Three Percent is a website dedicated to news, reviews, and information about contemporary international literature. The site gets its name from the fact that only about 3% of all books published in the United States are works of translation, and only a fraction (0.7%) of those books are literary fiction or poetry. These figures add up to literally a world of lost words and information. As ever-increasing globalization shrinks our world and blurs its borders, it is important to preserve and share in the unique cultures and ideas of other nations, and one of the best ways of doing this is by reading the literature of their peoples. Three Percent has recently announced its annual Longlist and Shortlist nominees for the best translated works of poetry and fiction of 2008. The winners will be announced on February 19th. You can find many of the finalists on our shelves here at the library. So stop by your local branch and read your way around the world.
Act Locally, Read Globally
February 14, 2009