IN TRANSLATION
‘You must speak to [people] in the language their heart speaks.’
– Alison Kroulek
Spineless Wonders is excited to present Australian stories in translation. We are delighted to work with a range of brilliant translators, foreign and local publishers, teachers, students, educators, writers, poets, performers and specialists to produce multi-lingual collaborations.
Bloodrust and other stories by Julia Prendergast - translated and narrated in Greek
We would like to acknowledge the work of Vasilis Manousakis who translated both stories and arranged for the audio narration by the talented Greek actor, Maria Maltabe.
'Like Clay' written by Julia Prendergast, narrated in Greek by Maria Maltabe
Download the written translation here.
'Not Easy To Die' written by Julia Prendergast, narrated in Greek by Maria Maltabe
Download the written translation here.
Meet the Creators
THE AUTHOR
Julia Prendergast's novel, The Earth Does Not Get Fat, was published in 2018 and longlisted for the Indie Book Awards for debut fiction. Her short stories have been recognised and published: Lightship Anthology International Short Story Competition (UK), Ink Tears International Short Story Competition, Glimmer Train International Short Story Competition (US), Séan Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition, TEXT, Elizabeth Jolley Prize, Josephine Ulrick Prize. Bloodrust and other stories was published by Spineless Wonders in 2022.
THE TRANSLATOR
Vasilis Manousakis is a short-story writer, poet, and translator, whose work has appeared in New American Writing, Hayden's Ferry Review, Barcelona Ink, Parentheses and Drunken Boat among others. He writes reviews and translates poetry and short stories for literary magazines. He has been one of the founding members of Bonsai Stories, the blog directly linked to Planodion literary magazine. The blog is dedicated to Flash Fiction and work from many well-known writers from Greece, the United States and other countries has appeared there. These flash stories have been collected in two printed volumes so far and a special tribute to 9/11 stories has appeared in a third volume, in which Vasilis was on the editorial committee. He holds a Ph.D. in Contemporary American Poetry and currently teaches Creative Writing, Short Fiction, and Audiovisual Translation. He is a faculty member of the New Writers Workshop and has organized their annual symposium in Athens, Greece.
THE ACTOR
Maria Maltabe is an actress, voice actress and drama teacher. She studied acting and graduated from the drama school of “Peraikos Syndesmos”. She has a bachelor’s degree in «Studies in European Civilization» and a master’s degree in «Creative writing». She has also studied «Pedagogy and Teaching Competence». She has attended several drama courses and workshops for acting. Her passion for teaching motivated her to teach drama to children and teenagers. She has also organized and coordinated drama workshops for adults. As an actress she has participated in many theatre performances, in international theater festivals, and in several films. Her experience as a voice over actress spans over 15 years. As a voice actor she has worked for the National Greek radio (radio theatre, narration of Greek stories) and in a wide range of projects including TV and radio commercials, documentaries and corporate films. She also has a vast experience in dubbing. Her work has been featured on national TV, radio and on the internet.
The Shuffle Translation Project
Languages other than English used in this project are Mandarin, Vietnamese, Nuer, Afrikaans, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, Telugu and Serbian. We would like to thank Paulette Smythe for her brilliant work in producing the microlit videos in translation. We would also like to thank all the wonderful translators who have worked tirelessly to add new and exciting readings, inflections and interpretations to the microlit from the Shuffle Anthology. Special thanks to AMES, Australia for supporting this project.
Dog-themed stories – English/Mandarin
To celebrate the 2018 Lunar calendar’s Year of the Dog, Spineless Wonders called for dog-related stories. Six of the dog-themed microlit we received were translated into Mandarin by Beijing-based Jamie Su, recorded for us in English by actor Sam Wang and in Mandarin by the translation service, Nan Hai Culture + Media.