Sam Wachman

🌻 the sunflower boys have arrived in estonia 🌻

i am so honored that artem and yuri’s first foray outside of the anglosphere is to estonia, a country that is very dear to me 🇪🇪

it has been a joy beyond joy to work with — and become pen pals with! — the sunflower boys’ translator @leheroheline marge parnits. as well as being a literary translator, marge is a children’s book author, poet, playwright, head of the tartu toy museum, head of the estonian chow chow breed association, and she built the table in this photo. it boggles the mind how one person can have so many talents at once, and i can’t wait to return to estonia to meet her in person. our friendship started out with her messaging me to discuss the precise translation of the word “windowsill”; it has since evolved into sending each other life updates and photos of springtime in our respective hometowns, cambridge and tartu.

none of this would have happened without my cousin @sunfishdiver corinne. i visited corinne’s book club virtually last september, and corinne connected me and marge. thank you from the bottom of my heart, corinne <3

literary translators are terribly underappreciated; translation requires a kind of linguistic proprioception that few possess. i have been editing translated texts for the harvard ukrainian research institute with oleh kotsyuba @olkopone reading the original ukrainian and the english translation side by side. it seems to me that translation is the single most intimate way to engage with a work of literature. i am so deeply grateful to anyone who wants to engage with my work on that level.

so: thank you and AITÄH to @healugukirjastus hea lugu press for giving the sunflower boys a chance; to @lebanetiina , @aadamapoeg , signe kanarbik, and of course, most of all, marge <3 <3 <3