English --> German
German --> English
Olga Grjasnowa: THE LEGAL HAZINESS OF A MARRIAGE (Chapter 1)
(Original Title: Die juristische Unschärfe einer Ehe)
In the July 2015 issue, "Emerging German Writers," Words without Borders included my translation of the first chapter of Olga's wonderful second novel, THE LEGAL HAZINESS OF A MARRIAGE.
You can read the full chapter here.
In the July 2015 issue, "Emerging German Writers," Words without Borders included my translation of the first chapter of Olga's wonderful second novel, THE LEGAL HAZINESS OF A MARRIAGE.
You can read the full chapter here.
Olga Grjasnowa: ALL RUSSIANS LOVE BIRCH TREES
(Original Title: Der Russe ist einer, der Birken liebt)
ALL RUSSIANS LOVE BIRCH TREES has been nominated for the 2016 Impact International Dublin Literary Award! What an honor to be on a list with such stellar authors and translators.
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I was fortunate to get the opportunity to translate Olga Grjasnowa's wonderful debut novel. Honestly, she is one of the best young German writers I've read in a long time. The book is funny. And sad. Deeply engaged and gorgeously written.
But don't take it from me. Take it from these folks:
“All Russians Love Birch Trees by Olga Grjasnowa is an astounding debut novel, both political and personal, sexual and full of grief. It captures beautifully and viscerally what it’s like to lose your home due to traumatic events, what it’s like to be neither a tourist nor a native no matter where you go looking for what’s missing in you. To paraphrase Yevtushenko’s famous line – borders are scars on the face of the planet. This book proves it, and how.” —Ismet Prcic, author of Shards, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year
“Olga Grjasnowa paints a searing portrait of young adulthood in this ambitious novel, as we follow her characters from Frankfurt to Jerusalem, from their haunted pasts and into their uncertain futures. Darkly funny and totally devastating, All Russians Love Birch Trees will haunt you.” —Leigh Stein, author of The Fallback Plan
"A thoughtful, melancholy study of loss." --Kirkus
"[A] provocative first novel." --O Magazine
“[Grjasnowa] reveals herself to be an expert chronicler of modern displacement and of the scars left by the wars that followed the Soviet Union’s breakup.” --Publishers Weekly
“An extremely compelling read… just because you have an unusual background, doesn't mean you know how to tell a good story, and this is something that Grjasnowa certainly knows how to do…Grjasnowa has strong voice, which she has applied to a very ambitious and seemingly personal subject, to give us an admirable debut novel…a truly gifted writer…[who] has a very bright future ahead of her...”--Yahoo! Voices
“We know about the immigrant perspective from an American perspective, but Grjasnowa gives us a fresh, important understanding from the European perspective…Grjasnowa tells her story effectively because she works through the personal, which results in a touching and thought-provoking debut novel.”--Library Journal
"Grjasnowa elegantly balances explanations and demonstrations so that Masha's world comes to feel almost familiar. All Russians Love Birch Trees is part of a new global literature that sees foreignness as a condition of familiarity, that understands alienation as a way of life." --Shelf Awareness
Hanser published the original German version in February 2012. My translation into English was published in January 2014 by Other Press.
You can order it from IndieBound, or Powell's, or Barnes & Noble, or Amazon or buy it at your local book store.
Here is a bit more about the book:
Mascha is a cosmopolitan polyglot—fluent in five languages and able to get by in several others—living in Frankfurt with her boyfriend, Elias. Her best friends are Muslims struggling for residence permits, and her unemployed parents rarely leave the house except to compare petrol prices. Mascha has nearly completed her studies to become an interpreter, when suddenly Elias is hospitalized after a serious injury. In fright and despair, she flees to Israel, and before long, her past catches up with her in the most brutal way.
Olga Grjasnowa has a unique gift of seeing the funny side of even the most tragic situations. With cool irony and a pointed style, her debut novel, which was shortlisted for the prestigious Aspekte-Literaturpreis in 2012, tells the story of a headstrong young woman who knows neither
borders nor limits. She inhabits a world where all cultures and traditions merge. For Mascha and her friends, the issue of origin and nationality is immaterial—they can survive anywhere. But there is nowhere they can really call home.
And a bit more about Olga:
OLGA GRJASNOWA was born in 1984 in Baku, Azerbaijan, grew up in the Caucasus, and has spent extended periods in Poland, Russia, and Israel. She moved to Germany at the age of twelve and is a graduate of the German Institute for Literature/Creative Writing in Leipzig. In 2010 she was awarded the Dramatist Prize of the Wiener Wortstätten for her debut play, “Mitfühlende Deutsche” (Compassionate
Germans). She is currently studying dance science at the Berlin Free University.
---------------------
I was fortunate to get the opportunity to translate Olga Grjasnowa's wonderful debut novel. Honestly, she is one of the best young German writers I've read in a long time. The book is funny. And sad. Deeply engaged and gorgeously written.
But don't take it from me. Take it from these folks:
“All Russians Love Birch Trees by Olga Grjasnowa is an astounding debut novel, both political and personal, sexual and full of grief. It captures beautifully and viscerally what it’s like to lose your home due to traumatic events, what it’s like to be neither a tourist nor a native no matter where you go looking for what’s missing in you. To paraphrase Yevtushenko’s famous line – borders are scars on the face of the planet. This book proves it, and how.” —Ismet Prcic, author of Shards, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year
“Olga Grjasnowa paints a searing portrait of young adulthood in this ambitious novel, as we follow her characters from Frankfurt to Jerusalem, from their haunted pasts and into their uncertain futures. Darkly funny and totally devastating, All Russians Love Birch Trees will haunt you.” —Leigh Stein, author of The Fallback Plan
"A thoughtful, melancholy study of loss." --Kirkus
"[A] provocative first novel." --O Magazine
“[Grjasnowa] reveals herself to be an expert chronicler of modern displacement and of the scars left by the wars that followed the Soviet Union’s breakup.” --Publishers Weekly
“An extremely compelling read… just because you have an unusual background, doesn't mean you know how to tell a good story, and this is something that Grjasnowa certainly knows how to do…Grjasnowa has strong voice, which she has applied to a very ambitious and seemingly personal subject, to give us an admirable debut novel…a truly gifted writer…[who] has a very bright future ahead of her...”--Yahoo! Voices
“We know about the immigrant perspective from an American perspective, but Grjasnowa gives us a fresh, important understanding from the European perspective…Grjasnowa tells her story effectively because she works through the personal, which results in a touching and thought-provoking debut novel.”--Library Journal
"Grjasnowa elegantly balances explanations and demonstrations so that Masha's world comes to feel almost familiar. All Russians Love Birch Trees is part of a new global literature that sees foreignness as a condition of familiarity, that understands alienation as a way of life." --Shelf Awareness
Hanser published the original German version in February 2012. My translation into English was published in January 2014 by Other Press.
You can order it from IndieBound, or Powell's, or Barnes & Noble, or Amazon or buy it at your local book store.
Here is a bit more about the book:
Mascha is a cosmopolitan polyglot—fluent in five languages and able to get by in several others—living in Frankfurt with her boyfriend, Elias. Her best friends are Muslims struggling for residence permits, and her unemployed parents rarely leave the house except to compare petrol prices. Mascha has nearly completed her studies to become an interpreter, when suddenly Elias is hospitalized after a serious injury. In fright and despair, she flees to Israel, and before long, her past catches up with her in the most brutal way.
Olga Grjasnowa has a unique gift of seeing the funny side of even the most tragic situations. With cool irony and a pointed style, her debut novel, which was shortlisted for the prestigious Aspekte-Literaturpreis in 2012, tells the story of a headstrong young woman who knows neither
borders nor limits. She inhabits a world where all cultures and traditions merge. For Mascha and her friends, the issue of origin and nationality is immaterial—they can survive anywhere. But there is nowhere they can really call home.
And a bit more about Olga:
OLGA GRJASNOWA was born in 1984 in Baku, Azerbaijan, grew up in the Caucasus, and has spent extended periods in Poland, Russia, and Israel. She moved to Germany at the age of twelve and is a graduate of the German Institute for Literature/Creative Writing in Leipzig. In 2010 she was awarded the Dramatist Prize of the Wiener Wortstätten for her debut play, “Mitfühlende Deutsche” (Compassionate
Germans). She is currently studying dance science at the Berlin Free University.
