Istros Conversations

Macedonian writer and poet, Lidija Dimkovska, talks to Lana Lazarevski about her latest novel, which takes the reader from a love affair on the Dalmatian coast during WWII to the wilds of Sicily where the young couple move from armies to mafia and a new life coloured by the old... 'Grandma Non-Oui' is published on Sept 1st, 2024 Translated by Christina E Kramer

Çiler Ilhan writes about what most writers avoid: the maltreatment of women - and of dogs - family feuds fuelled by government policy, the suffering of children...For her first collection of short stories (Exile, Istros 2015), she was awarded the EU Prize for Literature. With her latest novella, Engagement, she delves into the mechanisms at work behind a massacre which took place in the east of Turkey, in Mardin, in 2009. Lana Lazarevski finds out what motivates her unwavering gaze....

Host Laura López speaks with Croatian author Lada Vukić and translator Christina Zorić, who also serves as live interpreter in this conversation. They discuss their shimmering novel, Special Needs, as well as the situation of Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian translation in literature. This episode has been kindly shared by Trafika Europe - https://www.trafikaeurope.org/podcast/women-in-translation

'The Fig Tree' by Slovene author Goran Vojnović is an intergenerational family saga, set against the backdrop of the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. Host Joe Williams talks to Goran and translator Olivia Hellewell about the book's narrative structure and themes, and the challenges of reproducing the Balkan context of the book for an English-language audience This podcast is re-posted here from Trafika Europe Radio · literary livestream: https://trafikaeurope.org/go/radio

For decades, Mitja Čander has been one of the most influential figures in Slovenia's literary and publishing world – even though his literary debut, Blind Man(Slepec), appeared only in 2019. An editor and literary critic, the co-founder and director of Beletrina Academic Press, essayist, screenwriter, dramaturge, columnist, and candidate for national chess master.  Here in conversation with the translator of his novel, Rawly Grau, Mitja talks about his life and his motivation for writing.

On the occasion of International Holocaust Memorial Day 2021, we launch a new collection of stories from the Romanian/Jewish writer, Ludovic Bruckstein. Erased from the national literature when he moved to Israel in the 70s, Bruckstein's plays and prose writing remained undiscovered for half a century. We talk to his son about the life and work of this father's extraoridnary legacy.

The author of THE MASOCHIST talks about her writing, the publication of her fist novel and the sense of home for a person who lives abroad This episode was recorded as part of Trafika Europe Radio's The Middle Ground series, exploring the literature of Central and Eastern Europe. See more at https://www.trafikaeurope.org/podcast/the-middle-ground/?c=04007ae3e449

An interview with Olja Knežević about her novel Catherine the Great and the Small, together with her translators, Paula Gordon & Ellen Elias-Bursać  Re-posted with the kind permission of the Intralingo World Lit Podcast series

Re-posted from Lit_Cast Slovakia podcast series

Christina Zoric and Stephen Watts discuss the author of 'Our Daily Bread', Predrag Matvejević, a European academic and writer whose life and work were committed to cross-cultural pollination and furthering understanding in our common humanity. Join us as we discuss this uniquely meditative history of bread and its long-standing importance to peoples and faiths across the Mediterranean and beyond.

This episode was originally produced for Trafika Europe Radio's Women in Translation series: https://trafikaeurope.org/go/radio

Author Olja Knezevic talks about writing as a woman and the importance of finding one's own space; the dangers of national identities, and how a Creative Writing MA at Birkbeck (University of London) helped her find her true voice

http://istrosbooks.com/products/books/the-end-and-again-104/

Rawley Grau - in town to attend the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize ceremony - talks to poet and editor, Stephen Watts about his translation of the novel PANORAMA by Dušan Šarotar. Rawley is one of the finest translators working from Slovene into English today, and his work has included prose from Boris Pintar, plays by Ivan Cankar, and essays by Aleš Debeljak. Panorama is his second book translation for Istros Books.

The Slovenian writer Aleš Šteger talks to poet and translator, Stephen Watts about his debut novel, Absolution. In the tradition of Bulgakov and Gogol, Šteger lets the forces of good and evil collide in this grandiose literary thriller. This is a debut novel filled with striking personae, haunting images and a grotesque plot. It proves, in the end, to be a journey into the heart of a European darkness.

'Burying the Season' is an affectionate, multi-layered account of small town life in central Europe in the 20th century, just out from Jantar publishing. Listen to Rajendra Chitnis of Bristol University read from his foreword to the book, and tell us how Fellini's Amarcord and Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons play a role in the lives of the citizens of Zlin, as they navigate through turbulent decades with humour and integrity.

Novelist and poet, Dušan Šarotar, talks to fellow poet Stephen Watts about migration, translation, and trying to find words which go beyond pictures: all themes in his latest novel, 'Panorama'. Come and join us on Red Lion Square for a conversation about all the joys of collaboration and the subtleties of language. #DušanŠarota #Slovenia #translation #StephenWatts #poetry

Philosophers Nigel Warburton and Slavoj Žižek join Jela Krečič to discuss her new novel, ‘None Like Her', a hapless tale of the fruitless search for a perfect partner. The nature of love and marriage, as well as comedy are hot topics of discussion! The book is published this November by Istros Books in cooperation with Peter Owen Publishers as part of the Peter Owen World Series: Slovenian Season #Zizek #philosophy #WorldSeries #Slovenia

One of Croatia's most renowned novelists and playwrights, Daša Drndić, took time out to drink cocktails with us and talk literature, translation and the rhythm inherent in our personal language. With two novels already out in English translation with Maclehose Press, and a short-listing for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize under her belt, Daša's new book, 'EEG', promises to be just as challenging and rewarding as her 2012 hit, 'Trieste'.

Author Evelyn Farr talks about about her latest book, 'I Love you Madly' (Peter Owen, August 2016) - which brings together the collected letters of Marie- Antoinette and her Swedish lover, Count Fersen. Written in both French and English editions by the author, this is a book which will change perceptions of the French queen for ever. Listen to the story of how Evelyn discovered and broke the secret code used between the lovers in order to hide their affair from the royal court and the king, and how the contemporary French establishment has reacted to these revelations. After more than 200 years, the truth revealed at last....

Translators Mevlut Ceylan, Christopher Buxton, Stephen Watts and John Hodgson in conversation with Christina Pribicevich- Zoric discuss their experience of bringing the Balkans westwards through translation. Should translators be slavish to the original or write for their new readers? Can a translator know a language 'too well'? A panel discussion on whether translators aim to be invisible or consider themselves a second author? which took place at Balkan Day II: A Rich Heritage of Stories at the British Library, 24th June 2016.

Romanian author Ioana Parvulescu and Bulgarian author Alek Popov discuss stories from Balkan perspective LIVE at the British Library. Poet and editor Fiona Sampson talks about writing at home and away, issues of translation and writing for new audiences on the occasion of Balkan Day II: A Rich Heritage of Stories.

The History and Present State of Albanian Literature in Kosovo and Albania. Leading Albanologist Robert Elsie gives an overview of evolution of creative writing in Albania and Kossovo since its beginnings. A lecture given at the British Library on the occasion of Balkan Day II: A Rich Heritage of Stories, 24th June 2016.

John Hodgson, translator of Ismail Kadare and Fatos Lubonja, talks about his work as a translator and interpreter from Albanian to English. John is one of only two literary translators working from Albanian today. 'The False Apocalypse' by Fatos Lubonja, was published by Istros in 2014 and focuses on the financial and social breakdown of society in post-communist Albania, in 1997. #Albania #translation #ImailKadare #FatosLubonja

Writer and translator, Christopher Moncrieff, talks about his work on the up-coming title, 'Diary of a Short-Sighted Adolescent': a lost novel by Mircea Eliade now in English for the very first time. #MirceaElaide #Romania #Literature #translation

Translator from Slovene, Rawley Grau, talks to poet Stephen Watts about his experience of working on the novel, Dry Season. The book won the EU Prize for Literature for its author, Gabriela Babnik, and is a fascinating, intricate exploration of a love affair between a European woman and an African man.

Author and film-maker Goran Vojnović speaks about his new novel, 'Yugoslavia, My Fatherland', which follows the story of a young man determined to find his missing father and discover the truth about his involvement in the wars of the 1990s.

Author, journalist and activist, Andrej Nikolaidis talks to Rosie Goldsmith about his new novel, Till Kingdom Come. #Transaltions #Montenegro #Balkans

Macedonian writer Aleksandar Prokopiev spoke with translator Nathan Jeffers about his new book 'Homonculus', out now at Istros Books. This conversation was held over Skype, so any sounds in the background are the authentic murmurings of Skopje in the early evening.

In April this year, Danilo Kiš became the first writer from south-east Europe to have his work published as a Penguin Modern Classic. 'The Encyclopedia of the Dead' is Kiš's last published book, and has been revised and introduced by Mark Thompson, whose biography of Kiš - Birth Cerfificate - was published by Cornell University Press in 2013. Thompson gives us an introduction to the life and career of this last great Yugoslav writer, and also some insight into the fascinating process of editing and fine-tuning the original translation.

Vladislav Bajac talks with translator Nathan Jeffers about his publishing house, Geopoetika, and its role in spreading Serbian literature abroad and publishing international classics in Serbia.

Evald Flisar talks to translator Nathan Jeffers about writing, travelling, and his relationship with language and identity.

Roger James Elsgood from Art and Adventure speaks to author Aleksandar Gatalica about the translation of his epic best-selling novel, 'The Great War', as well as the art of translation in general, working with Ancient Greek texts and how literature can cross cultural and geographical borders. #WW1 #translation #literature #Serbia #EasternFront

Deputy Director of Communications, Larry Sherwin in conversation with Serbian author Aleksandar Gatalica at the EBRD, London. A Remembrance Day book launch for a unique and accomplished novel which provides a new perspective on the First World War; peopled with a colourful array of characters both real and fictional from the Eastern as well as the Western Front.

A British Library seminar with Sir Hew Strachan and Aleksandar Gatalica

Book launch event of 'What Does Europe Want? The Union and its Discontents' By Slavoj Žižek and Srećko Horvat (with an introduction by Alexis Tsipras) Publication Date: 31st October, 2013 £12.00 ISBN: 9781908236166 Despite the fact that the European Union faces the biggest crisis since its foundation, on July 1st, 2013, a new state joined the club. For the foreseeable future, Croatia will probably be the last to join; at the same time creating a barrier between the once connected states of the Balkans. Paraphrasing Freud's famous question - ‘What does a woman want?' - one of the greatest European philosophers of our day, Slavoj Žižek, joins forces with the young Croatian philosopher, Srećko Horvat, to examine the burning question ‘What does Europe want?'. Instead of a peace-project, the European Union is increasingly turning into a warzone: whether it be the expulsion of immigrants or riots in Paris and London, or European interventions to bring “more democracy” to Libya or Syria. Instead of leaving Europe to the enemies, Žižek and Horvat reflect on the fight for a different Idea of Europe; one that embraces all its peoples equally. #Zizek #Philosophy #EU #Syriza #

In celebration of a successful three days at the London Book Fair, the embassy of Croatia hosts a two-part discussion on contemporary Croatian Literature and translation at Europe House, Smith Square, London. Speakers included Dasa Drndic (pictured), whose book 'Trieste' is short-listed for the Independent Foreign Fiction #iffp Prize, and Josip Novakovich - one of this year's nominees for the #ManBooker International

Daša Drndić, Josip Novakovich and Marinko Koščec discuss their recent books and their reception in the UK and US. Chaired by the former UK Ambassador in Croatia, Nicholas Jarrold. #KeatsHouse in #Hampstead #Croatian #Literature

Guest at Monocle 24 radio show ‘The Review', Susan Curtis-Kojakovic, director of Istros Books discusses the preparations for the upcoming Croatian book stand at the London Book Fair 2013 (April 15-17), as well as some intriguing new translated literature. Coming from Turkey - Ayfer Tunc's ‘The Aziz Bey Incident' and from Romania – Cecilia Stefanescu's ‘Sun Alley'.

Listen to the world premiere of Hedgehog's Home Children's Opera - live at the Conway Hall on Sunday, 11th November. On the anniversary of its first English edition, Hedgehog's Home by Branko Copic has been successfully launched as a new children's opera, with an original score by Emily Leather, and staging by Creative Director, Elinor Moran. The show stared: Dario Dugandzic as Hedgemeond the Hunter Christina Gill as Ms. Fox Nicola Wydenbach as the teacher With set designer Andrew Miller #opera #chilrensopera #childreninLondon #Istrosbooks #BrankoCopic #Serbia #Balkans #Bosnia #Eurolit

The charming A. M. Bakalar at Waterstones, Hampstead, in conversation with Montenegrin author, Ognjen Spahic and Hungarian author Noemi Szecsi about their recently published novels (2012). While Spahic's cult classic, 'Hansen's Children' takes place in the last European leprosarium in revolutionary Romania; Noemi also tells a Romanian tale of blood lust through an unusual relationship between a grandma and her granddaughter.