Jamie Lee Searle
@jamielsearle.bsky.social
Translator, Editor and Mentor
Royal Literary Fund Fellow
Translating: Kim de l'Horizon, Joachim B. Schmidt, Anna Kim, Urs Faes and more
jamieleesearle.com
Royal Literary Fund Fellow
Translating: Kim de l'Horizon, Joachim B. Schmidt, Anna Kim, Urs Faes and more
jamieleesearle.com
Reposted by Jamie Lee Searle
Sublime interview de Kim de l’Horizon avec @jamielsearle.bsky.social ! « I don’t see it as Blutbuch having an original in German and sixteen translations, but rather that the text now exists in seventeen versions, with seventeen co-authors. » www.new-books-in-german.com/writing-for-...
“Writing, for me, has always meant having to go elsewhere” – New Books in German
Translator Jamie Lee Searle interviews author Kim de l’Horizon.
www.new-books-in-german.com
October 9, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Sublime interview de Kim de l’Horizon avec @jamielsearle.bsky.social ! « I don’t see it as Blutbuch having an original in German and sixteen translations, but rather that the text now exists in seventeen versions, with seventeen co-authors. » www.new-books-in-german.com/writing-for-...
Translating Kim de l'Horizon's #Blutbuch has been one of the greatest, hardest, most joyous challenges of my literary translation career to date. To celebrate its publication week, Literary Hub have published a piece I wrote on the experience👇📚❤️
@jamielsearle.bsky.social reflects on the rich challenges of translating genre and gender blurring in Kim de l’Horizon’s Sea, Mothers, Swallow, Tongues.
Blurring Genre, Gender: The Rich Challenges of Translating Kim de l’Horizon’s Wild Fiction
In the autumn of 2023, I found myself in the mountains above Lake Geneva, at a place called Château de Lavigny. I had been invited there on a fellowship to work on my translation of Kim de l’Horizo…
buff.ly
August 27, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Translating Kim de l'Horizon's #Blutbuch has been one of the greatest, hardest, most joyous challenges of my literary translation career to date. To celebrate its publication week, Literary Hub have published a piece I wrote on the experience👇📚❤️
My translation of Kim de l'Horizon's stunning debut novel #Blutbuch was published yesterday, with @fsgbooks.bsky.social in the US and @sceptrebooks.bsky.social in the UK. To read an extract, head over to @literaryhub.bsky.social... 👇
“It was one of those things we couldn’t say to one another. I had told Father, Father had told Mother, Mother must have told you.” Read from Kim de l’Horizon’s debut novel Sea, Mothers, Swallow, Tongues, translated by @jamielsearle.bsky.social.
Sea, Mothers, Swallow, Tongues
For example, I never officially told you about “it.” I just came over for coffee one day wearing makeup, with a box of Lindt & Sprüngli (the medium-sized, not the small ones like usual), and th…
buff.ly
August 27, 2025 at 10:47 AM
My translation of Kim de l'Horizon's stunning debut novel #Blutbuch was published yesterday, with @fsgbooks.bsky.social in the US and @sceptrebooks.bsky.social in the UK. To read an extract, head over to @literaryhub.bsky.social... 👇
Putting the finishing touches to my #translation of the latest in the Brittany Mystery Series, and as always, I'm reluctant to part ways with the delightfully grumpy, caffeine-addicted Detective Dupin ☕🕵️
Out next spring with Macmillan USA.
us.macmillan.com/books/978125...
Out next spring with Macmillan USA.
us.macmillan.com/books/978125...
The Secrets of the Abbey
In international bestselling author Jean-Luc Bannalec's The Secrets of the Abbey, between large inlets, the wild Atlantic, and enchanting apple orchards, a t...
us.macmillan.com
August 1, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Putting the finishing touches to my #translation of the latest in the Brittany Mystery Series, and as always, I'm reluctant to part ways with the delightfully grumpy, caffeine-addicted Detective Dupin ☕🕵️
Out next spring with Macmillan USA.
us.macmillan.com/books/978125...
Out next spring with Macmillan USA.
us.macmillan.com/books/978125...
Couldn't agree more 📚 ❤️
If you love the English translations of authors working in other languages, I recommend you keep track of the translator. Chances are they work across several authors - and they are mostly always linguistic chameleons whose work you will always enjoy.
July 15, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Couldn't agree more 📚 ❤️
One of the things I enjoy most about #literarytranslation is polishing the dialogue (where there is dialogue), and making it sound as natural as possible. In my own writing, I've always veered away from dialogue and felt intimidated by it. Something to lean into, I think!
July 14, 2025 at 2:14 PM
One of the things I enjoy most about #literarytranslation is polishing the dialogue (where there is dialogue), and making it sound as natural as possible. In my own writing, I've always veered away from dialogue and felt intimidated by it. Something to lean into, I think!
Remember that episode of Friends where Julio the misogynist poet blames a 'bad translation' for not liking the book he's reading? I guess we'll never know if he read the original!
#translation #clichés
#translation #clichés
July 12, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Remember that episode of Friends where Julio the misogynist poet blames a 'bad translation' for not liking the book he's reading? I guess we'll never know if he read the original!
#translation #clichés
#translation #clichés
Absolutely *loved* taking part in yesterday's panel on Gender in Translation and AI for @bristoltranslates.bsky.social with @rebeccadewald.bsky.social, and being reunited with @roselab.bsky.social, the French translator of #Blutbuch, for the first time since our Swiss workshop ❤️
July 11, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Absolutely *loved* taking part in yesterday's panel on Gender in Translation and AI for @bristoltranslates.bsky.social with @rebeccadewald.bsky.social, and being reunited with @roselab.bsky.social, the French translator of #Blutbuch, for the first time since our Swiss workshop ❤️
Looking forward to discussing gender in translation and the limitations of AI at Bristol Translates, together with #Blutbuch's French translator, @roselab.bsky.social, in collaboration with the @goethe-institut-uk.bsky.social and @frenchinstituteuk.bsky.social
@bristoltranslates.bsky.social
@bristoltranslates.bsky.social
Bristol Translates 2025 - Institut Français · Royaume-Uni
Keynote Lecture : Reading Like a Translator with Damion Searls Monday 7 July – 17.00 Free and open to all (registration required) The opening keynote will be delivered by renowned American translator ...
www.institut-francais.org.uk
June 30, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Looking forward to discussing gender in translation and the limitations of AI at Bristol Translates, together with #Blutbuch's French translator, @roselab.bsky.social, in collaboration with the @goethe-institut-uk.bsky.social and @frenchinstituteuk.bsky.social
@bristoltranslates.bsky.social
@bristoltranslates.bsky.social
One of the first things that drew me to my partner was his exquisite taste in stationary. I'm now hooked on the same stuff, and it's an expensive habit 📝 #rulerofmyheart
June 25, 2025 at 9:57 AM
One of the first things that drew me to my partner was his exquisite taste in stationary. I'm now hooked on the same stuff, and it's an expensive habit 📝 #rulerofmyheart
The Author just arrived. Excited to have a piece in it, for the first time, on the process of translating #Blutbuch. It includes mischievous mountains, voice software, and dancing! @societyofauthors.bsky.social
June 24, 2025 at 12:38 PM
The Author just arrived. Excited to have a piece in it, for the first time, on the process of translating #Blutbuch. It includes mischievous mountains, voice software, and dancing! @societyofauthors.bsky.social
''Every piece of technology can either make us more human or less human […] In the formative stages of education, we are now at risk of stripping away the core competency that makes our species thrive: learning not what to think, but how to think.''
This is excellent 👇
This is excellent 👇
The Death of the Student Essay—and the Future of Cognition
One professor's reflections on the end of an era, as AI tools such as ChatGPT have murdered the student essay (RIP). Here's why that threatens the future of human cognition—and how to save ourselves.
www.forkingpaths.co
June 20, 2025 at 9:50 AM
''Every piece of technology can either make us more human or less human […] In the formative stages of education, we are now at risk of stripping away the core competency that makes our species thrive: learning not what to think, but how to think.''
This is excellent 👇
This is excellent 👇
A brass candlestick has just popped up on p. 96 of the mystery novel I'm #translating, and I'm so hoping it turns out to be the murder weapon.
June 20, 2025 at 9:15 AM
A brass candlestick has just popped up on p. 96 of the mystery novel I'm #translating, and I'm so hoping it turns out to be the murder weapon.
Currently #translating a sample for an exciting upcoming title which opens with the Greek myth of Pandora, and I've gone down a rabbit hole of how it was originally a jar ('pithos') but seemingly mistranslated into Latin as a 'box' in the 16th C by the Renaissance humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam...
June 5, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Currently #translating a sample for an exciting upcoming title which opens with the Greek myth of Pandora, and I've gone down a rabbit hole of how it was originally a jar ('pithos') but seemingly mistranslated into Latin as a 'box' in the 16th C by the Renaissance humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam...
Reading from my sample translation of Joachim B
Schmidt's wonderful new novel Ósmann for @translatorsaloud.bsky.social #swisswriting #icelandicstories
Schmidt's wonderful new novel Ósmann for @translatorsaloud.bsky.social #swisswriting #icelandicstories
@jamielsearle.bsky.social reads from Joachim B. Schmidt's novel ÓSMANN, told in lyrical prose, and inspired by a ferryman who lived in the far north of Iceland around the turn of the 19th century, witnessing the changes brought by modernity. buff.ly/tcVsxnC
More info at @newgermanbooks.bsky.social
More info at @newgermanbooks.bsky.social
Jamie Lee Searle reads from Joachim B. Schmidt’s ÓSMANN (seeking a publisher)
Joachim B. Schmidt is a Swiss writer who has lived in Iceland for many years, a land that provides the evocative setting for many of his books. This, his lat...
buff.ly
June 2, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Reading from my sample translation of Joachim B
Schmidt's wonderful new novel Ósmann for @translatorsaloud.bsky.social #swisswriting #icelandicstories
Schmidt's wonderful new novel Ósmann for @translatorsaloud.bsky.social #swisswriting #icelandicstories
Ah, dictation software, how I love thee for the amusement you bring to my working day! A young woman has just been "rescued from the clutches of wild librarians" (rather than barbarians. Were they irate at her flagrant disregard for the Dewey Decimal System?). #amtranslating
April 22, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Ah, dictation software, how I love thee for the amusement you bring to my working day! A young woman has just been "rescued from the clutches of wild librarians" (rather than barbarians. Were they irate at her flagrant disregard for the Dewey Decimal System?). #amtranslating
Reposted by Jamie Lee Searle
My letter to the @theguardian.com on the META theft of our work. Will be in the physical paper tomorrow.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
April 9, 2025 at 6:13 PM
My letter to the @theguardian.com on the META theft of our work. Will be in the physical paper tomorrow.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.new-books-in-german.com/the-journey-...
NBG invited me to write a piece about the wild ride of translating Kim de l'Horizon's #Blutbuch, which is (finally!) out this August, with Sceptre in the UK, and FSG in the U.S. @sceptrebooks.bsky.social @newgermanbooks.bsky.social @fsgbooks.bsky.social
NBG invited me to write a piece about the wild ride of translating Kim de l'Horizon's #Blutbuch, which is (finally!) out this August, with Sceptre in the UK, and FSG in the U.S. @sceptrebooks.bsky.social @newgermanbooks.bsky.social @fsgbooks.bsky.social
The journey from Blutbuch to Sea, Mothers, Swallow, Tongues – New Books in German
Reflections on translating award-winning Kim de l’Horizon's Blutbuch.
www.new-books-in-german.com
April 10, 2025 at 9:09 AM
www.new-books-in-german.com/the-journey-...
NBG invited me to write a piece about the wild ride of translating Kim de l'Horizon's #Blutbuch, which is (finally!) out this August, with Sceptre in the UK, and FSG in the U.S. @sceptrebooks.bsky.social @newgermanbooks.bsky.social @fsgbooks.bsky.social
NBG invited me to write a piece about the wild ride of translating Kim de l'Horizon's #Blutbuch, which is (finally!) out this August, with Sceptre in the UK, and FSG in the U.S. @sceptrebooks.bsky.social @newgermanbooks.bsky.social @fsgbooks.bsky.social
societyofauthors.org/prizes/trans...
The Goethe Institut's biennial Award for New Translation is open for entries, with an award of EUR 1,000 plus a trip to the Leipzig Book Fair & the International Translators' gathering at the LCB. Entry details below! 👇
The Goethe Institut's biennial Award for New Translation is open for entries, with an award of EUR 1,000 plus a trip to the Leipzig Book Fair & the International Translators' gathering at the LCB. Entry details below! 👇
German - Goethe-Institut Award - The Society of Authors
The Society of Authors’ and the Goethe-Institut Londons’ biennial Goethe-Institut Award for New Translation. The Goethe-Institut Award for New Translation was founded in 2010 and is presented by the S...
societyofauthors.org
April 10, 2025 at 9:03 AM
societyofauthors.org/prizes/trans...
The Goethe Institut's biennial Award for New Translation is open for entries, with an award of EUR 1,000 plus a trip to the Leipzig Book Fair & the International Translators' gathering at the LCB. Entry details below! 👇
The Goethe Institut's biennial Award for New Translation is open for entries, with an award of EUR 1,000 plus a trip to the Leipzig Book Fair & the International Translators' gathering at the LCB. Entry details below! 👇
Spent the weekend in a cabin in the frosty woods, listening to owls and crows. Now to dive into the final Blutbuch proofs and editing my translator's note - one last push!
March 3, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Spent the weekend in a cabin in the frosty woods, listening to owls and crows. Now to dive into the final Blutbuch proofs and editing my translator's note - one last push!
Reposted by Jamie Lee Searle
Thank you @jamielsearle.bsky.social @joheinrich.bsky.social and @dances-with-voles.bsky.social for a great discussion with the @iti-uk.bsky.social #German network book club about team #translating Angela Merkel’s Freiheit! You drew in a crowd and we learned a lot about your process together.
January 17, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Thank you @jamielsearle.bsky.social @joheinrich.bsky.social and @dances-with-voles.bsky.social for a great discussion with the @iti-uk.bsky.social #German network book club about team #translating Angela Merkel’s Freiheit! You drew in a crowd and we learned a lot about your process together.
Saw #Maria last night. *Loved* Pierfrancesco Favino's subtle but scene-stealing turn as the butler. Also came out wanting to move to a fin-de-siecle apartment in Paris, and with a major craving for Fernet Branca.
January 13, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Saw #Maria last night. *Loved* Pierfrancesco Favino's subtle but scene-stealing turn as the butler. Also came out wanting to move to a fin-de-siecle apartment in Paris, and with a major craving for Fernet Branca.
Last night I dreamt I went to Porthcawl again. And I'm wondering if this would be a good writing prompt for a very un-Rebecca like novel... 🖋️
January 10, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Last night I dreamt I went to Porthcawl again. And I'm wondering if this would be a good writing prompt for a very un-Rebecca like novel... 🖋️
I've resolved to start keeping a reading journal again this year - it always galvanized my reading in the past. Some intriguing titles on this @literaryhub.bsky.social list to get me started:
lithub.com/lit-hubs-mos...
lithub.com/lit-hubs-mos...
Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2025
Well, 2024 was fairly bad, and 2025 may in fact be worse. Regardless, we will be reading. Here are the books the Lit Hub staff is most excited to pick up in the (first half of the) year ahead. JANU…
lithub.com
January 7, 2025 at 4:07 PM
I've resolved to start keeping a reading journal again this year - it always galvanized my reading in the past. Some intriguing titles on this @literaryhub.bsky.social list to get me started:
lithub.com/lit-hubs-mos...
lithub.com/lit-hubs-mos...
Just sent off my sample translation for Joachim B. Schmidt's forthcoming novel, and let me tell you it's an absolute corker! Not a Kalmann, this time, but wonderful regardless! Fingers crossed for an English-language rights acquisition 🤞🏻 @diogenesverlag.bsky.social
January 7, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Just sent off my sample translation for Joachim B. Schmidt's forthcoming novel, and let me tell you it's an absolute corker! Not a Kalmann, this time, but wonderful regardless! Fingers crossed for an English-language rights acquisition 🤞🏻 @diogenesverlag.bsky.social