Kenneth C. Steven,
writer, poet

 

 

Translation

A few years back I translated a short story by one of the greatest living Norwegian authors, Lars Saabye Christensen. I had known his work when living in northern Norway, and it had become a dream to bring his writing to English. That first story was published in Edinburgh Review, and Lars himself requested that I be the one to translate his Nordic Prize-winning novel The Half Brother. This I did, and the novel – all 850 pages of it – was published by Vintage in London and Arcade in New York. My translation went on to be long-listed for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and short-listed for the international IMPAC Award.

More recently I translated an autobiographical work by Erling Kagge, Norway’s foremost living polar explorer. I undertake work for NORLA – Norwegian Literature Abroad – and hope in particular to translate more of Lars Saabye Christensen’s writing in the future.