INTO THE SPOTLIGHT. New Writing From Slovakia – An anthology featuring 16 writers

Edited by Magdalena Mullek and Julia Sherwood

Features 16 authors, including Balla, Jana Beňová, Ivana Dobrakovová, Uršuľa Kovalyk, Peter Macsovszky, Veronika Šikulová, Víťo Staviarsky and Marek Vadas (translated by Julia and Peter Sherwood).

Published in the US by Three String Books (Slavica Publishers), Bloomington, IN ISBN 978-089357-466-6 and in the UK by Parthian Books, Cardigan, ISBN 978-1-912109-53-1, May 2017.

“This anthology deserves to be read widely. I hope it’s not the last we hear from these writers. It certainly won’t be the last we hear from Mullek and Sherwood in their efforts to bring Slovak writers out of the shadows and into the spotlight.” – Mark Lencho, Slavic and East European Journal, June 2018

“A series of short stories that explore the themes of identity and belonging and confront the meaning of reality. This is Central European existential angst at its best, perfectly captured by the Sherwoods’ outstanding translation from the Slovak.” – Peter Frankopan, EBRD judge

“Julia Sherwood, who works in collaboration with her husband Peter, has been almost singlehandedly responsible for the recent emergence of Slovak literature from near-total obscurity.” – Charles Sabatos, Los Angeles Review of Books, 28 August 2017

“Though drawn from the work of writers from one of Europe’s smallest countries, this source reveals itself to be something like a magic lamp out of which comes a multitude of subjects, themes and styles well out of proportion to its size. Like the best writers, this anthology brilliantly balances the specific and universal.” Michael Stein, BODY.Literature

” The volume offers hope that we will be reading more from these and other translators of Slovak. And for the time being, Into the Spotlight offers no small consolation in its delightful array of human portraits from Central Europe.” Duncan Lien, World Literature Today 

“Both translators Mullek and Sherwood have stellar reputations for the quality of their work. Both are successful in hewing close to their sources, faithfully translating content and effects there, while producing fluent, naturalized translations, as stylistically diverse as the diversity found in the source texts – target texts that reveal considerable literary merit in their own right.” Mark Lencho, Slavic and East European Journal, June 2018.

“Thanks to the quality and diversity of contemporary Slovak fiction and their own wise choices, Mullek and Sherwood demonstrate that an anthology may be more than a catalogue, that it can provide a cumulative reading experience and leave a lasting impression, and that through its construction it can engage with not only the politics of translation, but also the broader politics and preoccupations of the world it enters.” Rajendra Chitnis, Slavic Review, December 2018.

“The anthology, edited by distinguished Slovak translators Magdalena Mullek and Julia Sherwood, succeeds in its promise of delivering an accessible, enjoyable read that nonetheless hints at deep existential questions.” Review by Corine Tachtiris, Translation Review, Volume 103, 2019, Issue 1

Link to buy here