AmazonCrossing's Spring 2011 publishing list of books from around the world

AmazonCrossing, a newer Amazon publishing imprint, was created to "introduce readers to emerging and established authors from around the world with translations of foreign language books, making award-winning and bestselling books accessible to many readers for the first time," and Amazon adds that "... customers ... have introduced us to outstanding works from other countries and cultures."

   With that input and other data, the new publishing venture is acquiring and translating works to give them wider exposure through the Amazon.com Books Store, Amazon Kindle Store, and national and independent bookstores.

They just announced the Spring 2011 set of six new books, the first one, to be released December 2010, and the 6th, in April 2011.  Never available previously in English, they are:

  "The Hangman's Daughter" by Oliver Potzsch; "No Reserve: The Limit of Absolute Power" by Martin Redrado; "Old Town" by Lin Zhe; "Pizzicato: The Abduction of the Magic Violin" by Rusalka Reh; "Pepita Jimenez" by Juan Valera; and "Field Work in Ukrainian Sex" by Oksana Zabuzhko.  That last title may catch the eye.

  Again, they'll be available in print format at Amazon and at national and independent booksellers, and also as Kindle  (UK: K3)  books.

  AmazonCrossing's first title, Tierno Monenembo's novel, "The King of Kahel," was released in May 2010.  Here are the details for the coming six:

' "The Hangman's Daughter" by Oliver Pötzsch takes place in Germany in 1660. When a dying boy is pulled from the river with a mark crudely tattooed on his shoulder, hangman Jakob Kuisl is called upon to investigate whether witchcraft is at play in his small Bavarian town. Whispers and dark memories of witch trials and the women burned at the stake 70 years earlier still haunt the streets of Schongau. When more children disappear and an orphan boy is found dead--marked by the same tattoo--the mounting hysteria threatens to erupt into chaos. "The Hangman's Daughter" is the first novel from German television screenwriter Pötzsch, a descendent of the Kuisls, a famous Bavarian executioner clan. "The Hangman's Daughter," which was translated by Lee Chadeayne, will be published on Dec. 7.

"No Reserve: The Limit of Absolute Power," by the former president of Argentina's Central Bank Martín Redrado, exposes the reckless policies that nearly destroyed his country's economy. Readers will learn how this Harvard-educated veteran of Wall Street and prominent Latin American economist was appointed by then President Nestor Kirchner to lead Argentina through difficult economic times. "No Reserve," which was translated by Dan Newland, will be published on Jan. 11, 2011.

In "Old Town," Lin Zhe--one of China's most prolific writers today--paints an unforgettable picture of an ordinary family caught up in the maelstrom that was China's most recent century. Praised as China's "Gone With the Wind," "Old Town" ranges across the entire length of China, to California and back again, to the battlefields of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the brutality of the Cultural Revolution. Spanning the genres of romance, memoir, historical fiction and allegory, for the non-Chinese reader it will provide a rare and moving insight into Chinese lives in a century of fearsome upheaval. "Old Town," translated by George Fowler, will be published on Jan. 25, 2011.

"Pizzicato: The Abduction of the Magic Violin," by celebrated German author Rusalka Reh, is an exciting whodunit that follows an orphan after he befriends an eccentric violinmaker. AmazonCrossing's first Young Adult title, "Pizzicato" features orphan Darius Dorian, who discovers a magical violin during a school project. "Pizzicato," translated by David Henry Wilson, will be published on Feb. 8, 2011. This book is the first of three books by Reh that will be published by AmazonCrossing.

"Pepita Jimenez" by Juan Valera is the best known of the 19^th century diplomat's eight novels, and this English translation is the first in many years since the original publication in 1874. When a priest-in-training leaves the seminary to return to the village of his birth, he becomes captivated by his father's lovely fiancée and is torn between his human desires and his sacred calling. This engaging introduction to a Spanish literary master, translated by Katherine Illescas, will be published on Feb. 22, 2011.

"Field Work in Ukrainian Sex" by Oksana Zabuzhko--named one of Ukraine's Top Ten Most Influential Women by Correspondent magazine--is the tale of one woman's personal revolt provoked by the top literary scandal of the decade. The author, a noted Ukrainian poet and novelist, explains: "When you turn 30, you inevitably start reconsidering what you have been taught in your formative years--that is, if you really seek for your own voice as a writer. In my case, my personal identity crisis had coincided with the one experienced by my country after the advent of independence. The result turned explosive: 'Field Work in Ukrainian Sex.'" The novel will be published in April 2011. This book is the first of three books by Zabuzhko that will be published by AmazonCrossing. '

Note that the Kindle book pricing on these is generally quite a bit less than for the paperback versions.

Here's the earlier story here, which described the project and included Wall Street Journal's findings on publishing-industry book translation costs.


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