Fair: The Life–Art of Translation

“With the singular brilliance, generosity and commitment to formal innovation that characterise her expansive body of work, Jen Calleja has gifted us a wholly indispensable fairground tour. Essential reading for anyone interested in translation, translations and the working conditions of those who write them.”—Kate Briggs

Fair: The Life-Art of Translation, is a satirical, refreshing and brilliantly playful book about learning the art of translation, being a bookworker in the publishing industry, growing up, family, and class.

Loosely set in an imagined book fair/art fair/fun fair, in which every stall or ride imitates a real-world scenario or dilemma which must be observed and negotiated, the book moves between personal memories and larger questions about the role of the literary translator in publishing, about fairness and hard work, about the ways we define success, and what it means—and whether it is possible—to make a living as an artist.

Blurring the lines between memoir, autofiction, satire and polemic, Fair is a singularly inventive and illuminating book by one of the UK’s most original and admired writers and translators.

Jen Calleja is a poet, writer, and essayist. Jen has been shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize, the Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize, and the Schlegel-Tieck Prize as a literary translator from German into English, and was the inaugural Translator in Residence at the British Library. Jen is co-founding editor of Praspar Press and played and toured in the DIY punk band Sauna Youth. She is also the author of Goblinhood (Rough Trade Books, 2024), Vehicle (Prototype, 2023), and Dust Sucker (Makina Books, 2023).

Book of the Day in The Guardian

A Book of the Year 2025 at Fitzcarraldo Editions, And Other Stories Publishing, Lala Books, Stoke Newington Bookshop, Veranda Books, Storysmith Books, Gloucester Road Books, Bookhaus Bookshop, Brick Lane Bookshop Press, and In Other Words

Staff Pick at Shakespeare & Company (Paris) and Brunswick Bound Bookshop (Melbourne) / Book of the Week at Volume Books (New Zealand)

“With the singular brilliance, generosity and commitment to formal innovation that characterise her expansive body of work, Jen Calleja has gifted us a wholly indispensable fairground tour. Essential reading for anyone interested in translation, translations and the working conditions of those who write them.”—Kate Briggs

“It is no mean feat to build a fair as inventive, as informative, as inclusive to everyone along the translation experience spectrum, and yes, I’ll say it, as goddamn FUN as this one, but Jen Calleja has gone and done it. Cue the cockroach confetti, cue the very-not-invisible fireworks, and roll up for the multilingual rollercoaster ride of the year!”—Polly Barton

“Fair is both a unique exploration into the role of the translator and a profound meditation on language, nationality, and class. It’s also very funny. Reading it reminded me that a wealth of creativity lies within us all regardless of upbringing or (lack of) societal expectations. Truly inspiring work.”—Susan Finlay

“Follow Jen Calleja down whatever path she leads you: she’s a sage and enchanting guide.”—Kate Simpson, The Telegraph

“[Fair] stands out because of its genuine effort to be for anyone interested in learning more about a literary translator of the anglophone world. It is also remarkable for its thrilling level of creativity […] Calleja’s Fair is energetic, fun, and inspired. Readers learn about a translator and learn to care about her. They, like many fairgoers, will not want the experience to end. They’ll want more.”—Regina Galasso, World Literature Today

“Most publishers don’t even want translators’ names on a book jacket […] Calleja’s genre-busting memoir laughs in the face of all that, with cheek and joy.”—Anthony Cummins, The Observer

“Calleja demonstrates through several fascinating and detailed translations in progress [that] shepherding a piece of writing from one language into another requires so many minute responses, thought processes, and decisions that the translator would find it impossible to suppress their own voice and experiences; and that if they managed it, the result would probably be worse, inert, and undynamic.”—Alex Clark, The Guardian

“compelling work […] she’s…vocal about the work of translators and their added value. It’s a message that all readers should understand and the publishing industry should promote, and Fair is a great first base on this important quest”—Esther Lafferty, The Times of Malta

“Translation has traditionally been dominated by academics and gatekept by those who feel translators should be seen and not heard. Calleja, who comes from a working-class background and has firm punk-rock credentials, wishes […] to erase this particular history.”—Dale Shaw, The New World

“An ingenious trip around modern translation in the form of a ‘fair’, with stalls and events which allows Calleja to deep dive into how the world of the modern translator necessarily encompasses issues, like pay, process, politics and diversity.”—Steven Long, The Crack

“a tour de force which is funny, angry and accessible to translators (I would imagine) and non-translators (I know) alike”—Liz Dexter, Shiny New Books