Literary translator, Norwegian to English. Ihuga nynorskbrukar.
Joined December 2020
- Tweets 362
- Following 445
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Pinned Tweet
18 Aug 2025
Dag Solstad’s Maoism-influenced novels remain untranslated—leaving a major gap in how we see one of Norway’s greatest writers. I write in @LAReviewofBooks on why these strange, funny, vital works matter, and why it’s past time they reached English readers.
lareviewofbooks.org/article/…
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David M. Smith retweeted
Dear book reviewers,
If you are reading a book in translation, please remember that every single word you are reading was chosen by the translator. Every. Single. Word. Sometimes even agonized over for hours, or days. There are two authors of a translated book, not one.
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David M. Smith retweeted
Dear @Chris_Byrd , thank you for that long and interesting article on the work of Mathias Énard in the NYRB. Some mention of the translations themselves would have been welcome. The work of Énard is also the work of Mandell and Wynne.
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David M. Smith retweeted
Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and Lin King have won this year’s International Booker Prize with TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE!
This marks our second International Booker win in a row (!!!), following the success of Deepa Bhasthi’s translation of Banu Mushtaq’s HEART LAMP in 2025.
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David M. Smith retweeted
May 6
This is Granta 175: Scandinavia.
The spring 2026 issue of Granta showcases a literature that packs in more force, pound for pound, than almost anywhere else in Europe.
The issue launches on 21 May 2026.
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David M. Smith retweeted
Lønningspils top 100 novels of all time.
1. Is-slottet, Tarjei Vesaas
2. The Ice Palace, Tarjei Vesaas
3. El Palacio De Hielo, Tarjei Vesaas
4. Isslottet, Tarjei Vesaas
5. Das Eis-Schloss, Tarjei Vesaas
6. Il Castello Di Ghiaccio, Tarjei Vesaas
7. Isslottet, Tarjei Vesaas
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David M. Smith retweeted
very funny misreading of that solstad book which is completely hilarious and intentionally silly. the teacher character in question is also egregiously hungover while lecturing to bored hs students and trying to stave off a panic attack lol
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Well. Didn't they both steal the scenario from Philip Roth?
Apr 28
Has anybody commented on how much the premise of the new Ben Lerner resembles @bartlebytaco’s Fresh, Green Life? A man goes to visit the home of an aging, senescent mentor to engage in a conversation while also touring memories of his own recent past?
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(And also--Relax, nobody "stole" anything from anyone, I'm just saying)
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David M. Smith retweeted
They said nobody could do it, but we’re pleased to announce that we will be publishing David M. Smith’s translation of Thure Erik Lund’s THE MYSTERY OF WHAT BEFELL IN THE DITCH, a novel often spoken of as untranslatable. Publishes 20 October
Preorder now
andotherstories.org/the-myst…
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Maybe someday I'll pull a Walter Benjamin and write a translator's preface that makes no reference whatsoever to the work I've just translated
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"And remembering is always essentially the act of translating"...couldn't have said it better myself. Thanks @chrisvia for this wonderful review of THE CALF!
youtube.com/watch?v=1967H85X…
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David M. Smith retweeted
writing a novel is a fundamentally silly thing: spending hundreds of hours and sometimes years of your life dedicated to a make believe scenario you treat with as much seriousness as your tax returns or human relationships. freud wrote about it
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As a translator, these are the kinds of questions that keep me up at night
Can someone who has Knausgaard's Morning Star series in Norwegian check this out for me?
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As it happens, using a typewriter to draft things does not eliminate the urge to hit ctrl-S after every sentence
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David M. Smith retweeted
Hello world! I’m traveling and I’ve got several readings coming up. I’ll be in Oslo 17th-21st, then NYC til’ the 27th, then PHILLY for the foreseeable future.
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David M. Smith retweeted
30 years ago today, Principal Skinner purchased fast food to disguise as his own cooking at an unforgettable luncheon with Superintendent Chalmers.
#TheSimpsons episode “22 Short Films About Springfield” first aired April 14, 1996. @thatbilloakley @Joshstrangehill
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David M. Smith retweeted
You spend years in American schools hearing about the matchless briliance of the US Constitution and political design, but the inability of that system to meaningfully confront Trump at a moment like this makes even some tinpot Latin American dictatorships look responsible.
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David M. Smith retweeted
Mar 29
Whoa Nelly, what a fantastic example of the creative art of translation from the @DeepVellum imprint. One of the many words I loved is “needcessities.” Yessiree Bob!
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Well, that's exactly what it is. (Pessoa, "The Tobacco Shop," trans. Richard Zenith)
Mar 21
New Yorkers talk about getting coffee at a convenience store like it's a spiritual experience
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