Happy New Year. On the subject of newness, the third book, the final story that follows Leo’s character, has a title – A NEW WORLD. It takes place in Moscow, Harlem and Afghanistan – it will be finished this spring, but not released until 2011.  Email me your thoughts on the title.

I recently received an email from a reader, an Iranian author who has translated CHILD 44 into Farsi. It seems there are no copyright arrangements between Iran and the UK, so the translation has been done without any legal agreement. However, it was remarkable to discover that this author felt strongly enough about the novel to translate it and send the manuscript off to the Ministy of Arts in Iran, seeking their permission to publish it. While I have to tread carefully in not condoning the disregard for copyright, the news is exciting. In CHILD 44, Raisa mentions the unauthorized translations of novels that she had read, and now it seems CHILD 44 will itself be turned into an unauthorized translation.

I am waiting to hear if the Ministry approves the translation, otherwise the Farsi edition will exist in the smallest print run, perhaps only a handful of copies passed from person to person. It brings the number of languages CHILD 44 has been translated into to 31.

Finally, KIND 44 has been released in Germany in paperback. Although the official release date is February it seems as if bookshops put the book on the shelves before the official date. I’m told that the paperback edition has sold 83,ooo copies in one week, a truly staggering number.