Jamie Lee Searle is a writer, mentor and literary translator from German and Portuguese who has worked on some of the most exciting German-language books to appear in recent years, including Kim de l’Horizon’s Blutbuch (forthcoming), Urs Faes’ Twelve Nights, and the Kalmann books by Joachim B. Schmidt. She is an assessor for NBG, a Royal Literary Fund Fellow, and has also been a mentor on the National Centre for Writing’s scheme for emerging literary translators.
A year ago, I was selected for this mentorship, and was lucky enough to work with Jamie and learn directly from her expertise. After six months spent chatting through all things translation, it was great to get the chance to interview her for NBG about the experiences, projects and communities which have shaped her career.
Tayiba Sulaiman: Where did your love for literary translation begin?
Jamie Lee Searle: Looking back, rather than there being a lightbulb moment, it’s more that different threads of curiosity gradually wove themselves together. When I was younger, my main passions were reading and art. Then, at secondary school, I had an incredibly inspiring German teacher, and from then on I was fascinated by language-learning. Over the years, I’ve studied French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Bulgarian and Portuguese, but it’s German and Portuguese that have become the long-term relationships (Italian is the “one that got away”, that I still long to reunite with). I began to think more concretely about literary translation when I worked in Waterstones in my late teens and saw that two of my favourite books, Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader, and Sandor Marai’s ‘Embers’ had been translated by the same person: Carol Brown Janeway. (This ignited the realisation that it might be something a person actually did as a career.)
I was also aware, throughout my studies, of how many amazing German-language books didn’t seem to be reaching English-language readers. After graduating from university, where I studied German, I worked in-house for Reuters, translating news updates from the German, Austrian and Swiss stock exchanges – I enjoyed the act of translating, but longed for more creative, literary content. I left the job, got a scholarship to do an MA in Anglo-German Cultural Relations at Queen Mary in London, which included a literary translation module, and the threads began to come together…
How did you start out within literary translation, and what was your first experience of translating a book like?
While I was doing the MA, I also began to write reader’s reports for NBG. I will always be grateful to its former editor, Rebecca Morrison, for her unofficial mentorship, encouragement and friendship, which all sprang from an email I sent her from my desk at Reuters. It was through her that I had my very first translation commission, working on catalogue texts for the Swiss publisher Diogenes (whose first ever publication, in 1952, was Weil noch das Lämpchen glüht, a book of illustrations by Ronald Searle, to whom I’m distantly related. I love the symmetry in this!). When I finished my MA, in 2010, I was initially adamant that I wanted to be PAYE (Pay As You Earn) rather than self-employed. But after attending the British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT) Summer School and the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin Sommerakademie, and being selected for the BCLT/Translators’ Association mentorship scheme, I acknowledged how much I loved literary translation and decided to actively pursue a freelance career. My first commission was a three-book contract for AmazonCrossing, and this taught me a great deal about pacing myself over a full-length project.
Which people and communities have most inspired and supported you throughout your career?
I really value the community surrounding NBG – the other translators who are actively involved, the editorial committee, editors past and present; I’m honoured to be one of its editorial assessors, and our meetings are always a highlight in my calendar. The Society of Authors and Translator’s Association provide indispensable support, especially with the knotty intricacies of contractual negotiations, and the battles which, though considerable progress has been made, we unfortunately seem to have to fight over and over. The Emerging Translators Network (ETN) is a wonderful network, and I have particularly fond memories of its early days. Some of my closest friends are translators and I’m grateful that pursuing something I love has brought them into my life. I’m also very thankful to the translator Sarah Ardizzone for encouraging me to become an RLF Fellow.
Could you tell us a little about the ETN?
The ETN was founded in 2011 by Rosalind Harvey, Anna Holmwood and myself. We had noticed a need for support for emerging literary translators at the stage before they get their first full-length book contract (which, at the time, was the criteria for joining the TA). Also, and perhaps more importantly, we wanted to foster an openness that we hadn’t yet found in any structured community; where people could ask “silly questions” without fear of judgement, and lift each other up by sharing resources and support. The fact that so many members have stayed part of the ETN even once they are established in their careers demonstrates, I think, just how much the community is valued.
Which book translation have you found the most challenging so far?
Kim de l’Horizon’s Blutbuch, most certainly. When I did the sample translation for DuMont in summer 2022, I actually had doubts about whether to take on the full project were it to be offered to me. I knew it would consume me for an inordinate amount of time, and I wasn’t sure whether some of its challenges would be surmountable. But as Kim writes, ‘der Weg entsteht im Gehen’.
This book has taken me into new worlds, given me a new perspective on language; and has also brought new friends into my life through the Looren Blutbuch workshop, the Solothurn literary festival, and my residency last autumn at Château de Lavigny. During my first conversation with Kim de l’Horizon, from those energising exchanges we had about language, I realised I would never be able to turn it down. There’s so much nuance and diversity within its 300 pages; it tackles thorny topics such as generational trauma, witchcraft, class identity, and gender constructs, whilst simultaneously being playful, fluid and joyous. The book is deeply human, and relatable for everyone. I’m honoured to have been able to work on it, and very much hope I’ve done it justice.
Do you have a favourite book you’ve ever worked on? Or is that an unfair question?
I think I’ll have to cheat slightly and give you three, which are favourites for different reasons. One is Blutbuch, for being the most immersive, all-consuming project I’ve ever worked on, for stretching my mind and making me fall in love with language in a whole new way. The second is Twelve Nights, by Urs Faes, which I translated for Harvill Secker in 2020 – an atmospheric novella with a dream-like feel, set in the snowy Black Forest; many readers tell me they come back to it on an annual basis. And the third is the second Kalmann, because the ‘sheriff’ is such a fun, captivating character to spend time with, and having already familiarised myself with his voice in the first one, the translation of the second novel just flowed.
What have you been working on lately?
During the summer, I co-translated Angela Merkel’s memoirs for Pan Macmillan as part of a team led by Shaun Whiteside. I really enjoyed the collaborative aspect: we had weekly calls, an ongoing online chat, and bounced ideas off one another. Historical projects, where I get to fact check and do background reading, have always been a favourite of mine – it takes me back to the days of my MA, when I would spend hours on end researching in dusty archives. I’d love to do this kind of collaborative project again; it’s made me realise more than ever that I want to make my working life more interactive.
What’s your favourite part of the translation process?
Definitely the editing phase, rather than the first draft – I think most writers would say this. Though over the years I’ve transitioned to writing more careful first drafts, I still feel I can breathe more once it’s down. I get a lot of joy from the “issue resolving” stage. This feels both methodical and creative; working my way down handwritten lists of words or phrases that need to be refined, and that jolt of exhilaration when I find something that works.
What practical tips have really helped you navigate the world of literary translation?
A few pieces of guidance I heard early on have stuck with me: notably, tips on self-empowered negotiating from Antonia Lloyd-Jones, along with her realistic portrayal of the translator’s working day, in which only a few hours can realistically be dedicated to actually translating. Also, from numerous established translators, the advice of having additional sources of income, be they translation-adjacent or otherwise. I ignored this early on, at my peril, when projects flowed in for the first five years or so, not realising that doing back-to-back literary translation projects can be a pretty failsafe route to burnout.
What’s your biggest piece of advice for emerging translators?
When I’m mentoring, I usually ask: how do you envisage your ideal working day, and what will best suit your personality and your life? Even if it’s possible to find enough literary translation work to make a living, do you want to do ‘just’ that, or do you need other things: more stability, or variety, or teamwork? For example, a career in which freelance translation makes up 50% leaves space for other, more interactive roles. For me, in the past, that has consisted of part-time lecturing, co-ordinating the Stephen Spender Prize, and now being an RLF Fellow. I also encourage them to focus their energies on building relationships with source-language publishers (by doing paid sample translations, translating promotional catalogues, etc), as I’ve always found this more fruitful, and less disheartening, than the standard pitching route. Doing sample commissions for books that grab your interest is, in my experience, an effective way of indirectly pitching; your translation is then the one that English-language editors will receive from the foreign rights agents, and if they like it, and acquire the rights, that gives you a fair chance of doing the whole book.
And finally: what’s next?
Working on the Merkel project nudged me to the realisation that I want to re-establish a balance between collaborative and solitary work; one I’ve had before, but recently, unintentionally, strayed from. I’m resuming my role as an RLF Fellow at Southampton University this autumn, and am also progressing to Level 3 of my counselling training. I’ve become increasingly interested in mental health and psychology, and would like to one day combine this kind of work with my literary translation projects; perhaps in the area of wellbeing for creative practitioners. Translation-wise, I’ve been working on some great samples recently which I plan to chat to editors about: one is Thomas Hütlin’s Man Lebt Sein Leben Nur Einmal, a vibrant account of the love affair between Marlene Dietrich and Erich Maria Remarque, set against the backdrop of 1930s Europe and the U.S. And, of course, I can’t wait to see what Kim de l’Horizon will write next.
How exciting! Thank you, Jamie, for taking the time to share such thoughtful answers.
Jamie Lee Searle photo credit: Sophie Kandaouroff
Jamie Lee Searle is a literary translator, writer and mentor. She translates fiction and non-fiction from German and Portuguese into English, and also works as a consultant for publishers and organisations incluyding New Books in German. She has held translation and writing residencies in New York and Vienna, and am a Royal Literary Fund Fellow as Southampton University.
Tayiba Sulaiman is a translator and writer. She recently completed an Emerging Translators Mentorship with Jamie Lee Searle, run by the National Centre for Writing. Her most recent translations have included the writings of a Viennese family who fled the Holocaust in 1938, poetry by Swiss-Croatian poet Dragica Rajčić Holzner, and a verse script for the 2024 Droste Festival at the Centre for Literature, Burg Hülshoff. Having written scripts produced by theatre companies like Take Back, Girl Gang Mcr and Hung Theatre, she now mainly writes poetry and non-fiction: her poem ‘Reading’ won the Eugene Lee-Hamilton Prize in 2021. She has read her work in England and in Germany, at the 23rd poesiefestival berlins.
