 during the 24th annual Miami Book Fair (Nov. 4–11), is limited to editors, publishers, literary agents/scouts, and others in the trade, and will address a variety of issues, including world literature, foreign rights, and licensing. The MBFI, one of the largest literary events in the United States, brings publishers, booksellers, authors, and readers together in downtown Miami, this year at Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus.

In collaboration with Críticas magazine, the panel “Latin American Literature in Translation” will provide U.S. editors and publishers with insight into current Latin American literature and up-and-coming authors. The panel will also address how U.S. publishers are already handling the translation of Latin American literature and what they should be doing to stay abreast of the Latin American book market. Panelists include editors Johanna Castillo (Atria Books), Lorin Stein (Farrar), and Valerie Miles (Santillana); literary agent Andrea Montejo; and David Unger, Guadalajara’s International Book Fair U.S. representative. Other panels taking place throughout the day include “The Portuguese Tale,” on books from Portugal, Brazil, and Africa; “Word Has It: The Agents Buzz,” featuring literary agents focusing on translations; and “Review This, Please,” with U.S. book review editors revealing some of the challenges and pleasures of reviewing translated works.