"Be", the art magazine that gave me my first translation commission (Durs Grünbein's 1995 essay on deep-sea fish), was and still is published by the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, which published my first translated book in 1996: "Something about L.", a short and unusual text by Kay Heymer about the artist Jan Svenungsson (which is still available!). That led to further translations of articles about Svenungsson, and in 1998, before I had ever seen any of it in person, I even wrote an essay about his work based on what had been written about it. Eventually, I did see his works, and one hangs on the wall in my dining room. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 11 April 2021)



@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073697537 9 0 511 0;}@font-face {font-family:Baskerville; panose-1:2 2 5 2 7 4 1 2 3 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-2147483545 33554432 0 0 415 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman \(Body CS\)"; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-alt:"Times New Roman"; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:auto; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; text-align:justify; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Baskerville",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman \(Body CS\)"; mso-ansi-language:DE-CH; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:"Baskerville",serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Baskerville; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Baskerville; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman \(Body CS\)"; mso-ansi-language:DE-CH; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}.MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; text-align:justify;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}

From my first published translation to the first book I translated and beyond