Kiera Johnson Publishes Short Story Translation in Online Fiction Magazine

Congratulations to Kiera Johnson (Chinese, 2017) who recently had her first short story translation published in Samovar, an online fiction magazine.

Earlier in 2020, Kiera translated a story she found, originally written in Chinese, titled ‘Express to Beijing West Railway Station’ and contacted Samovar about the possibility of featuring it in their quarterly publication. Written by Congyun ‘Mu Ming’ Gu, the story begins with the narrator realising that he has accidentally taken the wrong train. He then realises that, in unfamiliar territory of Beijing West Railway Station, he has the opportunity to change the entire trajectory of his life, but at a cost.

Discussing the origins of the work and the process of translation, Kiera commented: “I found this story by chance, when I was looking for reading material online during the first lockdown in March. I was instantly hooked by the premise and writing style, and that same evening I searched for the author’s contact details to ask her permission to translate it; Congyun was kind enough to say yes.

After months of revision, I finished the translation in June and first submitted it to Samovar, an imprint of the online speculative fiction magazine Strange Horizons. Samovar specialises in translated speculative fiction, which made it the perfect fit for this weird and wonderful short story, and thankfully they liked it enough to publish it.

A career in literary translation has been my goal for many years now, so to see my first translation published by a magazine like Samovar and recommended as a ‘must-read’ by Tor.com, another leading speculative fiction magazine, really is a dream come true.”