Articles

Posted by Free Word on 21/12/11

Free Word interviews English PEN's Emma Cleave about writing in translation, overflowing inboxes and falafel for £2.50

Hi Emma, what do you do at the Free Word Centre?

I sit in the far left-hand corner of the English PEN office, where I spend my days running the Writers in Translation programme and eating the occasional Jaffa cake. When not in the office I like to walk (not run), observe birds and watch good films. The programme I run awards publishers with grants to publicise translated books. We do this because we want to raise the profile of translated literature and fill the great big empty space in the UK literary landscape where international literature should be.

Describe a typical day in your job

Like most other modern professionals,  I spend vast quantities of time working  inside a box… the inbox. Thankfully my job is not so ‘boxy’ in other aspects: I meet regularly with inspiring partners – like the British Centre for Literary Translation & The Reading Agency –  to discuss new and existing projects, I work with a committee of experts to select great books in translation for funding and I’m often involved in the planning of literary translation events. I’ve also been working on a collaborative research project with Free Word and Dalkey Archive Press – The Global Translation Initiative – which kept me very busy in 2011!

What's been your most memorable moment or event so far working for English PEN?

Charles Hazlewood’s keynote at International Translation Day 2011. We gathered in the hall around 4pm to watch Charles bounce back and forth between a piano and a CD player, taking the delegates through the ‘six degrees of separation’ between JS Bach and The Prodigy. I’d spent the majority of the day beetling about; organising volunteers, arranging sandwiches, and attempting to make sure everything was running smoothly. I finally relaxed when I peered through the glass door from reception and saw everyone singing their hearts out to an old folk song – you can hear for yourself here. It was a lovely, surreal moment, I devoured the unexpected.

What's your favourite thing about working at the Free Word Centre?

The people. The café menu boards. The bamboo. The Christmas play. The enormous swipe-card bricks for guests. I love being greeted with a smile and a story in the morning and waved a hearty goodbye in the evening. It is an incredibly warm, friendly and creative place to work.

Can you recommend any local haunts, places to go or things to do?

Leather Lane falafel for £2.50, it is supreme (and enormous, enough for two to share), I can’t remember the name of the café but it’s green and yellow. There’s also Prufrock Café and the Department of Coffee and Social Affairs on Leather Lane. The sheep and goats at Coram Fields are a treat. Also… if you fancy getting your hair cut I recommend The Klinik on Exmouth Market.

What are you reading at the moment?

I just finished Purgatory by Tomás Eloy Martinez (wonderfully translated by Frank Wynne) and have moved on to Jon McGregor’s if nobody speaks of remarkable things