S3 E8: Agent Yasmina Jraissati on Selling Arabic Literature Internationally

Today’s guest is Ana Lotts-Nicolau of Nemira Publishing House in Romania. Ana has had an impressive career so far: she currently is the CEO of Nemira, was for many years a member on the Board of the Romanian Publishers’ Association, and if that wasn’t enough on her plate already, in 2021 Ana founded the first audiobook platform on the Romanian market in partnership with her brother Radu Nicolau. Show Notes: Ana's book recommendation: - The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson About Ana: Ana Lotts-Nicolau was born and raised in Bucharest, Romania. She received her bachelor degree in French and European law at Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne in 2010, and a second bachelor degree in Romanian law from the University of Bucharest in 2011. Pursuing a path in publishing, she concluded an MA in Publishing at Oxford Brookes University in 2014. In 2015 she became the CEO of Nemira Publishing House and a member on the Board of the Romanian Publishers’ Association (AER) – a position held between 2015 and 2022.  In 2021 she founded a second business in partnership with her brother, Radu Nicolau, the first audiobook platform on the Romanian market – AudioTribe. 

Today I’m speaking with Yasmina Jraissati, owner of Raya Agency for Arabic Literature. Yasmina and I covered many different topics, including her beginnings as a literary agent and how one particular Frankfurt Book Fair played an essential role, the current publishing and bookselling landscape in Lebanon where she resides most of the time, the challenge brought on by piracy in the Arab-speaking publishing market, the position of audiobooks in Arabic, and much more. Show Notes: Yasmina's book recommendation: - Foundation by Isaac Asimov About Yasmina: Yasmina Jraissati has a PhD in Philosophy and Cognitive sciences (2009). She established RAYA Agency for Arabic Literature, which has been promoting high quality Arabic literature on the international scene for translation and adaptation rights since 2004. In 2020, Yasmina joined Storytel, the Swedish-based audiobook streaming platform, as a publishing manager for the MENA region.

It’s been a while since I recorded and published the previous episode. Landing back on my feet after my 5-week trip to Europe around the London Book Fair was a bit more challenging this time, due to some lingering fatigue after I caught Covid at the fair, like many others. Luckily that’s all behind me now!  Today I’m speaking with Sophie Langlais, literary agent at #BAM - Books and More Agency in Paris. We discussed many topics, including the rise of literary agents in France, where the publishing landscape was pretty reluctant to embrace this role for a long time, bringing new translations of classics to the market, and the upcoming book fair season. Show Notes: Sophie's book recommendation:  - Stardust by Léonora Miano  About Sophie:  Sophie Langlais was born in 1982 and has been reading a lot ever since. After working for two years in London at the French Book Office, she joined the foreign rights department at Gallimard; then the two independent publishing houses Les Arènes and l’Iconoclaste, where she sold rights (for Adeline Dieudonné’s La vraie vie, for instance) and acquired books (such as M by Antonio Scurati). She is now a literary agent at #BAM in France, with partner Marie Lannurien.

This is the last episode I recorded before traveling to Europe again at the end of March, to attend the London Book Fair but also to visit publishers in Amsterdam and Paris. I wanted to alert you before you listen to today’s interview with Les Argonautes Editeur founder Katharina Loix Van Hooff that Russia comes up a couple of times during our conversation. We mention it in the context of European literature, and more precisely because Katharina has acquired the French rights in two novels written by Dutch author Marente de Moor. Marente used to live in Russia and one of the two novels is set in there.  Please note that this interview was recorded prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and keep this in mind as you’re listening. Otherwise it may strike you as insensitive and incomprehensible that we do not mention the ongoing war.  While I can’t wait to see many publishing friends and colleagues again in person soon, my thoughts are with the people of Ukraine. I’ve already expressed my thoughts and concerns about the Russian invasion in 2 Seas Agency’s March newsletter, and have published an article on our website, which links a list of humanitarian organizations one can donate to. 2 Seas Agency has made a donation to Médecins sans frontières/Doctors without Borders. Show Notes: Katharina's book recommendation: - The Sweet Indifference of the World by Peter Stamm About Katharina: Katharina Loix Van Hooff has been working in publishing for twenty years. Born in Berlin, she attended the Berlin Journalism school and went on to study comparative literature and history in Brussels, Berlin, Washington D.C. and Paris all while working for German newspapers and radio, amongst others reporting extensively from Russia and Ukraine. After important editing projects for a German publisher and her own novel published with Hanser Verlag, she took up a a Master's degree in Politique éditoriale in Paris (Villetaneuse-Paris XIII University) and worked several years as an agent for Anna Jarota Agency in Paris. In her function as responsible of the foreign literature department at Gallimard, she accompanied authors like Orhan Pamuk, Amos Oz, Ludmila Ulitskaya, Bernhard Schlink and Peter Handke. In the summer of 2021 she founded Les Argonautes Éditeur, an independent publishing house focusing on European translated literature. She currently develops an innovative and interactive internet project associated with the publishing house and supported by the city of Paris. The idea is to promote European literature to new audiences.

Today’s interview features Penny Hueston, who is Senior Editor at Text Publishing in Melbourne, Australia as well as a literary translator from the French. Independent publisher Text Publishing has been championing translations from languages around the world since it started out in 1994. And Penny is passionate about her work as a translator. I was looking forward to speaking with her about these two subjects, that are at the heart of this podcast. Show Notes: Some of the books mentioned by Penny:  - Olga Tokarczuk, Flights, The Books of Jacob, Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead - Peter Singer’s work - Yan Lianke's work - Cory Taylor, Dying - Akuch Kuol Anyieth, Unknown: A Refugee’s Story - Fiona Murphy, The Shape of Sound About Penny: Penny Hueston is Senior  Editor at Text Publishing and a literary translator from the French. Her translations include novels by Emmanuelle Pagano (One Day I’ll Tell You Everything), Patrick Modiano (Little Jewel), Sarah Cohen-Scali (Max) and Raphaël Jerusalmy (Evacuation). She has translated six books by Marie Darrieussecq—All the Way, Men, Being Here: The Life of Paula Modersohn-Becker, Our Life in the Forest, The Baby, and Crossed Lines. She has been shortlisted for the JQ-Wingate Prize, the Scott Moncrief Prize, and twice for the New South Wales Premier’s Translation Prize.

Today I am speaking with Finnish publisher Outi Karemaa.  I personally find the Nordic publishing market fascinating, not least because it is relatively difficult to sell into those markets. I like challenges!  Outi and I speak about those challenges, the state of the Finnish publishing market, and also about the rising popularity, and therefore competition, of English-language books on the Finnish market which we're seeing in other Nordic countries and the Netherlands as well. Show Notes: Outi's book recommendations: - The Spy and the Traitor (Crown, 2019) and Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy (Crown, 2020) by Ben Macintyre - The Mitford Murders (series) (Minotaur Books) by Jessica Fellowes  About Outi Outi Karemaa (born 1969) is an experienced Chief Executive with a long history of working in the publishing business. She is a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focused on history from the University of Helsinki. Outi started her career in the publishing business 1998 and worked at Edita Publishing as a Publishing Manager and then as a Publishing Director. In 2010 she started as a CEO of Metsäkustannus, which is a publisher of magazines and books. In 2019 Outi started as a CEO at book publisher Minerva. After the biggest book publisher of Finland WSOY (Werner Söderström Ltd.) bought Minerva a year ago, her title has been a Publisher. Minerva is nowadays an imprint of WSOY, so Minerva still has its own publishing list. Minerva’s main areas are fiction, general non-fiction, as well as gift and hobby books and books for children. Outi lives in Helsinki with her family and a very social cat.

Today’s guest is Amélie Louat, whom some of you may know from her time at the French independent publishing house Editions Zulma. Amélie did something that I believe is incredibly courageous: during the pandemic, she quit her job at Zulma, moved away from Paris with her family to a small town in Brittany, and opened an independent bookstore. I had so many questions for her, not only about how this major life change unfolded, but also about her bookstore, since she is the very first bookseller I had on the podcast. Show Notes: Amélie's book recommendations:  - Voyage au bout de l'enfance by Rachid Benzine (Le Seuil, 2022)  - The River by Peter Heller (Knopf, 2019; French edition La Rivière, Actes Sud, 2021)  About Amélie:  Amélie Louat is the owner and founder of the bookstore La Grande Evasion in La Gacilly (Brittany). She spent 15 years working for independent French publishers, including 12 years for the innovative literary publisher Zulma. There, she acquired French rights of international authors, she created a non fiction series and she developed translation deals for Zulma’s authors all over the world. Among the authors she worked with are Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir (Iceland), Hubert Haddad (France), Jean-Marie Blas de Roblès (France), Dany Laferrière (Haïti), Marcus Malte (France), Shoshana Zuboff (USA), Zhang Yueran (China), Hwang Sok-yong (South Korea).  In 2021, she left Paris in order to create her own bookshop in La Gacilly, Brittany: 80 m2, around 6000 titles, book clubs, concerts, writing workshops, meetings with authors and passionate talks with her clients are now her daily life. Among books, La Grande Evasion also exhibits limited printruns of original illustrations from local artists.  About La Grande Evasion:  La Grande Evasion (in English: The Great Escape) is an independent bookstore created by Amélie Louat in La Gacilly, Brittany. It opened in May 2021. All kind of books are represented in the 80m2 shop, featuring around 6,000 titles: from high literature to comics, from artistic and coffee table books to social sciences, from graphic children's literature to cookbooks.  Along with books, limited editions of illustrations and a small selection of notebooks and cards are proposed. More than a shop, La Grande Evasion aims to be a place to talk, to meet authors, illustrators and translators.  La Grande Evasion is supported by several partners, from public institutions to private companies or organizations: among them are Editions Zulma, l’ADELC and Initiative France.  La Grande Evasion : 21, rue La Fayette, 56 200 La Gacilly, France – [email protected]

Today’s guest is Manami Tamaoki, Director of Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc in Tokyo. We recorded this interview a little while ago, when Manami just got out of a true virtual meeting marathon that took place before, during and after the Frankfurt Book Fair. I did not envy her!  I just wanted to mention that at some point during the interview, Manami talks about the Swedish bestseller titled Smart Phone Brain, which was indeed as she indicates the bestselling book of the year in Japan, and topped several year-end lists. However, Manami would like to correct that it has won one award, and not three awards as she mentions during the interview.  Show Notes A selection of Manami's book recommendations: - The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity  - The New Long Life: A Framework for Flourishing in a Changing World  - The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It  - The Joy Of Movement: How Exercise Helps Us Find Happiness, Hope, Connection, and Courage  - Lost in Translation: An Illustrated Compendium of Untranslatable Words About Manami Manami is Director for Tuttle-Mori Agency, the leading literary agency based in Tokyo, Japan. She oversees the publishing business and relationships for the agency between the US, UK, Europe, Scandinavia and other territories around the world.  Prior to becoming a Director, she was General Manager of the agency, as well as Head of the Nonfiction Department.  As a co-agent selling into Japan, she works on numerous best-selling authors including Carlo Rovelli, Spencer Johnson, Adam Grant, Angela Duckworth, Susan Cain, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, Kelly McGonigal, Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott, Yanis Varoufakis, Muhammad Yunus, Thomas Friedman, John Carreyrou.  She represents Ichiro Kishimi, Shunmyo Masuno, Thomas Lockley and other bestselling authors from Japan. She has been a featured speaker and panelist at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Japan Audiobook Association, and interviewed by an award winning author for his book about publishing professionals behind the scene, as well as prominent business magazines on being a Japanese agent in the international publishing market for twenty-nine years.

I am very excited to be back with season 3 of the Make Books Travel podcast. I took a two-month break from recording, one of which I spent on the road, in Europe. I actually had in-person meetings again, and drinks, and dinners, meeting publishers in Amsterdam, at the Frankfurt Book Fair, and in Paris. It was amazing! Today’s guest, Stella Soffia Jóhannesdóttir, had the pleasure of hosting one of the few in-person fellowships of this year, back in September, in her capacity as director of the Reykjavík International Literary Festival. Besides this role, she is also acquisitions editor for Storytel in Iceland. I did some homework in preparation for my interview with Stella, and found that Storytel currently has 1.7 million subscribers in 25 markets with around 700,000 titles globally. Those numbers are quite mind-boggling! Stella's book recommendations: - Cemetery of the Sea by Aslak Nore (Aschehoug, Norway; forthcoming in English with MacLehose Press) - The Mark by Fríða Ísberg (Forlagið, Iceland; not yet sold to an English language publisher to date as far as we can tell) - The Snow Sister by Maja Lunde (Kagge, Norway; not yet sold to an English language publisher to date as far as we can tell) About Stella: Stella Soffía Jóhannesdóttir is the director of the Reykjavík International Literary Festival and acquisitions editor for Storytel in Iceland. Prior to working for Storytel, Stella worked in acquisitions for Forlagið. Stella was a part of the team that organized Iceland, Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2011 and she has been working for the Reykjavík International Literary Festival since 2009. She lives in Reykjavík, Iceland. Further show notes: - Translation subsidies and travel grants from Iceland: https://www.islit.is/en/grants/ - General information about the fellowship program of the Reykjavík International Literary Festival: https://bokmenntahatid.is/en/reykjavik-fellowship-program-2021/ - Christmas Book Catalogue: bokatidindi.is

Welcome to the last episode of season two of the Make Books Travel Podcast!  I’ll be taking a break for the next month or so in order to focus on my virtual and in-person meetings before and during the Frankfurt Book Fair.  I’m SO excited to be taking part in the fair, and to be back in Europe for the entire month of October after having stayed put in California for the last 19 months.  Today’s guest, Edward Nawotka, is the international and bookselling editor of Publishers Weekly and co-founder of Publishers Weekly en Español. He’d just returned from a trip to the Madrid Book Fair which we’ll discuss, as well as Publishers Weekly en Español, the state of independent bookselling in the US, and the biggest shifts he’s noticed during his many years covering the international publishing scene. We talk about much more but  I’ll leave it up to you to discover… Ed's book recommendations:  - The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier - The Passenger & the Compass series, from Europa Editions - Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler - Finite and Infinite Games by James Carse - The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek - Too Old, Too Late Smart by Gordon Livingstone About Ed: Ed Nawotka is the international and bookselling editor of Publishers Weekly and co-founder of Publishers Weekly en Español. Prior to that he was the founder and editor of Publishing Perspectives. Ed has covered the book business for more than two decades, for publications including Bloomberg News, the New Yorker, People magazine, and USA Today. Prior to that he was a foreign correspondent working across Europe, Asia and Africa. He began his career in books as a bookseller for Doubleday Bookstores in Boston. He lives in Houston.