First Chapters Q&A with Paul Filev
Paul Filev is a Melbourne based literary translator and editor. Paul translates from Macedonian and from Spanish. Some of his translated work appears in 2018 Best European Fiction and he will be reading from his most recent translation (from Macedonian) Alma Mahler by Sasha Dimovski. 1. Brunswick Bound has asked you to read a chapter from a published work for First Chapters. Tell us what we can expect from the chapter you have chosen? After providing a brief context for the novel, I will read the first few paragraphs from the opening chapter in the original Macedonian to give people a sense of the language, and then read the translation, including a bit more of the chapter, which acts as the “overture” or “prelude”, introducing the main themes and preoccupations of the novel. 2. What kind of books do you write translate ? Literary fiction predominantly from Macedonian, but also from Spanish. Aside from reading Macedonian and Spanish li...