During my recent trip to Bratislava’s Bibliotéka book fair I was interviewed by the weekly cultural magazine of the daily Pravda. Here is a link to the interview, in Slovak translation naturally. All I can summarize from it is that they give some biographical details that I may or may not have made up (I […]
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Sofia International Literary Festival
The inaugural Sofia International Literary Festival is underway in the Bulgarian capital, comprising literary participants from Bulgaria and Balkan countries from December 10 – 15. Among the many writers in attendance are Bulgaria’s Georgi Gospodinov, Kristin Dimitrova, Miroslav Penkov and Milen Ruskov; Serbia’s Vladimir Arsenijević, Macedonia’s Goce Smilevski, Croatia’s Ante Tomić and Romania’s Dan Lungu […]
Vito Staviarsky in B O D Y
“The Romany and their tragicomic lives, the lives of the wheeler-dealers, the inhabitants of settlements and other peculiar characters and figures are the subject matter of the book. The trafficker Ferdy was promised the young and beautiful Sabina as compensation of a debt, but she fled and found the love of her life. The book […]
Witold Szablowski in B O D Y
“‘Istanbul is an incredible city,’ he said. ‘Here you’ll find the sort of people who’ll share their last crust of bread with you, as well as the sort who’ll cut out your kidneys and dump you in the canal.’ He was looking for the first kind;” From “The Assassin from Apricot City” by Witold Szabłowski, […]
Yekaterina Mikhailovskaya in B O D Y
“Why don’t the clouds form shapes anymore? People are like worms. They toe the line, walk the straight and narrow, and swarm like flies… They make me sick. What’s happened to Anets? It’s as if she really is just a wall. I’m not going to work, I hate it. But I hate sitting around at […]
B O D Y Transatlantic Poetry reading
Tonight, November 23rd, B O D Y hosts a Transatlantic Poetry reading featuring JOSHUA WEINER (US) and EMILY BERRY (UK). The reading will be streamed live over the Transatlantic Poetry site, Facebook and from Google+ event page. The reading begins at 8pm GMT / 3pm EST. This is an innovation in poetry readings, allowing poets […]
Polish book launch
Witold Szabłowski’s The Assassin from Apricot City: Reportage from Turkey, translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones is about to be released by Stork Press, and in the run up to publication there will be a book launch tonight, November 21, at London’s Free Word Centre. Both the author and translator will be there, as […]
Vladimir Lorchenkov in B O D Y
“It doesn’t exist. There’s no such thing as Italy,” he categorically declared as he made his rounds. He’d dramatically smack his trowel against the clay, keeping rhythm with his own argument. “The whole thing was invented by international swindlers!” “What do you mean?” the educated folks would ask in surprise. “Italy’s right there on the […]
Literalab in Bratislava
From November 14 through 17 the Slovak capital of Bratislava will host Bibliotéka, the country’s book fair, featuring an array of Slovak and international writers and publishers such as Michal Hvorecký, Péter Esterházy and Pavel Vilikovský. But the name which has the whole city waiting with bated breath – no, the whole country – is […]
Literary roundup: Happy Birthday Dostoevsky and the more things change
It’s Dostoevsky’s birthday today! Were he still alive, he would be eight years short of 200. It’s just as well that he isn’t though because like Solzhenitsyn in his cranky old age he would likely have a cable TV show that no one watches in which he ranted and raved against everything and everyone, except […]
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