Women in Translation 2024

It has it's own shelf

It has it’s own shelf

As some of you may have already seen on social media and here I’m a big fan of Charco Press and have a complete collection of all they’ve published and keep this up to date.

I thought this August would be a perfect time to read and review some of the Charco Press books in my collection for Women in Translation month (and also 20 Books of Summer if needed).

This is also a way to encourage me to read the books I have in the house 😉 before adding more to the physical collection, but it’s not goping to be much of a hardship as Charco Press have produced some of my all time favourite books. and I’m looking forward to exploring the collection from the start.

This is the list of the whole Charco Press collection and yes I know that not every one is written by a woman but I’ll only be reading the ones that are (these are asterisked) during the month of August and then translating this post into part of the post for the Charco Press publisher page.

  1. Slum Virgin* (09/17)
  2. The President’s Room (09/17)
  3. Die, My Love* (09/17)
  4. Fireflies (01/18)
  5. Southerly (01/18)
  6. Fish Soup* (06/18)
  7. The Distance Between Us (08/18)
  8. Older Brother (09/18)
  9. Resistance (10/18)
  10. The German Room* (11/18)
  11. Trout, Belly Up (02/19)
  12. Feebleminded* (05/19)
  13. The Wind That Lays Waste* (07/19)
  14. Loop* (10/19)
  15. An Orphan World (10/19)
  16. The Adventures of China Iron* (11/19)
  17. Fate (03/20)
  18. Holiday Heart* (06/20)
  19. A Musical Offering (07/20)
  20. Dead Girls* (09/20)
  21. Ramifications (10/20)
  22. Theatre of War* (11/20)
  23. Havana Year Zero* (02/21)
  24. A Perfect Cemetery (04/21)
  25. Elena Knows* (07/21)
  26. Occupation (08/21)
  27. The Rooftop* (10/21)
  28. Byobu* (11/21)
  29. Brickmakers* (11/21)
  30. Tender* (02/22) (read)
  31. Catching Fire (04/22)
  32. Never Did the Fire* (04/22)
  33. Here Be Icebergs* (06/22)
  34. The Forgery* (07/22)
  35. Homesick* (08/22)
  36. Salt Crystals* (09/22)
  37. Untold Microcosms: Latin American Writers in the British Museum (09/22)
  38. Dislocations* (11/22)
  39. You Shall Leave Your Land (01/23)
  40. Two Sherpas (02/23)
  41. The Remains* (03/23)
  42. Of Cattle and Men* (04/23)
  43. Fresh Dirt from the Grave* (06/23)
  44. A Little Luck* (07/23)
  45. Confession (09/23)
  46. The Delivery* (10/23)
  47. Forgotten Manuscript (11/23)
  48. Not A River* (01/24)
  49. The Dark Side of Skin (02/24)
  50. Why Did You Come Back Every Summer* (04/24)
  51. Explorers, Dreamers and Thieves (05/24)
  52. Tidal Waters* (05/24)
  53. The Cemetery of Untold Stories* (06/24)
  54. Last Date in El Zapotal (06/24)
  55. Time of the Flies* (08/24)
  56. The Plains (10/24)

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Green Frog

Gina Chung. Pan Macmillan. (240p) ISBN: 9781035019458

 

Green Frog

Green Frog

As you should all know I really like a well-crafted collection of short stories so as soon as this came up on NetGalley I jumped at it.

Gina Chung travels through many different worlds in this collection, but always with the female character central, no matter if it is Sci-Fi, mythological, or domestic situations the women often have moral dilemmas to work through and family is more than likely to be at the centre of it.

The collection plays on Korean myths and behavioural expectations and the weaving through of both these makes for very interesting reading. A spotlight onto a culture like but unlike our own, especially when these two cultures intersect.

There are lots of really strong stories in here but I feel my favourites were the sci-fi based ones, especially about traumatic memories and grief and how there could eventually be technical solutions but at what cost.

Another one I really enjoyed was a tale seen from the perspective of the kumiho who has to revenge her dead sister and her feelings on that and her life.

But I really enjoyed all of them, though the whole collection seemed to riff off a deep melancholy and was quite muted in tone this only heightened the feeling of difference and other.

I received this from NetGalley and Pan Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.

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Not a River

Selva Almada, Annie McDermott (trans). Charco Press. (99p) ISBN: 9781913867454
Not a River

Not a River

I’ve a great respect for Charco Press and have read all of Selva Almada’s previous works that have been published by them as she has become one of my ‘buy with no questions asked authors’ this one though I bought one hour before it was announced as a long listed book for the International Booker Prize 2024 which meant I had to read it immediately.

I immediately had a feeling of a Hemmingway work, the battle against the forces of nature, pitting selves against the unknown. But this gradually changed into the often oppressive world of Selva Almada.

There is the river that runs as a common thread through all the lives that are explored and that intertwining and meandering is reflected in the connections and branches of circumstance that connect the characters in this tale.

There is the heat which is reflected in the often lethargic prose that is slow but steady and meaningful and along with the lushness of the countryside and jungle is reflected in the inner passions of the characters.

Selva uses the characters to explore the meanings of masculinity and femininity in a society that is extremely polarised along gender lines and the possible consequences of these roles.

Tragedy piles upon tragedy, the friends return to the spot of their tragedy repeatedly and there is another return but this time unexpected.

This was an engrossing read and I couldn’t stop as with everything I’ve read from Selva Almada. Moving and unexpected, a wonderful read.


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Mathreyi Kamoor – Author Q&A

Maithreyi Karnoor

Maithreyi Karnoor

Maithreyi Karnoor is a poet, award-winning translator, and recipient of the Charles Wallace India Trust Fellow in creative writing and translation at Literature Across Frontiers, University of Wales Trinity Saint David. She has been shortlisted for The Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize for A Handful of Sesame, her translation of a Kannada novel. She is a two-time finalist for The Montreal International Poetry Prize. She lives in Bangalore, India.

Maithreyi can be found at:
Twitter: @MaitreyiKarnoor

Tell me what inspired you to write your (debut) novel?

I was a published translator when I wrote Sylvia. Translation is intensely creative work. Thanks to the ease and control I had gained over words in the process, writing my own novel seemed like the next step. All I had to do was create a story and allow it to tell itself. It didn’t happen as a moment of reckoning, however. It was gradual. It wasn’t before I was almost midway into it did I realise I was writing a novel.

What came first the characters or the world?

Wordplay, puns, and clever use of language are important for me in literature. I seek it as a reader and it is an intuitive part of my writing. The character of Bhaubaab as a homophone for baobab came to me first when I was living in Goa and listening to the Konkani language being spoken all around me. ‘Bhau’ is Konkani for brother and ‘baab’ is the respectful address for a gentleman. When put together, it sounds like the great African tree. That’s how a character by that name who had a deep connection with the tree was born. Goa’s history with Africa gave him a plausible backstory. And then, the world I have known grew around this character rather organically.

How hard was it to get your first (debut) book published?

Because I had some experience publishing translations, I didn’t have to go through the exact trials and tribulations of a debut writer when I sought to publish Sylvia for the first time. I had a fair idea of how to go about it. Kanishka Gupta (who has agented both the Booker wins of 2022) agreed to be my agent and he got me a deal within a few months of submitting the manuscript. But the first edition of my book came out at the height of the pandemic which was less than an ideal time – for life in general and book releases in particular. I’m thankful the book is getting a second chance with the new international edition. I was sponsored by the Charles Wallace fellowship and Literature Across Frontiers to speak at the London Book Fair last year. I met someone from Neem Tree Press there This edition came out of that meeting.

How long did it take to write?

It took me about 10 months to write. I wrote sporadically as I came out of a bad marriage, moved cities, found work and the will to go on. Writing was the only meaningful thing in my life at that time.

Do you have a writing playlist? If so do you want to share it?

Gosh no! I need absolute silence to write. But I listen to Hindustani classical and semi-classical music at other times. I prefer vocals to instrumental music. I also listen to old Hindi film music.

How many publishers turned you down?

I don’t know for certain really. My agent told me two houses turned it down before Westland signed it on in India. But he may have been muffling the blow. Anyway, I was so excited to get a deal even as I was bracing myself for a hellishly long wait, that I didn’t register the rejections. I had pitched it to an independent publisher in the UK earlier (to an email address that the brother-in-law of a colleague who knew somebody had got for me) who sent me a kindly worded rejection. I had left it at that when Neem Tree Press happened.

What kind of reactions have you had to your book?

Sylvia

Sylvia

The title of the Indian edition is ‘Sylvia, Distant Avuncular Ends.’ My uncle asked me if I wrote the book to express my displeasure with him over something. I told him I hated the colour of the dress he bought me for my 5th birthday.

On a serious note, I have received largely positive reactions. I was told my experiment with the form was bold. People have written to tell me they found many instances in the novel very relatable. It is not just the story of the characters, it is also a story of the India I know and it is gratifying that many agree with how I see it. One reviewer, however, suggested I didn’t know what I was doing.

What’s the favourite reaction you’ve had to your book?

I love it when people send me photos of my book in bookshops in far-flung cities. It’s a great feeling to know I have travelled far and wide vicariously through my words.

What can you tell us about your next book?

I recently completed a collection of short fiction – a work of social satire – called Gooday Nagar. The stories are set in different towns in India all of which are called Gooday Nagar. The themes and material for each one is as different as it can be from the others: while one is a comedy ghost story about a hoover salesman in preliberation smalltown India, another one set in the pandemic is about a girl with vitiligo who sees the patches on her skin as maps of the world and aspires to travel to all these places, and another one about a playwright who writes hecklers into his political play to pre-empt real hecklers with darkly humourous consequences, another one is about a man who is cured of his erotic fantasies by gobi manchurian, and another one is a post-dystopian fantasy where everything is made of cake!

Do you take notice of online reviews?

Yes. I’m also practicing the spell that causes bad reviewers to be reborn as toads.

Would you ever consider writing outside your current genre?

I think strict compartmentalisation of literature into genres is little more than an academic endeavour meant to keep students busy. I feel it shouldn’t be a writer’s concern. The act of writing should be free from prejudices or constraints (unless you are an OuLiPo writer; then, you need constraints). Some of my favourite writers use elements of science fiction, fantasy, magic, humour, crime and whatnot in their prose and still their writing is sheer poetry. And then, some boringly ‘literary’ writers never get over quiet navel-gazing in their works. Sylvia was my first book where – although I experimented with the form – I might have played it safe with the realism in it. But in Gooday Nagar, you can see some strain on the leash.

What did you do before (or still do) you became a writer?

I wrote subtitles for films, I wrote ad-copy, I taught in a school, I edited translations of textbooks, I stretched my savings, I cat-sat expecting to be paid but was made to pay rent to the cat owner instead, I proved myself to be a rubbish farmer by writing more poems about crops than tending to them. I now teach writing to design students in a college in Bangalore.

Which author(s) inspire you?

Salman Rushdie, Kurt Vonnegut, P G Wodehouse, Bruce Chatwin, Mark Twain, Arundhati Roy, Amitav Ghosh, Italo Calvino, Rhys Hughes, Gabriel García Márquez, Goscinny and Uderzo, Bill Watterson, Bendre and Shrinivas Vaidya (in Kannada), Geetanjali Shree… the list is eclectic, meandering, and endless.

Which genres do you read yourself?

I read everything that is beautifully written without paying heed to the genre. I think speculative fiction ought to be declassified as such because – if you have been paying attention to the absurdist upheavals in the world in recent years – speculation is the new reality. I like my dystopian fiction presented with dry wit rather than morbid melancholy. If we are all going to die as consumer zombies in surveillance states let’s be clever and funny while we can.

I don’t read much non-fiction to be honest. At the end of the day, I need a good story.

What is your biggest motivator?

The promise of a daydream. The need for silence in chaos.

What will always distract you?

Bills.

How much (if any) say do you have in your book covers?

I am not much of a visual thinker. So, I wouldn’t be able to think of a visual metaphor for my book if asked to do so at the beginning. What works best for me is the option to choose from a selection of designs. I have been very lucky in that sense with my publisher. I’m absolutely chuffed with the cover of Sylvia. I love the bright, refreshing image that speaks as much as it intrigues. I chose the colours of the motif over the white background.

Were you a big reader as a child?

Absolutely. I grew up in northern Karnataka in a town that was so small even gossip wouldn’t get distorted doing the rounds. I lived on a farm with my parents and grandparents and no one my age to play with. My grandfather was a retired English teacher and he read all the time. I was fascinated by how he sat quietly for hours with little more than his eyes moving over a book. I began reading in order to imitate him.

What were your favourite childhood books?

Growing up in a smalltown with no bookshops and one library with little or no children’s literature, I just read what I found. I used my grandfather’s library card to borrow works of Agatha Christie, PG Wodehouse, and the classics. I liked Dickens, Mark Twain, George Eliot, Thackeray and R L Stevenson over Jane Austen and the Bronte Sisters (whom I learned to appreciate as a more aware woman in later life). I read Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children when I was 11. It was more out of a need to look as important as my grandfather rather than an emotional or sensible maturity for the book. I have been meaning to reread it as an adult but it is yet to happen. I did read the occasional Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Enid Blyton – hand-me-downs from distant urban cousins. I read Asterix and Tintin that were serialised in a popular weekly magazine. I read Amar Chitra Katha and had a subscription for Tinkle.

Do you have a favourite bookshop? If so, which?

I love Literati, the bookshop run out of a charming little bungalow in Calangute, Goa. Blossom is my favourite bookshop in Bangalore. The size and range of their catalogue for both used and new books is seriously impressive. I have absolutely fallen in love with Richard Booth’s bookshop in Hay-on-Wye which I was lucky to visit last year during my Charles Wallace days in Wales. A kingdom of books with a bookshop owner for king is as ideal as it gets.

What books can you not resist buying?

Poverty has made me a good resistor.

Do you have any rituals when writing?

I tidy-up before writing (because I need a clean, clutter-free space and not because I need to procrastinate). It is not always possible to shut out noise in most places in India. But I do my best to minimize it. When I had pets, I fed the cat and walked the dog before sitting down so they didn’t need my attention while I wrote. I talk to my mum on the phone before switching it off.

How many books are in your own physical TBR pile?

A couple of dozen. I dream of a time when I can sit down and read them all cover to cover without questions of livelihood making a demand on my time.

What is your current or latest read?

I just finished Kurt Vonnegut’s Hocus Pocus. I’m now reading Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree in Daisy Rockwell’s translation.

Any books that you’re looking forward to in the next 12 months?

I have a copy of Tin Drum sitting on my shelf for goodness knows how long. And a copy of Borges’ collected fictions. I also want to read Quichotte by Salman Rushdie. My partner has recommended Calvino’s Our Ancestors, William Goldman’s Princess Bride and Mia Couto’s A River Called Time. I have been putting off the big volumes for smaller ones because of lack of time. I hope I will find the peace to sit down and read at some point this year.

Any plans or projects in the near future you can tell us about?

My teaching job takes up most of my time these days. I have a very hazy idea for a novel but it will take a while before it becomes anything tangible. Right now, I’m just chronicling my silly conversations with my partner as photo-comics. It might become a thing if I find an artist who would render them into publishable designs.

Any events in the near future?

I recently spoke at the Bangalore and Goa literature festivals. Before that, I had a session with the British Council. There have been a few smaller events here and there on translation and such like. There is nothing lined up for now – yet. And I’m quite enjoying the respite.

And finally, what inspired you to write the genre you do?

The love of a good story and the need to tell it well.


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Peter Bennett – Author Q&A

Peter Bennett

Peter Bennett

Writer. Novel — Liberties, available now: https://rymour.co.uk/liberties.html & the usual places. Extracts in New Writing Scotland 40 & other publications.

Peter can be found at:
Twitter: @peter_bennett
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/peter_bennett

Tell me what inspired you to write your (debut) novel?

I wanted to tell a story set in the East-End of Glasgow, where I grew up, with working class voices – the type of which are seldom seen in literature (with a few notable exceptions, of course).

What came first the characters or the world?

I want to say the characters, although given I’d decided it would be set in the Shettleston district of Glasgow – both, I suppose. In terms of the overall narrative arc though, it was very much character driven initially. I had to understand who the characters were and what their situation was before I could explore further their journey. It was very much an organic process, in that respect.

How hard was it to get your first (debut) book published?

It wasn’t as difficult as I’d feared it would be. I’d been lucky enough to have some extracts published in a few places so I think that may have helped slightly, if not from the publisher’s point of view, then mine. It gave me the belief to send it out into the world.

How long did it take to write?

A couple of the early chapters had existed, at least in an earlier form, for quite a bit. I’m sure I was twenty-nine or thirty when I wrote them. They’d languished on a flash drive for the intervening ten years. There was more but I wasn’t happy with it and had written the story into something of a cul-de-sac. With the arrival of the Covid pandemic and associated lockdowns, I dusted it off, keeping the aforementioned two chapters, introduced some more characters and wrote what is now, Liberties in around a year.

Do you have a writing playlist? If so, do you want to share it?

I tend not to listen to music when I’m writing. I get too invested in it (the music, that is).

How many publishers turned you down?

Again, I consider myself quite lucky in that respect. I think two, maybe three publishers rejected it, with it still being on submission with another three before Rymour took it on and I withdrew the submissions. I only sent it to independent publishers. Given I don’t have an agent and it’s predominately written in contemporary Glaswegian Scots, I didn’t see the point trying with the big publishing houses. It’s a closed shop.

What kind of reactions have you had to your book?

The reactions I’ve had so far have been encouraging, with some writer friends saying nice things. Still, it’s early days (ha ha).

What’s the favourite reaction you’ve had to your book?

I couldn’t single any one reaction out. As I said, they’ve all been very encouraging.

What can you tell us about your next book?

I’m currently writing short stories with a view to putting a collection together. I’m not averse to writing a novella either and I think I may have an idea that would work well in that shorter form.

Do you take notice of online reviews?

I think everyone likes validation of their work and a review, I’d suggest, is that. Be it good or bad, it tells you that people are engaging with it, at least.

Would you ever consider writing outside your current genre?

My preference as both a reader and writer, is literary fiction and I’d prefer to continue in that vein, but you never know.

What did you do before (or still do) you became a writer?

I’m a Health and Safety Advisor.

Which author(s) inspire you?

Fairly Alba-centric in that regard. I’ve been a massive Iain Banks fan since I read The Wasp Factory in the nineties. Also, James Kelman and Irvine Welsh for being champions and propagators of writing in Scottish working-class demotic.

I like a lot of the American greats too, guys like Steinbeck, Fitzgerald and Hemingway.

Which genres do you read yourself?

I tend to gravitate towards literary fiction for no other reason than relatability to real life: what drives us, what elicits emotion – the human condition.

What is your biggest motivator?

To hopefully contribute in my own small way to the answer to the previous question.

What will always distract you?

Music.

How much (if any) say do you have in your book covers?

Ian Spring of Rymour Books, my publisher, designed the cover and after some very brief discussions came up with it, which I’m happy with.

Were you a big reader as a child?

I wouldn’t say prolifically so, but I read my fair share.

What were your favourite childhood books?

Roald Dahl was the governor as far as I was concerned.

Do you have a favourite bookshop? If so, which?

The Gallery Bookshop in Glasgow kindly hosted the launch for the book, so they’re top of the tree currently.

What books can you not resist buying?

I prefer my books to be character driven as opposed to rollercoaster plots.

Do you have any rituals when writing?

None really, other than leaving my mobile phone in another location, out of reach.

How many books are in your own physical TBR pile?

The amount correlates directly to how many bookshops I’ve been in recently. Put it this way, it’s never depleted to under half a dozen.

What is your current or latest read?

I’m reading Janice Galloway’s The Trick is to Keep Breathing at the moment.

Any books that you’re looking forward to in the next 12 months?

My finger isn’t on the pulse as much as it probably should be in that respect, I’m afraid. My Twitter buddy, Drew Gummerson’s, Kuper’s Tube (Bearded Badger Publishing) is due out in November and I’ll be buying that.

Any plans or projects in the near future you can tell us about?

None, other than to continue writing and see what manifests itself next.

Any events in the near future?

Nothing in the diary right now but, ‘have novel, will travel’.

and finally, what inspired you to write the genre you do?

To give a voice to the kind of characters that are grossly marginalised in literature.

Liberties is published by Rymour Books https://www.rymour.co.uk/liberties.html


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Ivy Ngeow – Author Q&A

Ivy Ngeow

Ivy Ngeow

Ivy Ngeow was born and raised in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. A graduate of the Middlesex University Writing MA programme, Ivy won the 2005 Middlesex University Literary Prize out of almost 1500 entrants worldwide. Her debut Cry of the Flying Rhino won the 2016 International Proverse Prize. She has written non-fiction for Marie Claire, The Star, The New Straits Times, South London Society of Architects’ Newsletter and Wimbledon magazine. Her short stories have appeared in Silverfish New Writing anthologies twice, The New Writer and on the BBC World Service, Fixi Novo’s ‘Hungry in Ipoh’ anthology and most recently the Fixi 2020 Anthology. Ivy won first prize in the Commonwealth Essay Writing Competition 1994, first prize in the Barnes and Noble Career Essay Writing competition 1998 and was shortlisted for the David T K Wong Fellowship 1998 and the Ian St James Award 1999.

Ivy can be contacted at:
Website: http://www.writengeow.com
Twitter: @ivyngeow
Instagram: @ivyngeow
Facebook: facebook.com/ivyngeowwriter

Tell me what inspired you to write your (debut) novel?

My debut novel was inspired by a dream, which took place in a Borneo longhouse. I saw a girl with huge hollow eyes and she was just about to run away from something. I have since written 4 more novels.

What came first the characters or the world?

Always the world for me. Then I fill it with characters.

How hard was it to get your first (debut) book published?

It took 12 years.

Ivy Ngeow

Ivy Ngeow

How long did it take to write?

About 2 years. I rewrote for another year. My latest and fifth novel took 38 days.

How many publishers turned you down?

More than 80.

What’s the favourite reaction you’ve had to your book?

“I will read anything from Ivy without checking the back blurb. I know I will love it.”

What can you tell us about your next book?

My next book will be an Asian thriller with a female protagonist.

Do you take notice of online reviews?

Yes and no. Occasionally I do check but I am more resilient now to one stars and trolls.

Would you ever consider writing outside your current genre?

Ivy Ngeow

Ivy Ngeow

My current genres are literary fiction and psychological crime thrillers. When I do stray outside these, I tend to do it in short stories. Short stories are a great form to experiment in genres out of our expertise, and to exercise creative freedom. So for example, I have written romance, historical, paranormal, dystopian, speculative or women’s fiction short stories. They are also less rigid when it comes to mixed genres.

What did you do before (or still do) you became a writer?

I have a 30 year profession in architecture and interior design.

Which author(s) inspire you?
David Szalay, Flannery O’Connor, Carl Hiaasen, Sarah Waters, Daphne du Maurier.

Which genres do you read yourself?

I read crime, psychological thrillers and literary fiction.

What is your biggest motivator?

Reader engagement

What will always distract you?

Work

How much (if any) say do you have in your book covers?

Most of the say. I am a designer myself. I do all the graphics already in my interior design and architecture practice.

Were you a big reader as a child?

Yes. I started late. I read to myself at around 8.

What were your favourite childhood books?

I read all the Enid Blyton books and later the Nancy Drew series. Hence the interest in adventure stories.

Do you have a favourite bookshop? If so, which?

I love little indie bookshops, eg Nomad Books in Fulham and South Kensington Books in South Kensington.

What books can you not resist buying?

Short story collections.

Do you have any rituals when writing?

I tend to write in the early mornings, first thing. That is the only criteria.

How many books are in your own physical TBR pile?

5.

What is your current or latest read?

I am reading a thriller for an author now, coming out soon, to give him a cover quote.

Any plans or projects in the near future you can tell us about?

My 4th and 5th novels are coming out this year but I can’t say when yet as they are still being edited. However, what I can say is that I will be doing a cover reveal very soon for my 4th novel, White Crane Strikes, a suspense thriller set in Chicago’s Chinatown.

and finally, what inspired you to write the genre you do?

I enjoy the dark psychological side of human nature with its surprises and twists, and inventing characters to reflect that unpredictability in humanity. Therefore literary fiction, noir and thrillers are my subject interests.


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