Author Archives: Katie Lee Hull

International Best: Recovering in Russia

Russian publishing has been hit with a double dose of trouble this year, from the economic crunch to an excess of published titles. At the beginning of the recession, 100,000 new titles were being published a year, many with inflated print runs. Russian news site polit.ru reports the 2008 estimate of the size of Russia’s…Continue Reading

Publishing in China

While the rest of the world suffers the economic squeeze, the government-run Chinese publishing industry has counterintuitively managed to cultivate opportunity for expansion both for local entrepreneurs and international publishers. Talk of less state interference and mounting interest from foreign markets is encouraging some publishers to brave the censors, fears of piracy, and the cultural…Continue Reading

Swedish Crimes and Turkish Tales

After making the rounds at Bologna and London, some international publishers and agents are choosing to give their expense accounts a rest and opt out of this year’s BEA. “I remember the good old times when there was just…Frankfurt!” says Marie Louise Zarmanian, translation rights manager at Editoriale Mauri Spagnol, who blames Guadalajara, Turin, and…Continue Reading

Translated Literature

Of the nearly 200,000 books published in the United States each year, about 3% are translated. When you consider the category of literary fiction and poetry, that number shrinks to about 0.7%. That sliver of a pie graph was firmly placed in the back of Chad Post’s mind when he joined the University of Rochester…Continue Reading

Beyond the Bazaar

Despite its rich literary past, the Arab world today is more often thought of for its culture clashes and political discontent than its potential future as an international hub for book publishing. But with government cooperation and cash flow, it is easier for publishers to move past differences in societal standards and censorship battles to…Continue Reading