BookBlast® Podcast

Prize-winning essayist, novelist, poet and academic, Abdourahman Waberi in conversation with Georgia de Chamberet about the events and cultures that have inspired him. Born in 1965 in Djibouti, he left his homeland for France in 1985 where he studied English at the University of Caen. He did a degree in English at the University of Dijon where he wrote a thesis on the work of the Somali novelist, Nuruddin Farah. In 2008 he moved to America. Since 2012 he is professor of Francophone literature at George Washington University. Following on from the release of his first book – a short story collection called Le Pays Sans Ombre, Land Without Shadows – he has had 6 novels, 3 short story anthologies, 3 volumes of poetry and 2 essay collections published, and a great many articles. The recipient of numerous awards, he was recently named one of the “50 Writers of the Future” by LIRE magazine. Abdourahman Waberi discusses his childhood in a deprived neighbourhood of Djibouti, a pocket-sized but strategically important African nation near the Suez Canal. He remembers the pains of growing up with polio, how he kept strong in the face of merciless bullying at school, and his love of storytelling. He talks about life in France and North America, how writers Annie Ernaux and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o inspire him, and more. So tune in!   Produced by BookBlast  

An autobiographical first novel, The Last One tells the story of Fatima and her family. The confusing polarities between different worlds and cultures that are portrayed sparked an intense Media debate in France. Although based on true events and experiences, Fatima Daas changed certain aspects in order to be free to write what she wanted, and convey her feelings about specific events.   Tune in to hear a lively conversation with Fatima Daas and podcast host Georgia de Chamberet, about literary inspiration, handling her surprise overnight success, and the pressures directed at women from religion and from society, and more besides The Last One is published in English, by HopeRoad Publishing. The interview is in both French and English.   Produced by BookBlast  

Faïza Guène writes about normal people living in urban tower block estates surrounding cities like Paris, Lyon, and Marseille. Her first novel, Kiffe kiffe demain, published in England under the title Just Like Tomorrow, sold over 400,000 copies when it came out and has been translated into 26 different languages. She was just nineteen. Tune in to hear her lively conversation with translator of sixteen years, Sarah Ardizzone, and host Georgia de Chamberet, about inner city school life, the impact of Black Lives Matter, the 2024 Olympic Games, translating argot and Arabic-influenced backslang, and all about her latest novel out in English, Men Don't Cry (Cassava Republic), in which quirky family antics and familial pettiness make for much hilarity: everyone can relate to it. Produced by Simon James  

Vanessa Springora's memoir, Consent, became an instant, international literary sensation when it was published in France in January 2020. Her beautifully written, intimate and powerful description of her relationship in the mid-1980s with the French author Gabriel Matzneff, when she was fourteen and he fifty, is a beautifully written universal #MeToo story of power, manipulation, trauma, resilience and healing. Translator, Natasha Lehrer, and Georgia de Chamberet, discuss libertarian attitudes and French culture; the trouble with Feminism in France; literary name-and-shame public revelations leading to the downfall of powerful sexual abusers; and more. Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | Produced by BookBlast® © the artists care of bookblast ltd

As a reminder of what entertaining, inoffensive satire constitutes, pick up a copy of Bestseller by Georgian trailblazer, Beka Adamashvili, deftly translated by Tamar Japaridze, published by Dedalus Books. A blogger, screenwriter and creative director at an advertising company, Adamashvili's mischievous sense of humor and deep knowledge of world literature, combined with marketing nous, sharpen his pen. Multiple allusions from literary classics are woven into his postmodern narrative as he sends up digimodernism and the shallowness of the desire for fame. Dante, Conan Doyle, Samuel Beckett, George Orwell and other literary heavyweights rebel against the author. Bestseller pokes fun at literary pretentiousness, humbug and bookish aspirations with wit and verve. Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | Produced by Rupert Such

"In The Fig Tree, deftly translated by Olivia Hellewell, Goran Vojnović portrays three generations of a family whose lives are marked by the disintegration of Yugoslavia and its brutal aftermath. It is a remarkable portrait of a country's fragmentation and a family's fracture." Lucy Popescu, The BookBlast Diary Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | Produced by Rupert Such

In THE WHITE DRESS, Nathalie Léger tells the story of Pippa Bacca, a thirty-three-year-old Italian feminist performance artist who decided to hitchhike from Milan to Jerusalem wearing a white wedding dress to symbolise “marriage between different peoples and nations.” Through her intense examination of Bacca's final work and of the often polarised public reaction to the role of women in art, Léger also compellingly addresses her own conflicted relationship with her elderly mother. Does Bacca's work actually need to be translated in a narrative form. Like any visual artist, it's there in the performative act. Which makes one ask is all communication translation or indeed translatable? In your view, what makes a good translator and how can translation change perceptions of our world? Discover the answers to these questions and more, as Lucy Popescu interviews award-winning translator Natasha Lehrer who has translated two of Léger's books. Presented by Lucy Popescu | Produced by Rupert Such 

Georgia de Chamberet interviews Philip Gwyn Jones who has extensive experience at the heart of literary publishing having started his career at the late, lamented Flamingo imprint at HarperCollins, then founding Portobello Books and merging it with Granta Books, moving on to Scribe, and since June this year, heading up the Picador imprint at Macmillan. “You were the first British editor to offer a book contract to Jenny Erpenbeck, Ove Knausgaard, Jhumpa Lahiri, Arundhati Roy, Kathryn Schulz and Zadie Smith, amongst others. Tell us about some of your recent discoveries published by Scribe and what makes each one so special.” “Tommy Wieringa - author of The Blessed Rita which you have published in Spring this year - is one of europe's biggest selling authors. What is his magic ingredient?” “As voices from the margins have become louder, influencing the political mainstream, how has fiction written from an “outsider” perspective evolved and increasingly become an identifiable genre in publishing since you began your career publishing translations?” Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | Produced by Rupert Such

Lucy Popescu interviews Tommy Wieringa and his translator from Dutch, Sam Garrett. Wieringa's novel The Death of Murat Idrissi was nominated for the International Booker Prize in 2019. In 2018 he won the Bookspot Literatuurprijs for his novel De heilige Rita, The Blessed Rita, published this year by Scribe UK. It is a compelling portrait of the forgotten and Wieringa makes a strong case for empathy with those living on the margins of society. “Did you grow up in a rural or urban community?” “What draws you to write about men on the margins?”  “Tommy, regarding empathy for your characters and their situations, by writing about flawed characters you remind us of our shared humanity. Was that your intention?” Hear the answers to these questions and more in this insightful exclusive interview. Presented by Lucy Popescu | Produced by Rupert Such

Interview avec le romancier, essayiste, critique et poète marocain le plus vendu au niveau international, Tahar Ben Jelloun, au sujet de son livre, Le Terrorisme explique à nos enfants. Cette semaine les complices présumés sont devant le tribunal de Paris pour les attentats de janvier 2015. Pouvez-vous décrire brièvement à nos auditeurs anglophones les racines du terrorisme en France et quelles sont les objectifs présumés des terroristes? Comment pensez vous que l'État pourrait contrôler ses forces de police et leurs «bavures»? Est il possible que les consequences toxiques du colonialisme puissent être mieux reconnues pour réévaluer le récit publique sur l'islam et la politique sociale républicaine? Qu'est-ce qui vous a poussé à écrire ce livre? Écoutez les réponses à ces questions et plus encore dans cette interview qui est très nécessaire. Presenté par Georgia de Chamberet | Produit par Rupert Such | version originale

The Moroccan poet, novelist, essayist, and journalist, Tahar Ben Jelloun, is one of France's most celebrated writers. He has written extensively about Moroccan culture, the immigrant experience, human rights, and sexual identity. With the trial opening this week in Paris over the January 2015 attacks on the offices of the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, and a kosher supermarket that killed seventeen people, Terrorism: Conversations with My Daughter (translated by Aneesa Abbas Higgins) is a timely and essential read. Can you briefly describe for our listeners the roots of terrorism in France, and what are its intentions? How could the powers that be in France address the ongoing issue of police violence and toxic legacy of colonialism in an attempt to reassess its narrative about Islam, and its social policies?  Hear the answers to these questions and more in this insightful interview for curious minds.   Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | Produced by Rupert Such | Voice-over by Issa Naseri

Christopher MacLehose brought WG Sebald, José Saramago, Haruki Murakami, Claudio Magris, Javier Marías, Jin Yong and many others to English-language readers. He is credited as having launched the bestselling genre of crime fiction in translation now known as “Nordic Noir”. In 1984 you published Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Høeg, followed by Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander's series in the 1990s a.k.a. “the father of Nordic noir”, Jo Nesbo in the 2000s, and Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Why do Scandinavians write such great crime fiction?   As a consistently passionate advocate of fine literature in translation throughout your career, what in your view makes a good translation, and what makes it last? Tune in to find out more . . . Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | Produced by Rupert Such 

“‘And this also', said Marlow suddenly, ‘has been one of the dark places of the earth.' This epigraph, taken from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, sets the tone for Mytting's sweeping investigation of legend, superstition, and the effects of industrial and ideological change on a small, secluded village in rural Norway . . . A powerful contemporary narrative that is rooted in history.” Rachel Goldblatt, The BookBlast Diary What were your sources for the pagan, Viking and Christian folklore myths and legends referenced in The Bell in the Lake? Is all communication translation? Tune in to hear the answers to these questions and more . . . Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | Produced by Rupert Such

"Tazmamart was an underground military prison in southeast Morocco where those considered enemies of the king were detained from 1972 to 1991. It was built after two failed coup d'états against Hassan II of Morocco. Many of those detained were unwitting participants in the alleged coup . . ." Lucy Popescu, The BookBlast Diary How easy is to forgive a regime and one's former torturers? What were Aziz's primary motives behind writing this book – to lay ghosts to rest? To effect change? The world he depicts is barely imaginable for those of us living in a democracy. Tune in to hear how Aziz Binebine survived 18 years in a #Moroccan desert Hell. Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | Produced by Rupert Such

The world of publishing has changed a great deal since you first founded Carcanet in 1969 with Peter Jones, Gareth Reeves, working from a farmhouse kitchen table. What is the magic ingredient meaning you have been able to adapt and evolve? Publishing poetry is a tricky business. Your list comprises collections by established English language poets, new editions of work by deceased writers, and newcomers on the scene. Tell us about five of your lead titles in translation, and what makes each one so special. Since making a living from writing – let alone poetry – is hard these days, do many of your poets run creative writing courses? Can you recommend a couple to our listeners?   Hear Michael Schmidt, publisher & co-founder of Carcanet Press, answer these questions and give unexpected insights as he talks about his love of literature and publishing poetry in translation.  Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | Produced by Rupert Such 

James Womack is an Affiliated Lecturer in the Spanish and Portuguese Section at Cambridge University's Fitzwilliam College. He reveals how he landed in Spain and translating Manuel Vilas's latest collection of poetry and short fiction, Heaven, published this year by Carcanet Press. The author of fourteen collections of poetry, seven books of essays, and seven novels, Vilas's novel Ordesa was a bestseller in Spain; is forthcoming in English with Canongate in November 2020.     “Vilas is exceptionally skilled at capturing the misery and ecstasy that can coincide and enmesh in a single moment . . . Emotional depth and layers of meaning shine through Womack's rhythmic translation and his use of extraordinary vocabulary . . . As in all great poetry, ordinary and unsuspecting moments are suddenly infused by a subliminal energy that transforms a mundane thought or event into a profound and valid realisation” . . . From the review by Rachel Goldblatt for The BookBlast Diary  Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | Produced by Rupert Such

"Anna Kim's The Great Homecoming is a sweeping tale of friendship and betrayal that explores the devastating impact of the Korean War, Russian and American politicking and the Cold War on individuals, families and cities in Korea and Japan during the 1950s and '60s. It may be a historical novel, but it puts people – a people; an entire nation – at its heart. This slick and accomplished translation by Jamie Lee Searle is sure to widen Kim's fanbase and acclaim, and rightly so." Rachel Goldblatt, The BookBlast Diary Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | Produced by Rupert Such | 37:49

The Swiss writer and photographer, Nicolas Bouvier, (1929-98) was a traveller in the real sense of the word, navigating different worlds and writing about now forgotten communities. He gives us alternative perspectives on places like the Balkans, Iran, Azerbaijan, Japan, China, Korea and the highlands of Scotland. The Way of the World, The Scorpion Fish and So It Goes have become cult reads. Hear his translator Robyn Marsack and publisher Rose from Eland Books discuss why Nicolas Bouvier such a special writer and what his writings reveal about the man and his journeys undertaken in the 1970s, '80s and '90s, what is good travel writing, and what makes it last?    Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | Produced by Rupert Such

Publishing classics requires a special acuity. What makes a classic? Pushkin Press focuses on modern classics, mostly translated works. How did you discover your most successful no-longer-forgotten comeback author, Stefan Zweig? What type of person do you think makes a very good translator? Hear Adam Freudenheim, publisher & MD of Pushkin Press, answer these questions and give unexpected insights as he talks about his love of literature and publishing translations.   Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | Produced by Rupert Such

J.S. Margot's  memoir, Mazel Tov, "is the story of an extraordinary friendship – in fact several extraordinary friendships that marked the twenties of the author J.S.Margot. At first sight it is the story of a young Flemish woman at university in Antwerp who teaches the four children of an Orthodox Jewish family to earn a bit of extra money. It is also the story of her first great love for an Iranian political refugee. In both cases she is exposed to a culture and religion that is not her own. She also begins to realise that she is on the receiving end of a certain amount of paranoia and suspicion from both her employers and her boyfriend.” — Henrietta Foster, The BookBlast Diary   Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | Produced by Rupert Such

Michèle Roberts is the author of twelve highly-acclaimed novels, including The Looking Glass and Daughters of the House which won the W.H. Smith Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. She has also published poetry and short stories, and is Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.    Topics: Born a twin. Growing up in Edgware outside London; summer holidays in Etretat, Normandy; Roman Catholic schooling and rebellion; becoming a writer and being published by The Womens Press and Virago culture and creative freedom in the 1970s and 1980s; feminism then and now; the influence of biculturalism; the shock of rejection, learning and rebuilding from it.   Title focus: Negative Capability: A Diary of Surviving, published 28 May 2020 – visit www.sandstonepress.com   Recorded by telephone on the eve of the Covid 19 Lockdown   Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | Produced by Rupert Such, Biscuittown Productions

Narisa Chakrabongse, the founder and CEO of River Books, and the great granddaughter of King Rama V (Chulalongkorn) of Siam, is the editor of the Oxford River Books English-Thai Dictionary.   Chakrabongse Villas, the family home, is a small boutique hotel in Bangkok. I caught up with her some months ago when she was in town, to talk about her unusual Thai-Russian-British background, being a foreigner living in a strange land and, of course, River Books, which you can visit online at riverbooksbk.com   Presented by G de Chamberet | A BookBlast® Production

Reggae legend, Keith Anderson, known as Bob Andy, talks about his life and times in a rare and exclusive interview.   Best known in the UK for the track recorded with Marcia Griffiths "Young, Gifted and Black" (1970), he is widely regarded as "one of reggae's most influential songwriters," Wikipedia. The conversation takes in his childhood in Kingston, Maxfield Park children's home, Kingston Parish Church choir and Tyrone Evans. The Paragons. Studio One.   His first solo hit record (1967) "I've Got to Go Back Home" was followed by "Desperate Lover", "Feeling Soul", "Unchained", and "Too Experienced". Composing songs for other reggae artists, including "I Don't Want to See You Cry" for Ken Boothe, and "Feel Like Jumping", "Truly", and "Melody Life" for Marcia Griffiths. He is best known for "Young, Gifted and Black" recorded with Marcia Griffiths in the early 1970s. Trojan. Working as a producer in London and recording with Mad Professor. Moving to Miami. Several of his hits in the late 1960s, and his 1992 hit, "Fire Burning", are regarded as reggae standards and have been covered several times by other artists.   Presented by G de Chamberet | A BookBlast® Production 

Maggie Gee is the author of fifteen books, thirteen of which are novels, including her latest, Blood, which is published by Fentum Press. She talks about being born to working-class parents and climbing into an uneasy place between classes; winning a major open scholarship to Somerville College, Oxford where she did an MA in English literature and an MLitt on Surrealism in England; breaking into the publishing game; being selected as of the original Granta 20 Best of Young British Novelists in 1983; why there is still such reticence on the part of the dominant ‘white' literary establishment to address, through literature, the tensions of race and class in contemporary British society; co-founding the “Empathy and Writing” cross-disciplinary research group at Bath Spa University; and more.   Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | A BookBlast® Production

Nicky Harman, is a leading translator and promoter of Chinese literature. She was interviewed for The BookBlast® Diary in 2016 and Xu Xiaobin's Crystal Wedding reviewed.   Our conversation about writing from a non-English speaking world that is 4,834 miles away from the UK takes in the dark side of socialism and government censorship, what strengths are drawn by Chinese writers from the richness of their cultural background and national identity, issues faced by translators, Chinese women writers, sex and violence in contemporary Chinese literature, the unique aspects of contemporary Chinese literature, the growing popularity of science fiction and martial arts fiction in the West, and much more.   Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | A BookBlast® Production | Recorded 14.02.2019

Robert Elms talks to Georgia de Chamberet about The BookBlast® 10x10 Tour in association with Waterstones. A carnival of authors, poets, translators and independent publishers visit 9 major cities across England, 11 September to 15 November, holding live talks at flagship stores and  inspiring readers to immerse themselves in authentic, offbeat new writing.   Interview date: 01 September 2018

Most famous for the group portrait of four women who escaped the conventional constraints of domestic life, The Wilder Shores of Love, Lesley Blanch was a scholarly romantic and a bold writer with a lifelong passion for Russia, the Balkans and the Middle East. Her posthumously published memoirs collects together the story of her marriage with Romain Gary, previously published only in French; her journalism on the artistic melting pot that was London between the wars; and a selection of her most evocative travel pieces, to create the story of a fascinating, bohemian – and, at times outrageous - life that spanned the twentieth century.   Interview date Monday 19 January, 2015   On the Wilder Shores of Love: A Bohemian Life by Lesley Blanch is published by Virago UK and Editions Table Ronde in Paris tr. Lucien d'Azay   Visit her website at lesleyblanch.com twitter @lesleyblanch

Celebrated author and distinguished traveller, Lesley Blanch, MBE (1904-2007), talks to Teresa Cherfas about her love of Russia and of the mysterious family friend whom she referred to as The Traveller. Although to some it may seem that Blanch excelled in magnifying her own peculiarities to become larger than life, even mythic, she was always true to herself. Her private life was so inaccessible as to be virtually unimaginable. Blanch gave this interview the day after coming out of hospital, in February 2007. She died four months later.   Visit her website at lesleyblanch.com twitter @lesleyblanch