Will Evans is really into books. In 2013, unable to restrain himself, he started a publishing house specializing in translations called Deep Vellum. A couple of years later, he opened a bookstore in Deep Ellum with the same name (3000 Commerce St., 469-781-4881). In recognition of his obsessive efforts, this month the French government is bestowing on him the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
What exactly is a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and does it get you through TSA faster? It’s a knighthood, and it goes through the French Ministry of Culture. We have more books in translation from French than any other publisher in the history of the English language. We’ve brought a lot of French authors to the U.S., and we’ve hosted a lot of French authors at the bookstore. In terms of TSA, though, they haven’t given me the list of benefits yet. I was hoping it would let me cut in line at the Louvre or get me 20 percent off at Shakespeare and Company. But it’s my first knighthood. It’s not one to be trifled with.
What’s your next French translation? We’re publishing a book this summer about La Réunion, written by Victor Considerant. We’re calling it The Road to Texas, but it was called Au Texas, and it was a manifesto published in 1855 trying to get everyone to join him in coming to The Promised Land. He had gone around Texas, this new country, lots of frontier land available, and they wanted to build this socialist utopian colony, and they just happened to choose the chalky outcroppings of North Oak Cliff, where you can’t grow anything in the soil over there. This is the first time that this book will have come out English, which is insane. It’s translated by an SMU professor named Paola Buckley.
In a typical month, how many books do you read? Two adult, 40 kids. I have a 5-year-old and an 8-year-old. My son last week got into Calvin and Hobbes. We just moved, and we have all these boxes of books. We don’t have bookshelves yet. He saw one of the boxes that said “kids” on it. So he ripped it open. It was my collection of old Calvin and Hobbes books. He was like, “Wait, these books are funny.” He’s blazing through them right now, and it’s a very proud parent moment.
What do you think about violating authors’ wishes and publishing material posthumously like Gabriel García Márquez’s sons just did with Until August? Kafka also instructed that all of his art was to be burned. Max Brod refused to do it because he knew he had a true work of genius, and I’m grateful to Max Brod for violating Kafka’s wishes. I don’t mind violating authors’ wishes when they’re dead because they’re dead, and their art should be made accessible. Sorry, Gabo. Please don’t haunt me.
“I was hoping it would let me cut in line at the Louvre or get me 20 percent off at Shakespeare and Company.”
Is Dallas a literary town? Always has been. Always will be. Two years ago, we launched the poet laureate with the city and the library. The Morning News wrote an editorial that said in the first paragraph, “In announcing this program, Will Evans said that this justifies Dallas is literary town. Always has been. Always will be.” Next line [paraphrased]: “We don’t agree! Dallas is a business town! It’s a can-do town! A literary town? Nope.” It’s on my desk at work. It’s sitting right in front of me because you can’t pay for better bulletin board material. What does it take to be a literary town? It takes readers. It takes writers. It takes translators. It takes institutions. It takes universities. It takes magazines who take this stuff seriously. Dallas had the biggest bookstore in America in 1949 [Cokesbury Book Store]. Dallas has a handful of the best bookstores in America right now: Wild Detectives and Interabang and Whose Books, let alone the bookstore that I’m a part of. We’re so rich and flush with literary history. It’s amazing. It’s built into our DNA, the whole city! The mythology of Dallas is a story.
Best bookstore live mascot. Is it a dog, cat, or other? Dog. We have a bookstore dog right now named Crab, who’s in training. Crab got her name because that’s the only dog in all of Shakespeare’s work that is named. A bookstore dog is a vibe for a very active, vibrant urban store like ours. Cats are great for dusty older spaces where you need them for catching rats.
You published your first book 10 years ago this December. What’s the plan for the next decade? To do well enough that I’m never asked again if Dallas is a literary town. [laughs]
This story originally appeared in the May issue of D Magazine with the headline “Honor Bound.” Write to [email protected].
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