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Translators Aloud is a YouTube channel devoted to sharing the work of literary translators, for both published and unpublished works.

We provide a space for translators to read their own work and a positive platform for sharing great literature, read aloud by the translators themselves.

We showcase the world’s best new and classic books, poetry, plays, and short stories, presented by the talented people who translate them.

Recent Readings
Inés is twenty-five years old, she has lost her job, she lives alone, most of her friends have gone to live in other cities, and she cannot get over her breakup with Javi. She has put her degree on hold, she no longer goes to therapy, and the abandonment of herself and her home are clear signs of depression. She sleeps during the day and at night she drinks, aching to fall asleep to escape reality, whilst at the same time dreading sleeping alone and being with the nightmares and strange dreams that are sure to haunt her each night. Martínez’s style could be considered akin to that of Ocean Vuong’s, and the themes within the book and the way they are approached make it reminiscent of My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, yet Lucía Alba Martínez forges a new, unique space for herself with her run-on sentences and long, sweeping tangents that allow readers to get swept up and lost in her character’s thoughts with her. Martínez’s pen is seductive, agile, masterful, and just as in the narration of the novel, her writing style is full of contrast, intermingling poetic prose, metaphor, and allegory with abrupt, sharp, and sometimes vulgar phrases. This book is an ode to childhood and a brutal reflection on the harshness of adult life and the human capacity to overcome even the most difficult situations. Martínez has created a novel that delicately balances itself between rawness and tenderness and light and darkness, with touches of irony and humour that, despite the somewhat sordid themes found within the novel, offers readers endearing moments of hope. With her first novel, Lucía Alba Martínez presents herself as one of the most different and interesting voices on the Spanish scene. PRAISE • Perhaps one of the greatest joys of the veteran writer is to discover talented young people to whom he can hand over the torch of literature before it falls out of his hands. Lucía Alba Martínez is one of these young authors […] who between bewilderment and unwavering commitment, has written Little Animals.’ – Juan Manuel de Prada, La voz de Galicia • ‘Lucía Alba Martínez offers a novel full of tenderness and humour in Little Animals.’ – Briseida Zenobia, Todo Literatura; Républica Ibérica de las Letras • Book of the week in El Periódico de España: ‘In Little Animals, Lucía Alba Martínez’s debut novel, the author takes us into dreams and memory, to the fine line between the past and present, to talk about rootedness and rootlessness, love and lovelessness, protection and helplessness. She does so through the voice of Inés who shows her world without qualms.’ – El Periódico de España AUTHOR BIO Lucía Alba Martínez (Madrid, 1992) is a writer and translator. She spent most of her childhood and adolescence living in Tunisia. She studied Literature and Comparative Literature at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and translates literature from English, French and Italian into Spanish. She has published articles on literature in Quimera and CTXT. Animalitos (AdN, 2024) is her first novel. TRANSLATOR BIO Alice Banks is a literary translator from Spanish and French into English. She has translated authors such as Elizabeth Duval, Ali Zamir, Almudena Grandes, Lara Moreno, Raquel Delgado, Cristina Araújo Gámir, and Lucía Alba Martínez. Her latest full length translation of Anne Sénès’ Double Room came out in June 2025 with Orenda Books, and her co-translation of Lara Moreno’s The City, will be published with Open Letter Books in early 2026. Her work has been published in journals including Latin American Literature Today, Asymptote, minor literature[s], and The Los Angeles Review. FOR RIGHTS INFO, CONTACT: mcardona@aevitascreative.com The translator has obtained permission from the original rights holder to translate this sample and share a recording of it on Translators Aloud.

This video is private.

YouTube Video VVVqYXE5T1Nwb0Vlb2hQbUs4WlQtQzd3LklmWjNWOVhyVE9j

Alice Banks reads from Lucía Alba Martínez’s ANIMALITOS (seeking a publisher)

11 Sep, 2025 9:55 am

A book of poetry, recent, evoking the Tunisian desert—both as a reminiscence of oasis childhood, and as a condemnation of the new desert “warriors,” the Islamic radical fundamentalists. Some of the poems suggest ancient, pre-Islamic forms, as does the entire theme of the ode to the desert. There are two prefaces, and notes. Tahar Bekri The poet was born in 1951 in Gabès, Tunisia. He has lived in Paris since 1976. Bekri writes in both French and Arabic. His thirty published works comprise poetry, essays, and art books. The poetry, awarded various literary distinctions, has been translated into numerous languages and is studied and commented on in both academic and artistic works. Awards include the French Language and Literature Prize from the Académie Française, 2019. Bekri has been Honorary Lecturer at the University of Nanterre. Most recent publication: Mon pays, la braise et la brûlure, Ed. Edern, 2025. Peter Thompson is professor of Modern Languages and Literatures at Roger Williams University. He has edited two widely used anthologies of francophone literature, and edits Ezra: An Online Journal of Translation (www.ezratranslation.com). Poetry books include Late Liveries, Shades and The Angle of Incidence. Song lyrics include Daybreak and New Words. His novels are Winter Light and Harrison’s Word. He is the translator of Khatibi’s Tattooed Memory, Nassira Azzouz’s The Gates of The Sun, Véronique Tadjo’s Red Earth, Léon-Paul Fargue’s Poëmes, Abdelkader Djemaï’s Father/Son, Abdellatif Laâbi’s Perishable Poems, Mohamed Loakira’s …and spring is veiled over, Ghita El Khayat’s The Affair, Mohamed Hmoudane’s Emergency!, Wafa Ghorbel’s Black Jasmine, four by Nabile Farès: Hearing Your Story, A Passenger from the West, Exile and Helplessness, Exile: Women’s Turn, Abdelkébir Khatibi’s Tattooed Memory and others. https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-thompson-95914333/ peterthompsonbooks.com Available September 2, 2025 from Contra Mundum Press. Purchase at: https://www.contramundumpress.com/the-desert-at-dusk

A book of poetry, recent, evoking the Tunisian desert—both as a reminiscence of oasis childhood, and as a condemnation of the new desert “warriors,” the Islamic radical fundamentalists. Some of the poems suggest ancient, pre-Islamic forms, as does the entire theme of the ode to the desert. There are two prefaces, and notes.

Tahar Bekri
The poet was born in 1951 in Gabès, Tunisia. He has lived in Paris since 1976. Bekri writes in both French and Arabic. His thirty published works comprise poetry, essays, and art books. The poetry, awarded various literary distinctions, has been translated into numerous languages and is studied and commented on in both academic and artistic works. Awards include the French Language and Literature Prize from the Académie Française, 2019. Bekri has been Honorary Lecturer at the University of Nanterre. Most recent publication: Mon pays, la braise et la brûlure, Ed. Edern, 2025.

Peter Thompson is professor of Modern Languages and Literatures at Roger Williams University. He has edited two widely used anthologies of francophone literature, and edits Ezra: An Online Journal of Translation (www.ezratranslation.com). Poetry books include Late Liveries, Shades and The Angle of Incidence. Song lyrics include Daybreak and New Words. His novels are Winter Light and Harrison’s Word. He is the translator of Khatibi’s Tattooed Memory, Nassira Azzouz’s The Gates of The Sun, Véronique Tadjo’s Red Earth, Léon-Paul Fargue’s Poëmes, Abdelkader Djemaï’s Father/Son, Abdellatif Laâbi’s Perishable Poems, Mohamed Loakira’s …and spring is veiled over, Ghita El Khayat’s The Affair, Mohamed Hmoudane’s Emergency!, Wafa Ghorbel’s Black Jasmine, four by Nabile Farès: Hearing Your Story, A Passenger from the West, Exile and Helplessness, Exile: Women’s Turn, Abdelkébir Khatibi’s Tattooed Memory and others.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-thompson-95914333/
peterthompsonbooks.com

Available September 2, 2025 from Contra Mundum Press. Purchase at: https://www.contramundumpress.com/the-desert-at-dusk

YouTube Video VVVqYXE5T1Nwb0Vlb2hQbUs4WlQtQzd3Lkk3YlNOV0RLVHNZ

Peter Thompson reads from Tahar Bekri's THE DESERT AT DUSK (Contra Mundum Press, 2025)

2 Sep, 2025 2:00 pm

Written in his Bastille cell in the years between 120 Days of Sodom and Justine, this is the first English translation of Marquis de Sade’s collection of short works, Stories, Tales, and Fables. Essential reading for all Sade devotees, Stories, Tales, and Fables is an introduction for those who are not yet familiar with the work of this controversial French literary innovator. The short works in this collection range from the dramatic novella, Dorci, to comic tales such as The Duped Judge. Whether he is writing bawdy, exuberant comedies, supernatural tales, or human tragedies, Sade is essentially a moralist, and his exploration of the darker side of human nature remains as relevant to our society as it was to his own. Psychologically perceptive and defiantly unconventional, Stories, Tales, and Fables reveals the compelling force of Sade’s narrative powers. An accomplished and artful fiction writer, Sade, like all great writers, asks penetrating questions about society, life, and humanity. This collection also includes a selection of Sade’s non-fiction, ranging from his insightful survey of the novelist’s art, Some Thoughts on the Novel, to his Last Will and Testament, as well as several essays about Sade’s work by renowned authors including Apollinaire, Heine, Masson, Anatole France and Paul Ėluard." -Review by Biblioklept (https://biblioklept.org/2025/03/26/marquis-de-sades-stories-tales-fables-book-acquired-mid-march-2025/) The extract is from Some Thoughts on the Novel, Sade’s overview of fiction, and his advice to writers on how to write well. BUY THE BOOK: https://www.contramundumpress.com/stories-tales-and-fables Author bio The Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) was a French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer, famous for his libertine sexuality. His works include novels, short stories, plays, dialogues, and political tracts. In his lifetime some of these were published under his own name while others, which de Sade denied having written, appeared anonymously. Sade is best known for his four erotic, libertine works, 120 Days of Sodom, Justine, Juliette, and Philosophy in the Boudoir, which combined philosophical discourse with pornography, depicting sexual fantasies with an emphasis on violence, suffering, crime, and blasphemy. He was a proponent of absolute freedom, unrestrained by morality, religion, or law. Translator bio R J Dent is a poet, novelist, translator and short story writer. As a renowned translator of European literature, he has published modern English translations of The Songs of Maldoror (Le Comte de Lautréamont); Speculations (Alfred Jarry); Capital of Pain (Paul Ėluard); Her Three Daughters (Pierre Louӱs); The Surrealist Manifesto and Soluble Fish (André Breton); The Dead Man (Georges Bataille); Stories, Tales, and Fables (Marquis de Sade); Poems & Fragments (Alcaeus); The Flowers of Evil (Charles Baudelaire); The Seed and The Bridges (Tarjei Vesaas) and major works by Louis Aragon, Maurice Rollinat and Antonin Artaud. As a poet and novelist, R J Dent is the author of a poetry collection, Moonstone Silhouettes; two novels, Revelation and Myth; a short story collection, Gothiques and Fantastiques; and two non-fiction books: Emily Dickinson’s Sexual Personae and Screaming at the Window, a true crime biography of Blanche Monnier: the Prisoner of Poitiers. R J Dent’s social media links: Website: http://www.rjdent.com/ Blog: https://rjdent.wordpress.com/ News and Events: https://rjdentnewsandevents.wordpress.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rj.dent/ twitter: http://twitter.com/RJDent facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/rjdentwriter/ facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/R-J-Dent tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/rjdent BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/rjdent.bsky.social YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@rjdentdotcom TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rj.dent.com Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/R.-J.-Dent Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/author/rjdent GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5831064.R_J_Dent Booksie: https://www.booksie.com/users/r-j-dent-143044 ViewBug: https://www.viewbug.com/member/R-J-Dent SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-rjdent Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/rjdent/r-j-dents-books/

Written in his Bastille cell in the years between 120 Days of Sodom and Justine, this is the first English translation of Marquis de Sade’s collection of short works, Stories, Tales, and Fables.

Essential reading for all Sade devotees, Stories, Tales, and Fables is an introduction for those who are not yet familiar with the work of this controversial French literary innovator. The short works in this collection range from the dramatic novella, Dorci, to comic tales such as The Duped Judge. Whether he is writing bawdy, exuberant comedies, supernatural tales, or human tragedies, Sade is essentially a moralist, and his exploration of the darker side of human nature remains as relevant to our society as it was to his own.

Psychologically perceptive and defiantly unconventional, Stories, Tales, and Fables reveals the compelling force of Sade’s narrative powers. An accomplished and artful fiction writer, Sade, like all great writers, asks penetrating questions about society, life, and humanity. This collection also includes a selection of Sade’s non-fiction, ranging from his insightful survey of the novelist’s art, Some Thoughts on the Novel, to his Last Will and Testament, as well as several essays about Sade’s work by renowned authors including Apollinaire, Heine, Masson, Anatole France and Paul Ėluard."
-Review by Biblioklept (https://biblioklept.org/2025/03/26/marquis-de-sades-stories-tales-fables-book-acquired-mid-march-2025/)

The extract is from Some Thoughts on the Novel, Sade’s overview of fiction, and his advice to writers on how to write well.

BUY THE BOOK: https://www.contramundumpress.com/stories-tales-and-fables

Author bio
The Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) was a French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer, famous for his libertine sexuality. His works include novels, short stories, plays, dialogues, and political tracts. In his lifetime some of these were published under his own name while others, which de Sade denied having written, appeared anonymously. Sade is best known for his four erotic, libertine works, 120 Days of Sodom, Justine, Juliette, and Philosophy in the Boudoir, which combined philosophical discourse with pornography, depicting sexual fantasies with an emphasis on violence, suffering, crime, and blasphemy. He was a proponent of absolute freedom, unrestrained by morality, religion, or law.

Translator bio
R J Dent is a poet, novelist, translator and short story writer. As a renowned translator of European literature, he has published modern English translations of The Songs of Maldoror (Le Comte de Lautréamont); Speculations (Alfred Jarry); Capital of Pain (Paul Ėluard); Her Three Daughters (Pierre Louӱs); The Surrealist Manifesto and Soluble Fish (André Breton); The Dead Man (Georges Bataille); Stories, Tales, and Fables (Marquis de Sade); Poems & Fragments (Alcaeus); The Flowers of Evil (Charles Baudelaire); The Seed and The Bridges (Tarjei Vesaas) and major works by Louis Aragon, Maurice Rollinat and Antonin Artaud.

As a poet and novelist, R J Dent is the author of a poetry collection, Moonstone Silhouettes; two novels, Revelation and Myth; a short story collection, Gothiques and Fantastiques; and two non-fiction books: Emily Dickinson’s Sexual Personae and Screaming at the Window, a true crime biography of Blanche Monnier: the Prisoner of Poitiers.

R J Dent’s social media links:

Website: http://www.rjdent.com/
Blog: https://rjdent.wordpress.com/
News and Events: https://rjdentnewsandevents.wordpress.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rj.dent/
twitter: http://twitter.com/RJDent
facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/rjdentwriter/
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/R-J-Dent
tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/rjdent
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/rjdent.bsky.social
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@rjdentdotcom
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rj.dent.com
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/R.-J.-Dent
Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/author/rjdent
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5831064.R_J_Dent
Booksie: https://www.booksie.com/users/r-j-dent-143044
ViewBug: https://www.viewbug.com/member/R-J-Dent
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-rjdent
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/rjdent/r-j-dents-books/

YouTube Video VVVqYXE5T1Nwb0Vlb2hQbUs4WlQtQzd3LmIxUjktOUM4VDV3

R J Dent reads from the Marquis de Sade’s STORIES, TALES AND FABLES (Contra Mundum Press, 2024)

3 Jul, 2025 2:32 pm

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