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A Dictator Calls, BookBlast®Translation Book Club, Hatchards, Piccadilly, News

A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare, translated by John Hodgson, was longlisted for the 2024 Man Booker International Prize. “History is usually reticent regarding what happens between poets and tyrants. The truth gives way to inventions, some memorable, others forgettable,” Ismail Kadare   Ismail Kadare, the renowned Albanian novelist and poet, navigated the oppressive environment of communist…

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Warsaw Tales, BookBlast® Translation Book Club, Hatchards, Piccadilly Podcast

Our special guest at the October translation book club discussion was Antonia Lloyd-Jones, co-editor and translator of Warsaw Tales (OUP 2024). She is best-known for translating Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk. Hear highlights of Antonia’s presentation and illuminating comments from book club members. A collection of stories and reportage, Warsaw Tales covers key moments in Warsaw’s history, from…

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Warsaw Tales, BookBlast® Translation Book Club, Hatchards Piccadilly

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The Dyatlov Pass Henning Kuersten, The Palermo Stone Gary McPherson Review

Here at Book Blast® we believe in promoting literary diversity and innovation by occasionally reviewing self-published books, especially since their authors often lack the visibility that traditionally published authors enjoy. The traditional publishing industry has, at times, been criticized for gatekeeping and missing the writers of the future, hence the boom in self-publishing which provides…

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Join us & translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones in person at our Translation book club Mon 14/10 Hatchards Piccadilly 6pm discussing Warsaw Tales ed/trs by Antonia publ. OUP Academic🗣️👏📚

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What I Know About You, Eric Chacour & A Man With No Title, Xavier Le Clerc Review

Eric Chacour’s novel What I Know About You and Xavier Le Clerc’s A Man With No Title both shed light on the complex lives of people living between cultures, and amplify the voices and stories of marginalized communities that are often overlooked in mainstream narratives. Éric Chacour, a Quebec author of Syrian-Lebanese origin, has received considerable attention in 2023 for his first novel What I…

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Partita and A Winter in Zürau, Gabriel Josipovici Review

Partita and A Winter in Zürau by Gabriel Josipovici, published by Carcanet this month, is an unsettling, exploratory and seductive read which challenges the essential strangeness of existence. He is a distinguished figure in contemporary British letters for good reason. Josipovici’s highly informed critique of literary traditions and his experimental approach to fiction challenge conventional…

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Dear Dickhead, Virginie Despentes Review

Dear Dickehad by literary punk feminist, Virginie Despentes, is a glorious, scorching, epistolary fictional prose rant, translated into fluid, feisty prose by Frank Wynne. Despentes excels at vociferating, vituperating and reviling the complexities of our modern-day society that is deeply impacted by celebrity culture, misogyny, #MeToo and harassment on social media, the culture wars, social…

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Celebrating Translation at Hatchards, Piccadilly, season 2 News & Events

Following the success of the first season of the BookBlast® Translation Book Club at Hatchards, Piccadilly, hosted by Georgia de Chamberet, we are thrilled to announce the titles up for discussion this coming Autumn. We will meet as usual on the second Monday of each month at 6 p.m. So for your calendars, the following meetings and books are as follows: Mon Sept 9 Baba Yaga Laid an Egg, Dubravka…

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The Displaced, Sharif Gemie Review

The Displaced by Sharif Gemie delves into the immense human tragedy of World War Two, exploring the staggering displacement of 55 million people across Europe. The novel brings to life the plight of the 11 million who were homeless after the war; focusing on the 8 million displaced in Germany alone —among them, civilian laborers, prisoners of war, concentration camp survivors, anticommunists and…

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Read the World with MacLehose Press 5 notable writers 2 Spotlight

MacLehose Press, the imprint of Quercus Books within the Hachette Group UK which champions literature in translation from around the world, offers to English-language readers different styles of writing and new perspectives that might otherwise have remained untranslated and unknown. The independent-minded approach of publishers Christopher MacLehose and Katharina Bielenberg has allowed for…

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A Seditious and Sinister Tribe: The Crimean Tatars and Their Khanate, Donald Rayfield Review

Donald Rayfield’s historical account of the origins of the Crimean Tatars is a scholarly text loaded with intricate detail. He guides the reader through a forest of knowledge as he explores the political organization of the Crimean Khanate established by a descendant of Genghis Khan, including its governance, legal and administrative practices. In the 14th century Crimea was one of the centres of…

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Georgia de Chamberet en conversation avec Simon Bentolila de Lire Magazine (in French)

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Sian Williams in conversation with Georgia de Chamberet

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Sian Williams, founder The Children's Bookshow Podcast

The Children’s Bookshow is back! BookBlast® is delighted to interview its visionary founder, Sian Williams, to discover how this much loved and hugely popular national tour of writers and illustrators of children’s literature first began and who will be on tour this autumn. Michael Rosen: “The Children’s Bookshow takes children’s authors to meet tens of thousands of children, introducing children…

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Philip Terry Translator Interview

Philip Terry, tell us a little bit about yourself. When you were growing up, what books had an impact on you? I grew up in a leafy suburb on the outskirts of Belfast, where I enjoyed playing in the neighbouring fields more than reading. The first books I fell in love with were mostly picture books, American comics that you’d find at Belfast Airport, Where The Wild Things Are, and the one…

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BookBlast Hatchards Translation Book Club, Annie Ernaux News & Events

Dear readers and friends of BookBlast, Come and join our small but growing group of translation book club enthusiasts keen to explore different cultures and perspectives through literature, On Monday 8 July At Hatchards, 187 Piccadilly, London W1 We will be focusing on the celebrated 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature winner, Annie Ernaux. Ernaux is essential reading for anyone interested in…