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In this week's episode, we chat to writer and Japanese translator Polly Barton about her new book Porn: An Oral History. We discuss the necessity of sitting with discomfort and ambivalence and the role of unknowingness within a divided contemporary society. We speak about he nature of oral histories and the links between translation and transcription. We consider the importance of intergenerational conversation, as well as the role of nuance, contradiction and sensitivity within non-fiction. We consider what it means to leave space for desire and pleasure within discourse on sex and gender and think about Pamela Paul's notion of the pornification of society under capitalism. Polly Barton is a writer and Japanese translator based in Bristol. In 2019, she won the Fitzcarraldo Editions Essay Prize and her debut book, Fifty Sounds, a personal dictionary of the Japanese language, was published in the UK by Fitzcarraldo Editions in 2021. In 2022, Fifty Sounds was shortlisted for the 2022 Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year. Her translations have featured in Granta, Catapult, The White Review and Words Without Borders and her full length translations include Spring Garden by Tomoka Shibasaki (Pushkin Press), Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda (Tilted Axis Press/Soft Skull), which was shortlisted for the Ray Bradbury Prize, and There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura (Bloomsbury). Her new book, Porn: An Oral History, was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions (UK) in March 2023 and is forthcoming from La Nave di Teseo in Italy. References Porn: An Oral History by Polly Barton Fifty Sounds by Polly Barton Uses of the Erotic by Audre Lorde Pornified: How Pornography is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships and Our Families by Pamela Paul
Travel writer Tharik Hussain discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Tharik Hussain in an author and travel writer whose work often serves to counter popular and authorised narratives. His debut book, Minarets in the Mountains: A Journey into Muslim Europe, was nominated for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year award and the Baillie Gifford Prize in Non Fiction, and named a Book of the Year in the New Statesman, Prospect Magazine and the Times Literary Supplement. Hussain is also a Lonely Planet author who has written for the BBC, National Geographic and The Guardian. He developed Britain's first Muslim heritage trails in Woking, Surrey and is a Fellow at the University of Groningen's Centre for Religion and Heritage. You can find out more about Tharik's work at https://linktr.ee/TharikHussain and www.tharikhussain.co.uk You can find out more about the Muslim heritage trails: https://www.everydaymuslim.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/01Trail-EM-WMHT-WokingTrail.pdf and https://www.everydaymuslim.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/02Trail-EM-WMHT-MuhCemWalk.pdf Offa's Dinar https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/gold-dinar-of-king-offa The Shah Jahan Mosque https://shahjahanmosque.org.uk/ Twelve centuries of European Jewish-Muslim co existence https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2019/1105/Where-an-ancient-Jewish-Muslim-coexistence-endures Indigenous European Muslim culture https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/forgotten-muslims-southeastern-europe There is an official 'Arabic' EU language https://airmalta.com/en-gb/blog/malta/the-fascinating-history-of-the-maltese-language The oldest mosque in the US https://www.salaamgateway.com/story/five-historic-mosques-of-america-you-shouldnt-miss This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm
“A witty, gentle, original and very modern quest for the magical (not the mythical) in Britain's landscape, which both made me laugh and moved me.” - Robert MacfarlaneI was delighted to have this chance to speak with writer Jini Reddy about her yearning to connect with the landscape of Britain, her adopted homeland, which resulted in her delightful and thought-provoking book ‘Wanderland'. Jini's been writing on travel, nature, and spirituality for many years and shares her journey from a snow-loving childhood in Canada to Mother Teresa's home in Calcutta to her writing and exploring life in UK. Join me as Jini shares how a strange encounter alone at the top of a mountain in France led her down the journey of ‘Wanderland', how she approaches solo travel, and how diverse voices are (finally) re-shaping the travel writing genre! Listen now on your favorite podcast app or at www.theindianedit.com and please take a second to rate us wherever you're listening so the voices of these inspiring women can be heard all over the world!SHOWNOTES FOR EPISODE 69:Find Jini at her website and on instagramWanderland: Shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize and Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year AwardWild Times: Extraordinary Experiences Connecting with Nature in BritainBOOKS and MORE:Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America's Stolen Land by Noe Alvarez If you enjoy podcasts to do with gardens and the natural world, don't miss Cultivating Place.My chat with Jennifer Jewell on the Cultivating Place podcast:Cultivating Place: The Indian Edit, with Nitasha Manchanda
*Shortlisted for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award* Ben Coates, author of Why the Dutch Are Different, cycles the Rhine river from mouth to source, discovering the mark it makes on Europe. The Rhine is one of the world's greatest rivers. Once forming the outer frontier of the Roman Empire, it flows 800 miles from the social democratic playground of the Netherlands, through the industrial and political powerhouses of Germany and France, to the wealthy mountain fortresses of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. For five years, Ben Coates lived alongside a major channel of the river in Rotterdam, crossing it daily, swimming and sailing in its tributaries. In The Rhine, he sets out by bicycle from the Netherlands where it enters the North Sea, following it through Germany, France and Liechtenstein, to its source in the icy Alps. He explores the impact that the Rhine has had on European culture and history and finds out how influences have flowed along and across the river, shaping the people who live alongside it. Blending travelogue and offbeat history, The Rhine tells the fascinating story of how a great river helped shape a continent.
TORCH Goes Digital! presents a series of weekly live events Big Tent - Live Events! Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding stones for the future Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities. Under the Rainbow: Voices from Lockdown will feature the author James Attlee in discussion with Marina Warner and Professor Pablo Mukherjee (Warwick University). Chaired by Professor Wes Williams, TORCH Director. This event is also in collaboration with Blackwell's of Oxford. Blackwell's of Oxford has been selling books on Broad Street for over 140 years making it Oxford's oldest bookshop. With over five miles of books in the Broad Street flagship, Blackwell's booksellers' passion for the putting right book into the right reader's hands is undiminished after over a century. Under the Rainbow: Voices from Lockdown is for sale at Blackwell's Bookshop on Broad Street. Call 01865 792792 for a copy signed by James Attlee and if you live within the Oxford ring road, Blackwell's will deliver it to you by bike. Alternatively, you can place an order online at Blackwells.co.uk. Speaker Panel: James Attlee is the author of Under the Rainbow:Voices from Lockdown; Isolarion: A Different Oxford Journey; Guernica: Painting the End of the World; Station to Station, shortlisted for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year 2017, and Nocturne: A Journey in Search of Moonlight, among other titles. His digital fiction The Cartographer's Confession won the 2017 New Media Writing Prize. He works as an editor, lecturer and publishing consultant and his journalism has appeared in publications including The Independent, Tate Etc., Frieze and the London Review of Books. Marina Warner is an acclaimed polymath: a writer of fiction, criticism history, and mythography; her works include novels and short stories as well as studies of art, myths, symbols and fairytales. She has written for many publications, from The London Review of Books, through the New Statesman, to Vogue, and is a Distinguished Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. Professor Pablo Mukherjee teaches on the English and Comparative Literary Studies program at Warwick University, and is an expert on Victorian as well as contemporary imperial/colonial and anti-imperial/colonial cultures.
TORCH Goes Digital! presents a series of weekly live events Big Tent - Live Events! Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding stones for the future Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities. Under the Rainbow: Voices from Lockdown will feature the author James Attlee in discussion with Marina Warner and Professor Pablo Mukherjee (Warwick University). Chaired by Professor Wes Williams, TORCH Director. This event is also in collaboration with Blackwell's of Oxford. Blackwell's of Oxford has been selling books on Broad Street for over 140 years making it Oxford's oldest bookshop. With over five miles of books in the Broad Street flagship, Blackwell's booksellers' passion for the putting right book into the right reader's hands is undiminished after over a century. Under the Rainbow: Voices from Lockdown is for sale at Blackwell's Bookshop on Broad Street. Call 01865 792792 for a copy signed by James Attlee and if you live within the Oxford ring road, Blackwell's will deliver it to you by bike. Alternatively, you can place an order online at Blackwells.co.uk. Speaker Panel: James Attlee is the author of Under the Rainbow:Voices from Lockdown; Isolarion: A Different Oxford Journey; Guernica: Painting the End of the World; Station to Station, shortlisted for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year 2017, and Nocturne: A Journey in Search of Moonlight, among other titles. His digital fiction The Cartographer's Confession won the 2017 New Media Writing Prize. He works as an editor, lecturer and publishing consultant and his journalism has appeared in publications including The Independent, Tate Etc., Frieze and the London Review of Books. Marina Warner is an acclaimed polymath: a writer of fiction, criticism history, and mythography; her works include novels and short stories as well as studies of art, myths, symbols and fairytales. She has written for many publications, from The London Review of Books, through the New Statesman, to Vogue, and is a Distinguished Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. Professor Pablo Mukherjee teaches on the English and Comparative Literary Studies program at Warwick University, and is an expert on Victorian as well as contemporary imperial/colonial and anti-imperial/colonial cultures.
When journalist Taran Khan arrives in Kabul, she uncovers a place that defies her expectations. Her wanderings in Kabul reveal a fragile city in a state of flux: stricken by near-constant war, but flickering with the promise of peace; governed by age-old codes but experimenting with new modes of living.Taran Khan shares her experience of writing 'Shadow City: A Woman Walks Kabul', with broadcaster Achala Sharma in this 7th episode of Cineink Podcast, Kitaab Kaulum. Winner of the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award 2021, Shadow City has been published by Vintage, Penguin Random House India.In the weekly trivia on books, Pervaiz Alam lists some of the best known travelogues written in English, Hindi and Urdu.
In this episode of 'The New Abnormal' I interview Sara Wheeler, a prize-winning non-fiction writer noted for her accounts of the polar regions. Her books include the international bestseller Terra Incognita, which tells the story of a seven-month journey in Antarctica. The Daily Telegraph reviewer wrote of it, ‘I do not think there will ever be a better book written about the Antarctic.’ In it, she mentioned sleeping in the captain's bunk in Scott's Hut. Whilst in Antarctica she read 'The Worst Journey in the World', an account of the Terra Nova Expedition, and she later wrote a biography of its author Apsley Cherry-Garrard. For years she travelled frequently to Russia, Alaska, Greenland, Canada, and North Norway to write her book The Magnetic North: Notes from the Arctic Circle (winner of the Banff Adventure Travel Prize). She later wrote 'O My America!: Second Acts in a New World' which records the lives of women who travelled to America in the first half of the 19th Century, and the authors's travels in pursuit of them. Sara’s latest book, Mud and Stars: Travels in Russia with Pushkin and Other Geniuses of the Golden Age, came out just prior to the pandemic.Sara is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Contributing Editor of The Literary Review, a Trustee of The London Library and former chair of the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year award. She contributes to a wide range of publications in the UK and US and broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio. She's the most extraordinary person and I really enjoyed hearing her fascinating stories and perspectives. I hope you enjoy listening to her as much as I did.
In this episode of #TheNewAbnormal, I interview Sophy Roberts, journalist and author of 'The Lost Pianos of Siberia'. She focuses on travel stories in remote parts of the world, with a special interest in literature, history, culture and conversation. The ex-Travel Editor of The Economist and a Special Correspondent for Conde Nast Traveller, she shoots articles as well as writing them, including cover features for the Financial Times. Her first non-fiction book, The Lost Pianos of Siberia was named a Times, Sunday Times and Independent ‘Book of the Year’, a ‘Best Travel Book of 2020’ by Smithsonian Magazine, The Spectator, and i paper, and recently shortlisted for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of 2021. As she says of the book, which is currently being translated into seven languages, "Siberia's expansive history is traditionally one of exiles, bitter cold and suffering. Yet there is another tale to tell..." (The Wall St Journal commented "these pages sing like a symphony".) Sophy also contributes to radio, podcast and panel events, including the BBC, The Economist, Times Radio, Tortoise and The Royal Geographical Society. So, we discuss all of the above, along with issues inc the business of tourism vs the serendipity of travel, music as a conduit of hope, the solace of culture, travel as an act of empathy, and the need to 'keep looking outwards' in the age of Covid. And, somewhat obviously, I have to say that I found her stories about the people, landscape and history of Siberia to be absolutely fascinating. And, of course, I hope you do too.
Anna and Amanda discuss a new way A-listers are helping children affected by the school closures: Save with Stories. And we've been inspired by all the reading recommendations for self-isolation. Stay tuned for our top picks! Our book of the week is Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane, exploring the Earth's underworlds in landscape and culture. 'You'd be crazy not to read this book' (Sunday Times). It's a Guardian Best Book of the 21st Century and winner of the Wainwright Prize 2019 and the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award 2020. Next week, Anna and Annie will be reading The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel. Follow us! Facebook: Books On The Go Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @abailliekaras and @amandalhayes99 Twitter: @abailliekaras Litsy: @abailliekaras Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
Winner of the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year at the 2019 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards, William Atkins talks to Julia Wheeler about his experiences in eight deserts: the Empty Quarter of Oman, the Gobi Desert and Taklamakan deserts of northwest China, the Great Victoria Desert of Australia, the man-made desert of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan, … Continue reading William Atkins: Journeys in Desert Places: Stanfords Travel Writers Festival 2020
Winner of the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year at the 2019 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards, William Atkins talks to Julia Wheeler about his experiences in eight deserts: the Empty Quarter of Oman, the Gobi Desert and Taklamakan deserts of northwest China, the Great Victoria Desert of Australia, the man-made desert of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan, … Continue reading William Atkins: Journeys in Desert Places: Stanfords Travel Writers Festival 2020
Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe by NZ expat-Bulgarian Kapka Kassabova is described by the LA Review of Books as “that rarest of things: a travel book with a conscience that is also a compendium of wonders”. It has won the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year, the Scottish Book of the Year, and been shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Baillie Gifford Non-Fiction Award. An accomplished writer of nonfiction, fiction and poetry, Kassabova explored the borderlands of Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece, a region shaped by forces of history, and in so doing has produced a meditation on interstices – those areas between countries, cultures, others and ourselves. In discussion with Lloyd Jones. Supported by Platinum Patrons Mary Biggs & Peter Biggs CNZM.
Julian Sayarer, the winner of the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year, announced last night (Thursday 2nd February), takes to the stage to discuss his award-winning book Interstate: Hitchhiking Through the State of a Nation with Paul Blezard.
Julian Sayarer, the winner of the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year, announced last night (Thursday 2nd February), takes to the stage to discuss his award-winning book Interstate: Hitchhiking Through the State of a Nation with Paul Blezard.
Horatio Clare weaves a few yarns about his travels aboard ocean-going container ships on the high seas, as told in his Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year (in association with the Authors' Club), Down to the Sea in Ships. Listen to the event in full below, or subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and hear … Continue reading Horatio Clare with Julia Wheeler
Horatio Clare weaves a few yarns about his travels aboard ocean-going container ships on the high seas, as told in his Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year (in association with the Authors’ Club), Down to the Sea in Ships. Listen to the event in full below, or subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and hear … Continue reading Horatio Clare with Julia Wheeler