The Most Translated Author of All Time
July 21st, 2009 by justinb
It is generally accepted that the Bible is the most widely translated book of all time. But what author has had the most work translated? Some will credit the Apostle Paul, who is believed to have penned many of the books in the Christian Bible. Others, including the Guiness Book of World Records, give that honor to another sort of “Holy man,” science fiction writer and founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard.
With 1,084 fiction and non-fiction (?) works under his belt, Hubbard also earned Guiness’s record for most published author and a third in 2009 for most audio books produced. His pieces, including the celebrated and controversial Dianetics, have been translated into 71 different languages.
As the father of Scientology, Hubbard was no stranger to controversy and despite claims that Scientology is a cult, Hubbard and his team of lawyers worked hard to promote the organization, eventually attracting the likes of celebrities such as John Travolta, Jason Lee and Tom Cruise.
So if the Bible is the Bible is the best-selling book of all time and the Guiness Book of World Records says that L. Ron Hubbard is the most translated author, can you guess what the second best-selling book of all time is? Nope, not Dianetics. It is the Guiness Book of World Records.
Tags: best selling book of all time, guiness book of world records, L. Ron Hubbard, most translated author, Scientology, scientology is a cult, Tom Cruise
July 27th, 2009 at 2:49 am
Nice post, but according to this UNESCO data base http://databases.unesco.org/xtrans/stat/xTransList.a
Walt Disney is the most translated author of all time. I don’t know how up-to-date it is, but maybe the Guinness Book uses other criteria.
Cheers
Sergio
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July 27th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Interesting list as well, but I’m not sure how they came up with those figures. Hubbard doesn’t even appear in the top 50 and the Bible comes in 11th? Maybe that’s the number of translations they have in their database? Not sure, but thanks for the link!
July 27th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Interesting article. I figured that Paulo Coelho would have been the most translated author, but this mostly comes from my biased view that I love his novels and can read them in nearly every language I choose.
July 27th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
I enjoy reading him as well. I haven’t read the new one yet, ‘O vencedor está só.’ I’ve only read his stuff in English and Spanish but, I imagine it’s a dream in Portuguese. I just learned that ‘The Alchemist’ has been translated into 49 languages. I also found a little Question and Answer thing with Coelho in which he talks about the translation of his work.
“I trust the translators – my father in law was one and I could see how dedicated he was to be as faithful to the original work.
I consider them as builders of bridges and thanks to their efforts my soul is able to reach so many people.”
— Paulo Coelho