Interview: Daniel Hahn, translator - “Awards are a statement of what we value”

Congratulations on the Ottaway Award. I haven’t done much independent writing lately, though I’m just about to embark on a new book, which, by some measures, is the first book I’ve written since translation took over my life – so while I don’t know how to answer your question, I feel like I’m just about to find out! I could make the case, I suppose, that children’s literature is especially important because of its formative powers – what children read can influence their sense of the world more easily than what we read when we’re in our forties and quite entrenched – and so the stakes in children’s literature are higher, and the possibilities greater. It isn’t always a question of “choosing” exactly – it’s a process of negotiation with a publisher. And yes, I’m sure everything I’ve read – from Amit Chaudhuri and Salman Rushdie to Geetanjali Shree or Perumal Murugan or whoever – has helped me in some way to understand the place, but I don’t think of it like that really; I’ve been luckier, perhaps, that for me it’s worked mostly the other way: being in the place has exposed me to the books.