An extract from While We Were Dreaming by Clemens Meyer, translated by Katy Derbyshire
Read an extract from the extraordinary debut novel While We Were Dreaming, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2023
Katy Derbyshire
Katy Derbyshire, originally from London, has lived in Berlin for over 20 years. She helped to establish the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, awarded annually since 2017.
Derbyshire translates contemporary German writers, including Inka Parei, Heike Geissler, Olga Grjasnowa, Annett Gröschner and Christa Wolf. Her translation of Clemens Meyer’s Bricks and Mortar was the winner of the 2018 Straelener Übersetzerpreis (Straelen Prize for Translation), longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2017, and shortlisted for the 2019 Best Translated Book Awards. She occasionally teaches translation and co-hosts a monthly translation lab and the bi-monthly Dead Ladies Show.
Katy Derbyshire’s translation of While We Were Dreaming was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2023, announced on March 14, 2023.
- By
- Clemens Meyer
- Translated by
- Katy Derbyshire
- Published by
- Fitzcarraldo Editions
Startlingly raw and deeply moving, this extraordinary debut novel from one of Germany’s most ambitious writers is full of passion, hope and despair.
Other nominated books
Clemens Meyer’s dazzling, dizzying tour de force chronicles the growth of the sex industry in the former East Germany over the last 30 years. Translated by Katy Derbyshire.
Translated by Katy Derbyshire
