SPEAKING IN TONGUES

119pp., hardback, d.w., Harvill Secker, London, 2025

ISBN: 9781787305137

A dialogue between Nobel Laureate J.M. Coetzee and translator Mariana Dimópulos, about the evolution of language and the challenge of translation.

"What happens when we consider translation not as a solitary act of perception but as a negotiation - one shaped by institutional constraints imposed from without or even by unequal relationships of global power? Speaking in Tongues ... repeatedly shifts the focus from individual choices to the structural forces that shape translation." Professor Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Review of Books

“From a variety of perspectives, J.M. Coetzee and Mariana Dimópulos take up, in both abstract and practical terms, such matters as the linguistic hegemony of English, gender, and the role and duty of the translator. Their conversation investigates language in compelling, astute, and often surprising ways.” Ann Goldstein, translator of Elena Ferrante and Primo Levi

J.M. Coetzee was born in Cape Town, and is the author of more than 20 books, including The Pole & other stories, Waiting for the Barbarians, Life & Times of Michael K (1983 Booker Prize) and Disgrace (1999 Booker Prize), and the memoir Boyhood: Scenes from a provincial life. In 2003, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Argentine writer, translator, and teacher Mariana Dimópulos has published four novels including, most recently, Quemar El Cielo (2019). She taught at the University of Buenos Aires, and now lives in Germany.