Although my first book in translation was published back in 1992, Frankfurt – 2014 became my first Frankfurt Book Fair, where my novel (Portrait of an Unknown Girl, Cossee Publishers, 2015) was set to be actively presented to the broad international publishing world.
It has never been an easy task for foreign publishers to read, judge the merits of, and ultimately publish Russian literature in translation. I would have considered the interest of 4-5 international publishers a huge success.
At the end of last week I received an overview of the international interest for Portrait of an Unknown Girl, generated by Eva Cossée, Christoph Buchwald, Laurens Molegraaf (Cossee Publishers, Amsterdam) and Markus Hoffmann (Regal Literary, NY).
I was stunned to learn that almost 40 top editors and/or publishing houses, representing the major literary markets, have requested the manuscript. Obviously I understand the difference and indeed the distance from ‘being interested’ and actually publishing a book in translation, but nevertheless I’m pretty glad to say the least. Even more so as a full-scale English-language campaign has yet to begin.
I heartily thank my dear friends from Cossee Publishers and Regal Literary for the miraculous job they have done — and will see how all this massive international interest is going to play out.
