Tatar Publishing House has a stab at Russian emigrant’s German bestseller

'We do it so that Tatar reader will have an opportunity to get acquainted with this book'

As Realnoe Vremya found out, the Tatar Publishing House is holding negotiations with a famous German writer Alina Bronsky. It wants to translate the notorious bestseller The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine (Die schärfsten Gerichte der tatarischen Küche) by Alina Bronsky.

'The negotiations have already begun. We presented our conditions and said the amount of copies we want to issue. We are thinking of publishing 1,000 copies. We don't want 100,000 or 1,000,000 copies. We do it so that Tatar reader will have an opportunity to get acquainted with this book. This is why we don't speak about big sums. Now they are considering our offer, examining who the Tatars are, what the Tatar Publishing House is. The answer is to be given in the short run,' tells the director general of the Tatar Publishing House.

In his opinion, the Tatar Publishing House prints 2-3,000 copies of books. If a project is commercial, for the publishing house it is unprofitable to publish less than 1,000 copies. At the same time Sagdatshin emphasises that there are many similar commercial projects. The Tatar Publishing House has been interested in The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine because this book is very popular abroad.

The novel The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine was highly appreciated by critics and was included in Deutscher Buchpreis's long list – the main award in literature of Germany. countrykruemel.de

'Hot' Tatar novel by a Russian immigrant

The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine is a novel about three women's fate. The action takes place behind the Urals during the Brezhnev stagnation. The head of the family – Rozalinda – is proud of her Tatar roots. She disrespects her husband, whom she calls Kalganow, and daughter Sulfia whom she considers unbeautiful and silly. Once it becomes known that 'stupid Sulfia' gets pregnant. Despite Rozalinda's all efforts to get rid of the baby, a girl is born in a Soviet Maternity Hospital No. 134. Rozalinda calls her after her grandmother Aminat.

Rozalinda's efforts to stress her national identity is likely to be dictated by her desire to stand out in a crowd. Dishes that Rozalinda prepares have nothing to do with the Tatar cuisine – she makes up and prepares them from products that were available during the Brezhnev stagnation. She attracts her German son-in-law due to them. And the family moves to Germany where characters of the heroes start to develop in a different way.

The novel The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine was highly appreciated by critics and was included in Deutscher Buchpreis' long list – the main literature award in Germany. The book was translated into several European languages including English, Polish and Latvian. As we have mentioned, the novel has not been translated into Russian.

There is little information about the author of the novel Alina Bronsky. She was born in 1978 in Sverdlovsk Oblast. Her father had Jewish roots. He immigrated to Germany with his family in the early 90s. Alina Bronsky is the writer's pen name. Her debut novel Broken Glass Park (Scherbenpark) about the life of Russian immigrants in Germany became a sensation and was nominated for German Children's Literature Award. By the way, one of Alina Bronsky's latest novels called Baba Dunja's Last Love was a candidate for Germany's best novel.

Ildar Sagdatshin: 'If there are some interesting works, I think they must be available for a Tatar-speaking reader'. Photo: kazved.ru

'We are interested in the Tatar translation'

It is curious The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine has not been translated into Russian yet. So if the Tatar Publishing House receives a positive answer from Germany, the book will be translated into Tatar. Undoubtedly, it will become a great achievement.

'As far as I'm concerned, nobody has the rights to the Russian translation of The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine. Probably they were ready to discuss the Russian translation. But we are not interested in the Russian translation perhaps because it is a prerogative of other publishing houses. We sent our offers and are waiting for an answer,' Ildar Sagdatshin says.

It should be noted it is not the first attempt of the Tatar Publishing House to talk to foreign authors. Negotiations with The Blair Partnership who has the rights to a book about Harry Potter – Harry Potter And The Cursed Child – are still held. But they have not agreed to publish the Tatar translation of the book yet. But if England gives the green light, the Tatar translation can see the light of the day before a Russian one.

'If there are some interesting works, I think they must be available for a Tatar-speaking reader. This is why we will be certainly monitoring,' Ildar Sagdatshin notes.