Diplomat, Actor, Translator, Spy

“The Cahiers Series titles are each in their own lovely way a delight to the intellect and eye. Compelling text and lively, beautiful illustrations remind us of why we love the printed page. These will have a special spot in our stores.” (Cathy Langer, Tattered Cover, Denver) “What was life like before these beautiful little books? I can hardly remember. I only know that they have fused the ideas of translation and delicacy, translation and beautiful design, forever. I need all of them, I want them never to stop.” (Michael Silverblatt, KCRW’s Bookworm) “The startlingly lovely Cahiers Series from Sylph shows that the story of the book as a work of art - a story now thousands of years old - has not reached its last chapter. These beautifully written explorations of literature and of the vital, threatened art of translation are a joy to read, and their typography and illustrations are a joy to contemplate.” (Anthony Grafton, author of The Footnote: A Curious History) “Every addition to the Cahiers Series is another star in the constellation of ideas surrounding the act of translation. The authors’ nonlinear approach seems to create room between the books for me to think and form my own ideas as a reader. And rather than exhausting the discussion, each new book has complemented the others, bringing greater breadth and serious depth to our shelves.” (Jenn Witte, Skylight Books, Los Angeles)”

Bernard Turle’s list of over one hundred translations is resolutely hterogenous, including as it does works of art history (by Harold Acton, Bernard Berenson, Rudolf Wittkower), British essays, biographies, novels (by Lytton Strachey, Cyril Connolly, Anthony Burgess, Barbara Pym, Peter Ackroyd, Martin Amis, Alan Hollinghurst), and works from around the globe, particularly in recent years from India and Pakistan (V. S. Naipaul, Sudhir Kakar, Siddharth D. Shanghvi, Mohammed Hanif). From among American authors he has translated W. M. Spackman, John Edgar Wideman, and T. C. Boyle; from South Africa he has translated Andre Brink, from Australia Helen Garner, and from New Zealand Christine Leunens. He has won the Prix Coindreau and the Prix Baudelaire for translation. He has written several librettos for musicals, including Sorbet! Sorbet!, Variations provencales, and La Randonnee derandonnee, and he is the author of Bombay Mix, Mumbai Max as well as of Une heure avant l’attentat.