LITERARY EXCHANGES BETWEEN BRAZIL AND THE UNITED KINGDOM:

THE CASE OF GRANTA LITERARY MAGAZINE 2012 AND 2013

Abstract

The literary magazine Granta was founded in 1889 by students at Cambridge University. The Granta: Magazine of New Writing is known in particular among literary critics for its Best of Young editions that bring to light writers seen as relevant from each generation and that define the contours of the literary landscape in the years following each publication. In 2012, the magazine launched a special edition entitled The Best of Young Brazilian Novelists. The publication featured texts translated into English by twenty young Brazilian writers. In addition to the publication of the short stories in The Best of Young Brazilian Novelists, the production of these writers was published in two volumes, one in English and one in Spanish. In 2013, Granta, published in the United Kingdom, released a list of 20 young writers (under 40 years of age) holding a British passport, and for the first time there was a majority of women writers. Among the writers selected for inclusion in the prestigious list were those from former British colonies such as Somalia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and second-generation immigrants with roots in Nigeria and India. In this article, a comparison is made regarding the role of translation in the dissemination of Brazilian and Anglophone literatures. The focus is on the case of the literary magazine Granta published in the UK in 2013 and Granta: The Best of Young Brazilian Novelists, released in the UK in 2012. Specifically, attention is given to four young writers: Julián Fuks and Carol Bensimon from Brazil, and Naomi Alderman and Zadie Smith from England, as they represent distinct examples of the impact of Granta: Magazine of New Writing on literary exchanges between Brazil and the United Kingdom.