A single conversation can change things.

- Idra Novey

I've never translated more than one book by any author. But I'm fascinated by translators who have, like Richard Zenith, who's translated so much of …

- Idra Novey

I think we think that American books are funny or they're serious literature. But humor is subversive. When you add an element of absurdism, you can …

- Idra Novey

I've never had the impulse for someone else to translate me into my own language. My impulse has always been to translate someone else into mine.

- Idra Novey

It would be great if I woke up tomorrow and could speak Persian. Wouldn't you love to wake and have a language in your mind that wasn't there the nig…

- Idra Novey

It's the best motivation to have a particular beloved reader in mind! Because you feel this urgency that you really want somebody you care about to b…

- Idra Novey

What is the task of the translator? I think the task depends on the book and on the translator.

- Idra Novey

I have a deep love for the art of translation, and I couldn't find a novel that captured the fascinating, reckless adventure of it as I'd experienced…

- Idra Novey

Humor is serious work. But it keeps everybody at the table.

- Idra Novey