Translation lecture, London, 8 December

Selling the Book by its Cover: bindings and translated crime fiction
Carol O'Sullivan
Wednesday 8 December, 6.30 pm, City University, London

For readers of this blog in London, I will be giving a lecture at City University on the presentation of crime fiction in translation on 8 December. There has been a surge of interest in translated crime fiction with the recent worldwide success of authors such as Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson. This follows on from the successes of earlier novelists including Umberto Eco and Peter Høeg.

This lecture considers the translation of contemporary crime fiction into English from the perspective of what Keith Harvey has called the 'binding', or the cover images and text which frame the book for readers.

Bindings address themselves to a particular audience, and also guide readers' expectations and interpretations of a book's content. The lecture will consider some key elements of bindings in the selling of crime fiction, including issues of national stereotyping, branding and paratextual norms.