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Translators Aloud is a YouTube channel devoted to sharing the work of literary translators, for both published and unpublished works.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
The story of a passionate love affair that triggered a revolution. An atmospheric, exuberant novel from the best-selling author of The Postcard, Anne Berest, and her sister, Claire Berest, about love and sex, art and revolution, experimentation and creativity, and three young people who changed the world. The year is 1908, the height of the Belle Époque, and a brilliant, young French woman named Gabriële, newly graduated from the most elite music school in Europe, meets a volcanic Spanish artist named Francis. Following a whirlwind romance, they marry and fall headlong into a Paris that is experimenting with new forms of living, thinking, and creating. Soon after marrying Francis, Gabriële meets Marcel, another young artist, five years her junior. Soon, Francis, Marcel, and Gabriële are all involved in a fervent affair that will change the course of art history and redefine the avant-garde. As the Belle Epoque gives way to rebellion and revolution, and the world descends into the devastation of World War I, Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, and Gabriële Buffet revolutionize art and open up new ways of seeing and thinking, along the way posing a vital question for their age and ours: what is the connection between new ways loving and new ways of creating? Moving between Paris, New York, Berlin, Zurich, Barcelona, London, and Saint-Tropez, Gabriële is as audacious, uninhibited, intimate, and unforgettable as its central character, the mercurial, pioneering Gabriële Buffet. To buy: https://bookshop.org/p/books/gabriele-anne-berest/21806633?ean=9798889660903&digital=t&affiliate=345 About the authors: Anne Berest Anne Berest’s first novel to appear in English, The Postcard (Europa Editions, 2023), was a national bestseller, a Library Journal, NPR, and TIME Best Book of the Year, a Vogue Most Anticipated Book of the Year, winner of the Choix Goncourt Prize, and runner-up for the 2024 Dayton Literary Peace Prize. It was described as “stunning” by Leslie Camhi in The New Yorker, as a “powerful literary work” by Julie Orringer in The New York Times Book Review, and as “intimate, profound, essential” in the pages of ELLE magazine. Her new novel, Gabriële (Europa Editions, 2025) is based on the life of Gabriële Buffet, whose extraordinary impact on 20th century avant-garde art and whose remarkable life have largely been obscured. Berest lives in Paris. Claire Berest Claire Berest is the author of the novels Mikado (2009), The Empty Orchestra, Bellevue (2016), Rien n’est noir, winner of the ELLE Readers Grand Prize, and two works of nonfiction, Class Struggle: Why I Resigned from National Education, and Lost Children: An Investigation in the Minors Brigade. Her most recent novel is Artifices. About the translator: Tina Kover is the translator of some forty books from French, including Anne Berest’s The Postcard, Négar Djavadi’s Disoriental, and Emmelie Prophète’s Blue. Her work has won the Albertine Prize, the French Voices Award, and the Lambda Literary Award, and has been shortlisted for the (U.S.) National Book Award, the International Dublin Literary Award, the PEN Translation Prize, the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize, the Scott Moncrieff Prize, and the Dayton Literary Prize. Tina leads workshops for the American Literary Translators Association and has spoken at book clubs and festivals worldwide about her work. She is also the co-founder, with Charlotte Coombe, of Translators Aloud, a YouTube channel that features literary translators reading from their own work. Press Mar 1 2025 “A revealing, heartrending biographical novel.” — Foreword Reviews Feb 1 2025 “An atmospheric excavation of an unusual woman.” — Kirkus Reviews Jan 29 2025 “Astounding, fascinating and enlightening.” — Reading the West Jan 24 2025 “Colorful... lyrical.” — Publishers Weekly

This video is private.

YouTube Video VVVqYXE5T1Nwb0Vlb2hQbUs4WlQtQzd3LjVmMWlmaC1sYmdz

Tina Kover reads from Anne Berest & Claire Berest's GABRIËLE (Europa Editions, 2025)

23 Apr, 2025 2:00 pm

On the outskirts of Belen del Chami, a town that has yet to appear on any map of Colombia, the mute Salomón Palacios is murdered a few steps away from his home. His widow, the courageous and foul-mouthed Hipolita Arenas, completely loses her sanity and confronts the paramilitaries and local politicians, challenging them to also kill her and her two fatherless sons. Yet as Hipolita faces her husband's murderers on her desperate journey, she finds an unexpected calling to stay alive. This poetic and hypnotizing novel, told from the perspective of Salomon's ghost, denounces the brutal killings of innocent citizens and at the same time celebrates the invisible: imagination, memories, hope, and the connection to afterlife. Author bio Ricardo Silva Romero is one of Colombia’s most beloved writers. He is a prolific novelist, columnist, journalist, screenwriter, and film critic. In 2007 he was selected as one of the Bogotá39, a list of the best young writers in Latin America. Río Muerto is a fearless novel exploring the role of violence in Colombian society from an entirely new perspective. It is Silva Romero’s first book to be published in English. Translator bio Victor Meadowcroft is a translator from Spanish and Portuguese and a graduate of the University of East Anglia’s master’s program in literary translation. His published translations include Toño the Infallible by Evelio Rosero (co-translation with Anne McLean, New Directions, 2022), which was shortlisted for the PEN Translation Prize and longlisted for the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute of Translation Prize, and This World Does Not Belong to Us by Natalia García Freire (World Editions, 2022), which was short listed for the TA First Translation Prize and the Premio Valle Inclán. Praise for Río Muerto Lithubs The Best International Fiction of February 2025 CrimeReads The Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2025 "Among this novel's merits is its powerful celebration of the will to live, dovetailed with an evocation of the love members of a family have for one another, even under the most brutal and apparently hopeless circumstances." --The Arts Fuse "Río Muerto is a superb short novel that bridges the gap between horror and crime in very unique ways. Río Muerto is a window into a violent world as well as a tale about a family suffering at the hands of paramilitarism and bad neighbors. Silva Romero is a star in Colombia and hopefully this, his first novel to be translated to English, will put him on the map and ensure we get more of his work soon."--Gabino Iglesias, CrimeReads "Colombian writer Silva Romero makes his English-language debut with a wrenching tale of murder and survival. Near the remote Colombian town of Belen del Chami, a mute man named Salomon Palacios is gunned down by hooded assassins in 1992. His distraught widow, Hipolita, sets off on a rambling odyssey of retribution, accompanied by their sons Max, 12, and Segundo, eight. Salomon, meanwhile, has become a ghost, and he meets with the ghosts of other victims of political violence. Romero captures the intensity of the family's grief, as they're poorly consoled by a gravedigger and are ignored by the police, all while Salomon shadows them, unable to intervene. Silva Romero seamlessly weaves lyrical depictions of Salomon's afterlife, a "dense, black, clammy, stinking jungle that looked to him like hell," with pointed observations of the country's decades-long guerrilla war, which "continues to break the extraordinary open hearts of thousands of Colombians." Meadowcroft's crystalline translation introduces readers to an important Latin American voice. (Feb.)"--Publishers Weekly "In this novel, Silva Romero explores with clarity and precision the way violence weighs on a society like Colombia, which seems to have naturalized it in a disturbing way."--ADN Bogotá "Written in visceral prose." --El Tiempo "A book that will persist as a key representative of literature dealing with the violence that devastated this country during the armed conflict." --El Espectador "Río Muerto is a portrait of Colombia turned into a book, a work we should have in our homes and read with our families instead of watching the news bulletins. (...) This short novel by Ricardo Silva Romero encapsulates a hope beyond the kind revealed in the story itself: the kind of hope that reflects the power of contemporary Colombian fiction to convert the horror of war into literary art." --Diario de Paz Colombia "In Río Muerto, Ricardo Silva Romero recreates in poetic and intense prose another side of the horror of our era." --Abisinia Review BUY THE BOOK: https://worldeditions.org/product/rio-muerto/ https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/rio-muerto-ricardo-silva-romero/7758401?ean=9781642861457

On the outskirts of Belen del Chami, a town that has yet to appear on any map of Colombia, the mute Salomón Palacios is murdered a few steps away from his home. His widow, the courageous and foul-mouthed Hipolita Arenas, completely loses her sanity and confronts the paramilitaries and local politicians, challenging them to also kill her and her two fatherless sons. Yet as Hipolita faces her husband's murderers on her desperate journey, she finds an unexpected calling to stay alive. This poetic and hypnotizing novel, told from the perspective of Salomon's ghost, denounces the brutal killings of innocent citizens and at the same time celebrates the invisible: imagination, memories, hope, and the connection to afterlife.

Author bio
Ricardo Silva Romero is one of Colombia’s most beloved writers. He is a prolific novelist, columnist, journalist, screenwriter, and film critic. In 2007 he was selected as one of the Bogotá39, a list of the best young writers in Latin America. Río Muerto is a fearless novel exploring the role of violence in Colombian society from an entirely new perspective. It is Silva Romero’s first book to be published in English.

Translator bio
Victor Meadowcroft is a translator from Spanish and Portuguese and a graduate of the University of East Anglia’s master’s program in literary translation. His published translations include Toño the Infallible by Evelio Rosero (co-translation with Anne McLean, New Directions, 2022), which was shortlisted for the PEN Translation Prize and longlisted for the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute of Translation Prize, and This World Does Not Belong to Us by Natalia García Freire (World Editions, 2022), which was short listed for the TA First Translation Prize and the Premio Valle Inclán.

Praise for Río Muerto
Lithubs The Best International Fiction of February 2025
CrimeReads The Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2025

"Among this novel's merits is its powerful celebration of the will to live, dovetailed with an evocation of the love members of a family have for one another, even under the most brutal and apparently hopeless circumstances." --The Arts Fuse

"Río Muerto is a superb short novel that bridges the gap between horror and crime in very unique ways. Río Muerto is a window into a violent world as well as a tale about a family suffering at the hands of paramilitarism and bad neighbors. Silva Romero is a star in Colombia and hopefully this, his first novel to be translated to English, will put him on the map and ensure we get more of his work soon."--Gabino Iglesias, CrimeReads

"Colombian writer Silva Romero makes his English-language debut with a wrenching tale of murder and survival. Near the remote Colombian town of Belen del Chami, a mute man named Salomon Palacios is gunned down by hooded assassins in 1992. His distraught widow, Hipolita, sets off on a rambling odyssey of retribution, accompanied by their sons Max, 12, and Segundo, eight. Salomon, meanwhile, has become a ghost, and he meets with the ghosts of other victims of political violence. Romero captures the intensity of the family's grief, as they're poorly consoled by a gravedigger and are ignored by the police, all while Salomon shadows them, unable to intervene. Silva Romero seamlessly weaves lyrical depictions of Salomon's afterlife, a "dense, black, clammy, stinking jungle that looked to him like hell," with pointed observations of the country's decades-long guerrilla war, which "continues to break the extraordinary open hearts of thousands of Colombians." Meadowcroft's crystalline translation introduces readers to an important Latin American voice. (Feb.)"--Publishers Weekly

"In this novel, Silva Romero explores with clarity and precision the way violence weighs on a society like Colombia, which seems to have naturalized it in a disturbing way."--ADN Bogotá

"Written in visceral prose." --El Tiempo

"A book that will persist as a key representative of literature dealing with the violence that devastated this country during the armed conflict." --El Espectador

"Río Muerto is a portrait of Colombia turned into a book, a work we should have in our homes and read with our families instead of watching the news bulletins. (...) This short novel by Ricardo Silva Romero encapsulates a hope beyond the kind revealed in the story itself: the kind of hope that reflects the power of contemporary Colombian fiction to convert the horror of war into literary art." --Diario de Paz Colombia

"In Río Muerto, Ricardo Silva Romero recreates in poetic and intense prose another side of the horror of our era." --Abisinia Review

BUY THE BOOK:
https://worldeditions.org/product/rio-muerto/
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/rio-muerto-ricardo-silva-romero/7758401?ean=9781642861457

YouTube Video VVVqYXE5T1Nwb0Vlb2hQbUs4WlQtQzd3Lmdfak9xMFl0bThN

Victor Meadowcroft reads from Ricardo Silva Romero's RIO MUERTO (World Editions, 2025)

9 Apr, 2025 2:00 pm

When Red House Alley first appeared (as Der heilige Skarabäus [The sacred scarab],1909), it sent shockwaves through Viennese society. For the first time, the women and girls caught up in and destroyed by the sex trade were portrayed as real human beings rather than predators or mindless victims. The book became a bestseller and was considered one of the most important German novels of the early 20th century. Banned as decadent by the Nazis, it was forgotten for over 75 years. Red House Alley is the first complete and uncensored English translation of this landmark work. It reveals how the brothel system operated, how women were procured and ruined, and how society fostered a trade that public morals condemned. Else Jerusalem refused to accept degradation as the only fate for the women and girls of Red House. With the protagonist Milada, she presents a thoughtful, compassionate woman who finds an escape for herself and others like her. This is the first complete English translation of Der heilige Skarabäus (1909) Translated and with an afterword by Stephanie G. Ortega Introduction by Sophie Haydock “A cultural phenomenon.... The double standard Jerusalem exposed in her novel persists: it is still more acceptable to hire a sex worker than it is to be one.” Daniel Elkind, Lapham' Quarterly “Milada’s budding class consciousness stands out…. The rungs of the social ladder, ever slippery, are conveyed by the recurring images of closed doors and untraversable bridges: ‘pick your way across a narrow bridge … you lose your balance and come tumbling down.’ Thankfully recovered, Red House Alley is an impressive novel that remains optimistic despite its violence.” Colm McKenna, Times Literary Supplement Author biography Author bio Else Jerusalem was born into a Jewish Hungarian family in Vienna in 1876. She studied at the University of Vienna, but as a woman she was not an official student. Her first book, Venus am Kreuz [Venus crucified], a collection of novellas, was published in 1899. She married in 1901, had two children, and remained active in intellectual, literary, and social affairs. In 1909, she published her novel Der heilige Skarabäus, based on her independent research on prostitution in Vienna. It became a bestseller throughout the German-speaking world. In 1910 she divorced her first husband, married the embryologist Viktor Widakowich, and emigrated with him to Argentina. There, she had a daughter and wrote for German-language journals. She died in Buenos Aires in 1943. Translator bio Stephanie Gorrell Ortega grew up in the United States and graduated from high school in West Germany. She attended Mount Holyoke College and the University of Texas, Austin, where she earned a doctorate in German literature. She has taught at the Free University of Berlin; S.U.N.Y., Buffalo; the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; the University of Texas, Austin; and Texas State University. She has edited and translated with Poesie, Slavic Review, and Dimension: Contemporary German Arts and Letters. She lives in Austin, Texas. Red House Alley by Else Jerusalem Published by Boiler House Press (UK) Publication date: 30 November 2024 https://www.boilerhouse.press/product-page/red-house-alley Paperback edition Retail price: £22.99/$32.99 ISBN 978-1-915812-36-0 EPUB/Kindle edition ISBN: 978-1-915812-37-7 Retail price: £8.99/$9.99 Boiler House Press distribution by BookSource: Orders: orders@booksource.net Tel: +44 (0)141 642 9192 Also available through Gardners: Orders: sales@gardners.com Tel: +44 (0)1323 521555 And in the USA from Asterism Books: https://asterismbooks.com/product/red-house-alley-else-jerusalem Inquiries: info@asterimbooks.com

When Red House Alley first appeared (as Der heilige Skarabäus [The sacred scarab],1909), it sent shockwaves through Viennese society. For the first time, the women and girls caught up in and destroyed by the sex trade were portrayed as real human beings rather than predators or mindless victims. The book became a bestseller and was considered one of the most important German novels of the early 20th century. Banned as decadent by the Nazis, it was forgotten for over 75 years.
Red House Alley is the first complete and uncensored English translation of this landmark work.
It reveals how the brothel system operated, how women were procured and ruined, and how society fostered a trade that public morals condemned. Else Jerusalem refused to accept degradation as the only fate for the women and girls of Red House. With the protagonist Milada, she presents a thoughtful, compassionate woman who finds an escape for herself and others like her.

This is the first complete English translation of Der heilige Skarabäus (1909)
Translated and with an afterword by Stephanie G. Ortega
Introduction by Sophie Haydock

“A cultural phenomenon.... The double standard Jerusalem exposed in her novel persists: it is still more acceptable to hire a sex worker than it is to be one.” Daniel Elkind, Lapham' Quarterly

“Milada’s budding class consciousness stands out…. The rungs of the social ladder, ever slippery, are conveyed by the recurring images of closed doors and untraversable bridges: ‘pick your way across a narrow bridge … you lose your balance and come tumbling down.’

Thankfully recovered, Red House Alley is an impressive novel that remains optimistic despite its violence.” Colm McKenna, Times Literary Supplement
Author biography

Author bio
Else Jerusalem was born into a Jewish Hungarian family in Vienna in 1876. She studied at the University of Vienna, but as a woman she was not an official student. Her first book, Venus am Kreuz [Venus crucified], a collection of novellas, was published in 1899. She married in 1901, had two children, and remained active in intellectual, literary, and social affairs. In 1909, she published her novel Der heilige Skarabäus, based on her independent research on prostitution in Vienna. It became a bestseller throughout the German-speaking world. In 1910 she divorced her first husband, married the embryologist Viktor Widakowich, and emigrated with him to Argentina. There, she had a daughter and wrote for German-language journals. She died in Buenos Aires in 1943.

Translator bio
Stephanie Gorrell Ortega grew up in the United States and graduated from high school in West Germany. She attended Mount Holyoke College and the University of Texas, Austin, where she earned a doctorate in German literature. She has taught at the Free University of Berlin; S.U.N.Y., Buffalo; the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; the University of Texas, Austin; and Texas State University. She has edited and translated with Poesie, Slavic Review, and Dimension: Contemporary German Arts and Letters. She lives in Austin, Texas.

Red House Alley by Else Jerusalem
Published by Boiler House Press (UK)
Publication date: 30 November 2024
https://www.boilerhouse.press/product-page/red-house-alley
Paperback edition
Retail price: £22.99/$32.99
ISBN 978-1-915812-36-0
EPUB/Kindle edition
ISBN: 978-1-915812-37-7
Retail price: £8.99/$9.99
Boiler House Press distribution by BookSource:
Orders: orders@booksource.net
Tel: +44 (0)141 642 9192
Also available through Gardners:
Orders: sales@gardners.com
Tel: +44 (0)1323 521555
And in the USA from Asterism Books:
https://asterismbooks.com/product/red-house-alley-else-jerusalem
Inquiries: info@asterimbooks.com

YouTube Video VVVqYXE5T1Nwb0Vlb2hQbUs4WlQtQzd3LmItWGdfeGc0MVA0

Stephanie Ortega reads from Else Jerusalem's RED HOUSE ALLEY (Boiler House Press / Asterim Books)

2 Apr, 2025 2:00 pm

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