Crime in translation
Crime in translation takes a front seat this Saturday in Yorkshire at the 2004 Harrogate Crime Writing Festival and one of Greece’s leading writers of detective fiction will be in the limelight. Petros Markaris, author of three works of crime fiction featuring Inspector Costas Haritos, will be on the «Speaking in Tongues» Crime in Translation panel with another two European writers who have won acclaim in their own countries and have been translated into English. Born in Istanbul in 1937, Markaris studied economics, has written plays, television screenplays and translated the works of German dramatists, including Brecht and Goethe. Markaris in English «The Late-night News,» translated by David Connolly and published by Harvill Press, is due out in August and is the first of Markaris’s works to appear in English. His visit to Britain is sponsored by the Hellenic Foundation for Culture as part of their Greece in Britain 2004 program, a nationwide series of events during the year of the Athens Olympic Games. Joining Markaris on the panel will be Italy’s Carlo Lucarelli and Arnaldur Indridason from Iceland. Lucarelli, born in 1960 in Italy, hosts a popular television series in Italy that deals with unsolved crimes. He also teaches creative writing in Turin and edits an online magazine. He has written 11 noir novels. His first book to be translated into English, «Almost Blue,» was short-listed for the CWA Gold Dagger award for fiction. His second novel, «Day After Day,» also starring Ispettore Grazia Negro, is due out in August. His visit is sponsored by the Italian Cultural Institute. Indridason, formerly a journalist and critic for an Icelandic newspaper, has had great success with his crime fiction. He won the Glass Key Award for the best Nordic Crime Novel in 2002 for «Jar City» and in 2004 for «The Lady in Green» (due out in the UK by Harvill in 2005). The panel will be chaired by literary agent Jane Gregory and the authors have been invited to participate on the panel by the Harrogate Festival and Harvill Press. To book a ticket, call (+44) (0)1423.537.230. For the Harrogate Crime festival program of events, ticket and accommodation packages, access the official website at www.harrogate-festival.org.uk.
