Emma Ramadan is a literary translator who lives in Providence, R.I., where she also co-owns, with Tom Roberge, Riffraff Bookstore + Bar. Her translations include Sphinx by Anne Garréta, Pretty Things by Virginie Despentes and Me & Other Writing by Marguerite Duras. Her most recent translation, Straight from the Horse's Mouth by Meryem Alaoui, is out now from Other Press.
On your nightstand now:
Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler, which might be a little masochistic in how close its "speculative" universe feels to our own right now, and One Small Saga by Bobbie Louise Hawkins, which is an extremely charming counterbalance.
Favorite book when you were a child:
Jennifer Murdley's Toad by Bruce Coville, for reasons I can't remember, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, for reasons that seem obvious.
Your top five authors:
Marguerite Duras
Marie NDiaye
Ariana Harwicz
Clarice Lispector
Forrest Gander
Book you've faked reading:
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust.
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Books you're an evangelist for:
Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval, translated by Marjam Idriss, and the forthcoming Hades, Argentina by Daniel Loedel.
Book you've bought for the cover:
Women by Chloe Caldwell. The cover is actually incredibly simple, off-white, essentially no design, and for that reason it stood out to me on the colorful shelves of a bookstore. I was blown away by the writing contained in that slim, simple package.
Book you hid from your parents:
The Babysitter horror series by R.L. Stine. I made off with it from my older brother's room when I was way too young to read it. I paid for it in nightmares.
Book that changed your life:
Moderato Cantabile by Marguerite Duras. Duras writes about desire and obsession in strange, subtle and wild ways I had never seen depicted in literature before.
Favorite line from a book:
"Within ten minutes of meeting, we'd exchanged love letters from the corners of our eyes." --Forrest Gander, As a Friend
Five books you'll never part with:
Moderato Cantabile by Marguerite Duras
Água Viva by Clarice Lispector
This Little Art by Kate Briggs
Virgil's Aeneid
Franz Kafka's short stories
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Rough Magic: Riding the World's Loneliest Horse Race by Lara Prior‑Palmer. I read it all in one sitting and gasped audibly more than once.