Q: In your mission statement you note that Restless Books "seeks extraordinary international literature for adults and young readers that feeds our restlessness: our hunger for new perspectives, passion for other cultures and languages, and eagerness to explore beyond the confines of the familiar." Can you elaborate a little more on your mission to share these stories and why it's so important?
A: Restless was founded in 2013 out of an impatience with the parochial, inward-looking aspects of an American culture in which fewer than half of our adult citizens have ever owned a passport, and only three percent of books published are translated from other languages. We were convinced there are many English-language readers who, like us, are passionately curious about the rest of the world and eager to discover the infinite variety of great books out there beyond our borders. Reading widely about other cultures also has a salutary effect on one’s global citizenship. We are kinder to those we see and empathize with, and good books are the greatest teachers of empathy. With Yonder: Restless Books for Young Readers, our philosophy is simple: start readers on a curious path while they’re young!
Q: You have an extremely diverse list with an assortment of adult and children's books. What's your favorite part of publishing a novel and your favorite part of publishing a children's title?
A: My first love in publishing is editing books, and it’s been a great pleasure to help the debut authors who have won our Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing shape their work. Both of our nonfiction winners, Grace Talusan’s The Body Papers and Rajiv Mohabir’s forthcoming Antiman, came to us as collections of essays and disparate pieces, and in the editorial process we successfully shaped them into memoirs with cohesive and propulsive narrative arcs. I’m also astonished and pleased by how gamely Priyanka Champaneri completely re-constructed the central portion of The City of Good Death after she’d worked on the book for ten years before submitting it to our prize. The end result is magnificent.
We’ve made an interesting discovery in publishing books for young readers in translation. Whereas contemporary American teen fiction is often very topical—driven by cultural hot topics—the international fiction that we’ve connected with feels more universal and timeless. They are stories of adventure and discovery and personal growth that aren’t necessarily tied to social themes. Books like The Casket of Time, The Wild Book, and the forthcoming Temple Alley Summer feel like they will continue to connect with readers for generations to come.
Q: Can you share a forthcoming Restless Books title you’re excited about and why?
A: Being an international publisher, we don’t always get to work closely with our authors due to geographic and linguistic constraints. But occasionally we come across a multilingual wunderkind like the Bosnian author Lana Bastašić, who translated her brilliant novel, Catch the Rabbit from Serbo-Croatian into Bosnian herself. (She lives in Barcelona and speaks Catalan and Spanish as well.) We’re planning virtual events and podcasts with Lana; stay tuned for her becoming an international writer to watch.
Q: What are you currently reading, or a recent book you really loved?
A: I’ve developed a habit—or addiction—of listening to the audiobook versions of massive classics I haven’t yet got around to: Middlemarch, Crime and Punishment, and, currently, War and Peace. For some reason my fiction listens tend to be classics and my nonfiction ones are more current: Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, the new Obama, Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, Tim Weiner on the FBI and CIA, Jia Tolentino’s essays, and, after seeing the musical streamed on Disney+, Ron Chernow’s Hamilton. In paper, the pandemic’s greatest pleasures have been shorter books by Denis Johnson and Penelope Fitzgerald. After devouring The Beginning of Spring and Offshore I was impatient with everything not saturated with her hilarious, heartbreaking wit and human affection.
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