Book by American writer Luiz Biajoni will be translated into Arabic

The novel “Crime in the Giallo Building”, by American writer Luiz Biajoni, will reach new territories. The work will be translated into Arabic by the Egyptian publisher Al Arabi and distributed in twenty-two countries in the region.

Published a year ago by Rua do Sabão, it is a whodunit detective novel. A successful, gay, black man moves into a building where the rich and powerful live in an unnamed city.

He starts to throw noisy parties and unusual characters start to walk around the building, disturbing the residents. A crime and a suicide ensue and Deputy Nanete goes to investigate.

The opportunity for the translation arose thanks to its editor, Leonardo Garzaro, who presented the book to the Egyptian publisher during a literary fair in Sharjah, a city in the United Arab Emirates. To Biajoni’s surprise, the genre is appreciated by readers in Arab countries who love crime and detective novels.

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“It was cool, of course, the author wants to be read and the further his book goes, the better,” he told LIBERAL. Al Arabi is responsible for publishing many Latin authors and has already translated Brazilians Raphael Montes and Adriana Lisboa, in addition to having big names such as Gabriel García Márquez and José Saramago in its catalog.

This is not the first book by the American to be translated into another language. Biajoni’s first works were distributed to Portuguese-speaking countries, such as Mozambique, Cape Verde and Portugal.

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“I found out about a group of Brazilians and Portuguese who read my books in Japan. Later, two of my works, ‘A Comédia Mundana’ and ‘A Viagem de James Amaro’, came out in Portuguese editions”, he said.

Biajoni believes that “Crime in the Giallo Building” will have greater scope compared to the previous ones. “It’s an Agatha Christie-like plot, with the uncertainty of where the story takes place, so it can be well accepted in translations.”

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The book even became a film project that is being negotiated with producers and channels by the company The Creators Bridge, as well as other works by the writer.

Luiz also revealed that the success of whodunit “called for a sequel”, which is already in production and should be released at the end of 2024. But the writer’s fans won’t have to wait up to a year for a release. His next book arrives soon and will be a collection of scattered short stories that appeared in various magazines and publications.

The challenges of translating a literary work

Translating a book into another language can present challenges and even affect the narrative of the story, in certain cases. However, Luiz Biajoni chose to trust that everything will go well, especially given the publisher’s experience with Latin works.

“They told me that Jorge Amado liked editions of his books in languages ​​he didn’t speak, as he didn’t run the risk of finding out about changes or confusion that the translators might have made,” he said.

Although the narrative of “The Crime in the Giallo Building” involves a gay and black character, the latter being a taboo point in Egypt and in several Arabic-speaking countries, the writer believes that acceptance can be positive, as the discussion about the theme is starting to have a small opening in these regions.

“My book can contribute to reducing prejudice, expanding horizons”, he stated.