Things I Will Do for Free

There are some things I will do for free. Here they are:

1. I will translate a short story, essay or extract of my own choosing for submission to a magazine (print or online), especially if a) the magazine doesn’t cost anything and/or b) I hope to spread the word about a particular writer or book.

2. I will moderate or appear on a panel or read from my own translations in the UK (if the organizer pays my expenses) or at small events in Berlin.

3. I will edit friends’ translations in exchange for them editing mine.

4. I will read friends’ original manuscripts and comment on them.

5. I will give advice and recommendations to the best of my ability.

6. I will give interviews to the best of my ability.

7. I will write a blog, or two, and occasional pieces for other people’s blogs.

8. I will run a monthly translation lab where translators can help each other.

9. I will do short translations for charitable projects.

10. I will co-edit a no-budget magazine of current German writing in translation and organize an annual translation talent contest.

That is the end of the things I will do for free in my professional life. I am lucky to be older than the internship generation, which is good because I have never been in a financial position to work for free. I love my job but I have to be able to make a living out of it. Over the past few months, I’ve heard about a reputable German publisher commissioning sample translations in return for books, I’ve seen companies operating on a shoestring by employing more unpaid than paid staff, I’ve been asked to curate a special edition of a magazine for no pay, which did not have a budget for any translations I did or commissioned, and I’ve been asked to recommend translators who will work for no pay in order to gain experience.

There is the argument that people without a huge amount of start-up capital should be able to start a business too, not just rich kids. But if your business model is based on exploiting people working for free (rather than just exploiting them in the usual Marxist sense, while paying them) then that business model is not sound. And I’m not the first to say that the rise of the unpaid internship increases inequality, by making it harder for those who can’t afford to work for free to get into certain industries.

So my personal rule of thumb about working for free is this: if someone is going to make money out of the thing they want me to give them for free (e.g. my translation) I won’t work for free.

Berlin Reads - and We Join in

Berlin's International Literature Festival opens on Wednesday, 4 September. It features the usual festival-type smorgasbord of writers from around the world, with a couple of interesting themes such as cultures of aging and women's sexuality on paper.

Anyway, the festival has had a slightly controversial reputation in the past. One of the ways it manages to survive on its budget is by tapping into readers' raw enthusiasm. So they had a programme which consisted of normal Berliners looking after the visiting writers in exchange for free tickets, for example, and of course the seemingly inevitable army of unpaid interns. This year (and I believe last year as well) they have a special pre-festival section called "Berlin liest".

Again, the thing consists of people doing something for free. But we're doing it anyway because we're like that (and let's face it, most of the readings I've ever done have been for free). We'll be reading at 4 p.m. on 4 September at St George's Bookshop in Prenzlauer Berg. Other people (see the link above) are reading out in the open in public places, but that was a step too far for me, frankly.

Here's our particular agenda:

Isabel Cole will be reading from Annemarie Schwarzenbach's All the Roads Are Open.
Karen Margolis will be reading two classical Chinese poems from The Land of the Five Flavours.
I'll be reading from Tilman Rammstedt's The King of China.
Lucy Renner-Jones will be reading from Silke Scheuermann's "Lisa and the Heavenly Bodies".

The translations are all our own work. Mine is a sneak preview, as the book's not quite out yet.

Contemporary German Fiction 101 - the Reading List

I wrote that I was offering a course on reading German writing, and now enough people have signed up for me to put the reading list together. There are still a couple of places, though, so if you've been hesitating now's the time to sign up. You can do so via The Reader Berlin. The course costs €100 for seven weeks.

We'll be meeting in Berlin-Mitte on Monday nights from 26 August. And we'll be reading short texts by:

Selim Özdogan
Deniz Utlu
Inka Parei
Clemens Meyer
David Wagner
Stefanie De Velasco
Felicitas Hoppe

As I suspected, it's turned out to be Writers Katy Likes 101 to some extent. But all the pieces offer a lot to think and talk about.

RBB Kulturradio and Me

I started listening to RBB Kulturradio after I realised nobody was going to take me under their wing and teach me about classical music, so I might as well start educating myself. My favourite show is the phone-in where people have to guess the tune, because all humankind is there, from know-it-alls to humble pie-eaters. Sadly it's only on once a month and I can never remember what it's called. They also have decent literary coverage and occasional radio plays. I don't listen on Sundays though because it's too religious for my taste.

This summer they're running a series of blogger profiles. A while ago Johannes Fischer and I sat in the park with a couple of beers and talked on tape - about books and blogging, and drinking and writers. There were some buskers but he paid them to go away. Now you can listen to what he put together. My auntie disapproves of the line "sie trinkt gern" and I did indeed feel a little consternation at being described as such. But I suppose it's true.

Contemporary German Fiction 101

I am launching a new venture! It's an evening course in Berlin with The Reader, designed especially for English-speaking readers who want an introduction to what's being written in German right now. We'll be reading contemporary short stories in German and talking about them in English. Obviously the chosen texts haven't yet been translated, so there'll be no cheating. But they should offer a gateway into today's German fiction.

I got the idea because English-speaking literary people quite often ask me what to read in German. I know there are plenty who mean to get round to it, any day now, as soon as they find the time, definitely this year. So the class will give you a little nudge to overcome your inneren Schweinehund.

It'll be Monday nights in Mitte for seven weeks, starting 26 August. I'm charging €100 for my guidance and expertise. All the details are available at The Reader Berlin's website - and that's where you go to sign up, too. Please do.

I Am Away

I am away. I may be gone some time.

Update: I am not walking to my death in a blizzard; merely teaching and having a holiday.