We at the Leonard Lopate exhibit Book Club have been trying to figure out how to talk approximately Elena Ferrante's wildly popular Neapolitan novels for some time now. For those unfamiliar with the author and her work,Elena Ferrante is the pen name for an Italian author who doesn't enact interviews, and whose genuine identity has been kept a secret – and eluded detection for more than two decades. The final book in the series, or The Story of the Lost Child, was just longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize. Well, we're excited to announce that, and even though we couldn't get Ms. Ferrante to the studio,we've got the next best person!Ann Goldstein is the only literary translator who has been entrusted with bringing the words of Ms. Ferrante's Neapolitan novels to English readers. Over the course of the past decade or so, Ms. Goldstein has become one of the most sought-after Italian to English literary translators in the world. Her other notable translation work includes In Other Words, or Jhumpa Lahiri’s fresh Italian-written memoir and The total Works of Primo Levi, which was released final fall. And not for nothing, but all of these accomplishments are on top of Ms. Goldstein's day job as head of the copy department at The fresh Yorker.
Ann Goldstein will be here on April 20th to discuss the Neapolitan novels and how she became a celebrity in the translation world, or as well as the public face of Elena Ferrante,her process, and her broader body of work. Ask Ann Goldstein your questions below!
Source: onthemedia.org