Psychoraag in France

Alliance Française de Glasgow
3 Park Circus, Glasgow
7pm

Upon its release, Psychoraag (2004, Black & White Publishing), by Suhayl Saadi was hailed as a milestone in Scottish literature, being the ‘first-ever Asian–Scottish novel to have a fair degree of ambition’ (The Scotsman).

Ripples from this literary coup are now reaching the continent as Psychoraag, has been translated into French and is presently enjoying a fair success in librairies (yes, it is French for ‘bookshop’!).

But how do you translate from English to French when the title, the first and the last word of the novel are not in English? Can the cultural intricacies of Psychoraag really come across in French?

These will be some of the starting points of two panel discussions on Psychoraag to be held on Mon 11 Feb at 7pm and Tues 12 Feb at 6pm at respectively Alliance Française de Glasgow and Institut Français d'Ecosse.

The panels will include Suhayl Saadi (author) and the two translators Jean-Charles Perquin and Samuel Baudry. They will be chaired in Glasgow by Professor Roderick Watson, Professor of English at Stirling University, and himself an excellent poet, and in Edinburgh by Professor Cyril Guillat, Professor of French at Heriot-Watt University and a specialist in translation.