Book launch recording

 On Wednesday 3rd March the Queen’s College Translation Exchange launched A String of Pearls, my collection of German nineteenth-century fairy tales by women writers, appearing in English for the first time.

The launch featured a reading from me, my reflections on the translation process and what I've learned from the fairy tales, alongside contributions from Dr Joanna Neilly, who wrote the volume’s foreword, Dr Nicola Thomas, who typeset the edition, and illustrator Susan Sansome.

During the evening, Joanna thanked my project ‘for refocusing our attention on these often unjustly neglected voices. Her project is timely, coming when we are all considering how to make a more inclusive curriculum, but this is not just inclusivity for its own sake. Eve’s translations reveal the creativity, the wit, and the often subversive voices of a range of nineteenth-century fairy tales. This reminds us, of course, that folk and fairy tales are inherently subversive genres, often containing low humour or amplifying marginalised figures – the lower classes, children, outsider figures who become folk heroes. Eve’s project reclaims this subversive potential by bringing to the fore some forgotten women’s voices, who often provide a critical and ironic take on literary tradition. I am sure her book will become an important resource for students who want to know about the rich diversity of nineteenth-century cultural production.’

You can watch the recording here: