Granta Magazine, a flagship publication on contemporary literature with a recognised prescriptive character, is dedicating a special edition to works of fiction and poetry in Catalan that have never been translated into English. This is a unique opportunity to increase awareness of Catalan literature, and it is the follow-up to numerous initiatives that have helped it gain new ground in the rather watertight English-language literary market. Spotlight, the focus on Catalan literature organised by the IRL at the 2022 London Book Fair, has had a crucial importance in this regard, encouraging dialogue between English and Catalan literature and contributing to the creation of new connections whilst helping Catalan authors enter new markets.

In this sense, the continuous collaboration between companies in the publishing industry and public cultural institutions has manifested itself in numerous ways, such as the increase of literary translations from Catalan into English; the publication of Catalan classics into English; the growing interest of hallmark publishers in Catalan authors (Faber&Faber, Pushkin, Graywolf, Open Letter, Granta, Daunt, And Other Stories, just to name a few); the shorlisting of Eva Baltasar’s Boulder for the International Booker Prize (the first Catalan work to be ever longlisted), and the shortlisting of Mara Faye Lethem for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize for her translation of Canto jo i la muntanya balla by Irene Solà.

The literary magazine Granta is a benchmark for innovative contemporary literature (its slogan being ‘Home of the new writing’) and the publication of its ‘Best of Young’ editions once every ten years is a widely celebrated cultural event. Whilst exercising a great influence on new generations of writers, the magazine also focuses on global literary traditions in special moments of effervescence to present them to an English-speaking audience.

The excerpts from books by Catalan authors that Granta will publish in this special edition are:

1.- Time of the Cherries (El temps de les cireres), by Montserrat Roig. The novel received the Sant Jordi Novel Award in 1976, and Julia Sanches’ translation will be published in English by Daunt Books in 2024.

2.- The Dams (Els dics), by Irene Solà. The author’s first-ever novel, which won the Documenta Prize in 2016, will be published by Graywolf with a translation by Mara Faye Lethem.

3.- The Pink Plastic Glove (El guant de plàstic rosa), by Dolors Miquel. The poetry collection, translated by Peter Bush, will be published by Tenement Press this summer.

4.- Profecia, by Raül Garrigasait. Mara Faye Lethem is also the author of the translation of this novel’s excerpt.

5.- La possibilitat de dir-ne casa, by Marta Orriols. The translator of an excerpt from the novel is Julia Sanches.

Furthermore, the special edition will include a conversation between translators Julia Sanches and Mara Faye Lethem carried out especially for this occasion, and will also feature another conversation (already published in March 2022 by Granta) between authors Eva Baltasar and Irene Solà.