Amazon Crosses Linguistic Divide

Amazon is aiming to break language barriers by translating foreign-language books into English.

AmazonCrossing, its second imprint and foray into book publishing, aims to "introduce readers to emerging and established authors from around the world with translations of foreign language books, making award-winning and bestselling books accessible to many readers for the first time."

The first title in the new imprint, set for a November release, is a translation of Tierno Monenembo's 2008 novel, The King of Kahel, which won French literary prize, the Prix Renaudot. Both print and Kindle editions will be available. (This summer, Amazon will release a free app, to run on Google’s Android that will let customers read Kindle e-books on cellphones.)<

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