Emma Press buys Latvian titles in translation push

Independent publisher The Emma Press has acquired English-language rights to two Latvian titles thanks to a grant from Latvia’s Ministry of Culture.

Publisher Emma Wright bought the UK, English language rights to Skaļā klase (The Noisy Classroom), which is a collection of children’s poems by Ieva Samauska and illustrated by Vivianna Maria Staņislavska. Wright struck the deal with Latvian publisher Pētergailis.

The second deal was for the worldwide English language rights to Pirmā reize (First time), a collection of short stories for adults by Daina Tabūna, from original publisher Mansards.

The Noisy Classroom will be translated by Zanete Vevere Pasqualini, Sara Smith and Richard O’Brien and published in July 2017, whilst First Time will be translated by Jayde Will and published as The Secret Box in November 2017.

Publisher Emma Wright said: “I believe translations are vital to the literary landscape and are key to engendering the feeling of a global community. I’ve been meaning to add translations to our list for some time, and the support of the LWU has allowed me to learn about the process of acquiring rights and editing translations. This is just the beginning of our translation programme, and in particular we are working on acquiring more poetry books for children in translation.”

The Emma Press was one of nine publishers awarded grants in the latest round of the ‘Support for Foreign Publishers Publishing Latvian Literature’ programme, organised by the Latvian Writers Union (LWU) and financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia. The grant covers translation and production costs.