Natalia Ginsburg is one of Italy and southern Europe’s great contemporary novelists. According to The New York Times, the author who died in 1991 was “A glowing light of modern Italian literature.” However, none of her literary works have been translated into Arabic over the decades.
Recently, Egyptian publisher Dar Al Karama announced the publishing of Ginsburg’s novel ‘Voices in the Evening,’ which is one of her prominent works. The publisher has said that more of Ginsburg’s works will be translated, especially her novels that won the Strega and Pagoda prizes, Italy’s most prestigious literary awards.
Voices in the Evening, which was translated into Arabic by Egyptian Amani Habashi, tells the tale of a young unmarried Italian woman who makes trouble and engages in social entanglements with her mother and neighbours. The richly evocative novel revolves around a town dominated by a wealthy Italian family which owns a famous fabric factory, with the people of the town known for their proclivity for talking.