The hardest memories are the pieces of what might have been. — Deborah Smith Hardest Copy Share Image
“I buried my grief for my son, not my memories, but my grief.” — Deborah Smith Buried Copy Share Image
“A vida é fugaz. A vida é preciosa. Temos de gozar cada momento. A sensualidade de respirar, de sentir, de querer.” — Deborah Smith Amor Copy Share Image
“There's never been a war in the history of the world that wasn't started by the wealthy for the wealthy” — Deborah Smith History Copy Share Image
We are all bodies of water, guarding the mystery of our depths, but some of us have more to guard than others. — Deborah Smith Bodies of water Copy Share Image
Happy people look young. You’re really afraid of getting older, aren’t you? You should only be afraid of getting less happy. — Deborah Smith Getting older Copy Share Image
Life doesn't take itself seriously for long. Joy leaves an imprint even in the hardest sorrow. — Deborah Smith Grief Copy Share Image
“Because it was said that a man had to appreciate beauty in order to know what he is fighting to protect.” — Deborah Smith Appreciate beauty Copy Share Image
I taught myself the first year course while I was on the dole, then moved to London to do an MA at… — Deborah Smith Courses Copy Share Image
Instead of fearing what might happen if I failed, I should be excited about what could happen if I succeeded! — Deborah Smith Excited Copy Share Image
Not only are unpaid internships exploitative, they're one of the main forces keeping publishing in this country a primary white middle-class industry,… — Deborah Smith Class Copy Share Image
“I don’t ask for guarantees. I’ll tell you what I want. I want to laugh with you. Sit and look at you.… — Deborah Smith Guarantees Copy Share Image
Our first-year list is Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay (translated by Arunava Sinha), Hwang Jung-eun (translated by Jung Yewon), and Khairani Barokka. — Deborah Smith Firsts Copy Share Image
Plus, publishing's inherent conservatism, means that what little did get through was weighted towards the commercial end of the scale, which is… — Deborah Smith Conservatism Copy Share Image
I first came across her [Bae Suah] when I read some elderly male critic castigating her for 'doing violence to the Korean… — Deborah Smith Bae Copy Share Image
“At the center, on the lawn of the courthouse, sat a log manger with a life-size nativity scene cut out of plywood.… — Deborah Smith Religion Copy Share Image
A chorus of tough southern belles whispered, You need a loyal husband around here. Loyal to you, loyal to your family, loyal… — Deborah Smith Bed Copy Share Image
I teach Korean translation at the British Centre for Literary Translation summer school, so I see an emerging generation too, who are… — Deborah Smith Age Copy Share Image
“The best sex takes us somewhere. Somewhere warm and expansive, a paradise of lust and happiness. Sex is and can be and… — Deborah Smith Happiness Copy Share Image
“Children lose their innocence piece by piece. The layers are carved away until our hearts have been exposed and polished into an… — Deborah Smith Children Copy Share Image
Alongside Han Kang, there's only one other author I've chosen to translate so far - Bae Suah. Her work is radical both… — Deborah Smith Bae Copy Share Image
I read The Vegetarian and fell in love with it. A year later, I was invited to go and speak at the… — Deborah Smith Book Copy Share Image
I was in the second year of my PhD when I first had the idea - I'd recently started working as a… — Deborah Smith Book Copy Share Image
Hwang Jung-eun is one of the brightest stars of the new South Korean generation - she's Han Kang's favourite, and the novel… — Deborah Smith Appeals Copy Share Image
Actually, I'm frequently described as the UK's only translator of Korean literature, but even that isn't accurate - Agnita Tennant is UK-based,… — Deborah Smith Accurate Copy Share Image
Khairani Barokka is a writer, spoken-word poet, visual artist and performer whose work has a strong vein of activism, particularly around disability,… — Deborah Smith Activism Copy Share Image
But there's also a strong emotional core to counterbalance the experimentalism, with some incredibly moving passages around the narrator's relationship with her… — Deborah Smith Beautiful Copy Share Image
And to improve access to the UK publishing industry - I'm hoping to set up an internship or work experience for someone… — Deborah Smith Access Copy Share Image
I've translated two of Bae's novels, A Greater Music and Recitation, which are coming from Open Letter and Deep Vellum in October… — Deborah Smith Bae Copy Share Image
“I stood there, my head bowed, my shoulders hunched. This is how it feels to be dragged from the cement shoes of… — Deborah Smith Ankles Pulled Copy Share Image
All of which suggested literary translation, and Korean seemed a good bet - barely anything available in English, yet it was a… — Deborah Smith Available Copy Share Image
Simon Collinson, of digital publisher Canelo and über-cool Aussie mag The Lifted Brow, is our digital producer; Sarah Shin, Verso's comms director,… — Deborah Smith Art Copy Share Image
This and the small sample size inevitably leads to stereotypes - sweeping family sagas from India, 'lush' colonial romances from South-East Asia.… — Deborah Smith Asia Copy Share Image
There's no linear narrative - the structure is more like a series of variations on a theme (how identity is shaped by… — Deborah Smith Bleeding Copy Share Image
I suspected learning a language would be both useful and enjoyable (I love memorising lists of things), and would get rid of… — Deborah Smith Education Copy Share Image
![“I first came across her [Bae Suah] when I read some elderly male critic castigating her for 'doing violence to the Korean language', which of course was catnip to me, especially as I'd recently discovered Lispector doing pretty much the same to Portuguese.” quote by Deborah Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0e1/deborah-smith-13837_bae_i-first-came-across-her-bae-suah-when-i_1429631.jpg)
