Fiona O’Connor, Lecturer at the Westminster School of Organisations, Economy and Society, has written an article for The Irish Times about translation as a form of disruptive innovation in British publishing.
In 2021, after decades of consistency, the UK and Irish sales of translated fiction grew from a stable 3% to 5.63%. According to O’Connor, this change of readers’ tastes is further highlighted by the 90% surge of translated short stories and anthologies over the last three years.
She points out that instead of the big publishing houses, small publishers and indie presses stepped in, bringing forward major literary works of foreign authors with notable great success. In O’Connor’s view, these publishers have taken advantage of the growing demand for translated works at the bottom of the market.
She notes that after Brexit, translation has become a way to support cultural life between the UK and the rest of Europe, and highlights the viewpoints of Irish writers regarding the role of translation in sustaining conversation and cooperation.
O’Connor ends the piece with the thoughts of French author and publisher Cécile Menon, who talks about the decline of small UK based presses after Brexit.
Read the full article on The Irish Times’s website.
