English readers are the worst served in the world in terms of international literature, according to The Economist. Apparently only 3% of the total annual combined number of books published in America and Britain were translated from another language, with fiction only accounting for 1%. The same cannot be said for continental Europe, where in 2008 14% of books sold in France and 8% of book sold in Germany were translations. However the partiality for English translations is across the board: two out of three Eurupean translations are from English and they account for 40% of all novels published in France. Publishing specialists say that the scarcity of literature translation is "a cultural crisis" showing no signs of improvement.
The Peirene Press is an independent publishing house in London that is trying to change that prognosis. Joining the ranks of other publishers like New York's Europa Editions and Rochester University's Open Letter, Peirene works to expose English readers to foreign literature. One way it does so is by publishing three English translations of novellas by nationally celebrated European writers. Peirene recently published a translation of Pia Juul's The Murder of Halland, which won Denmark's highest literary honor, the Danske Banks Litteraturpris. Peirene was named Newcomer of the Year in 2011 by the Independent Publishers' Guild and had two of its titles longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. The press captured the attention of, and a subsequent grant from, the UK Arts Council with its unique innovations like pop-up book stalls. Peirene also holds literary salons, where authors discuss their writing with readers, and they have quickly become a hot ticket. Meike Ziervogel, founder of Peirene Press, was even dubbed "the best salonnière since Madame Geoffrin in 18th-century Paris." She's just working to give readers "a glimpse into the amazing things we're missing."