BookBlast® Podcast

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The BookBlast® Podcast is for writers, translators and curious readers who want a behind-the-scenes snapshot of the world of literature and translation. BookBlast® Diary launched in 2015 to celebrate independent thinking and international literature. BookBlast® is a registered trademark. Find us on instagram @bookblastofficial

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The National Telepathy, BookBlast® Translation Book Club with Frank Wynne

The BookBlast® Translation Book Club meets in person on the second Monday of each month, hosted by Georgia de Chamberet, at Hatchards, Piccadilly, to discuss works of fiction in English translation published in the last ten years. Hear special guest at our December translation book club, Frank Wynne, translator of The National Telepathy by Roque Larraquy (Charco Press, 2025). A heavyweight translator of contemporary French and Spanish literature, he has worked with authors Michel Houellebecq, Patrick Modiano, Frédéric Beigbeder, Virginie Despentes, Pierre Lemaitre and Jean-Patrick Manchette among many others. He has received many translation prizes and is frequently been shortlisted. Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | Edited by Gemma Jackson | A BookBlast® Production | 00:28:22

28 min
08/14/2025

Elena Knows, Claudia Piñeiro, Translation Book Club

Elena Knows, Claudia Piñeiro translated by Frances Riddle, out with Charco Press, discussed at the BookBlast® Translation Book Club, Hatchards, Piccadilly, London, in person with the author and her publisher. Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022. Elena Knows explores themes of illness, the influence of the Catholic Church, the mother-daughter relationship, and the oppressive social expectations placed on women. The narrative unfolds through Elena's internal monologue after her daughter is found hanging in the belfry of the church. She refuses to believe that her daughter committed suicide as she never went near the church. Her interactions with Father Juan, Inspector Avellaneda and Dr Benegas leave her feel unheard and frustrated, exacerbated as her Parkinson's disease progresses. The discussion also covers some of Piñeiro’s other novels and fiction in Argentina. With simultaneous translation from the Spanish by Carolina Orloff from Charco Press. 35 minutes #podcast #bookclub

35 min
06/16/2025

Fathers and Fugitives, S. J. Naude, Translation Book Club

Fathers and Fugitives by S. J. Naude translated by Michiel Heyns, out with Europa Editions, discussed at the BookBlast® Translation Book Club, Hatchards, Piccadilly, London. Fathers and Fugitives follows Daniel, a gay journalist in London, who becomes involved with a Serbian couple after meeting them at the Tate Modern. What begins as a casual, sexually charged relationship evolves into a one-sided financial arrangement. The pair suddenly vanishes then reappears the trio embark on a strange trip across Europe, ending with a tragic event in Belgrade. The second part of the novel shifts to South Africa, where Daniel cares for his dying father. He will inherit his father’s estate under the condition that he spends time with his cousin, Theon, on his isolated farm in the Free state. The narrative closes on an unexpected twist. A beautifully written, bleak exploration of loneliness and loss, Fathers and Fugitives is an odd and illuminating read. 21 minutes #podcast #bookclub

29 min
05/25/2025

Record of a Night Too Brief, Hiromi Kawakami, Translation Book Club

Record of a Night Too Brief by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Lucy North, published by Pushkin Press discussed at the BookBlast® Translation Book Club, Hatchards, Piccadilly, London. Record of a Night Too Brief is a collection of three surreal novellas imbued with a particular kind of magical realism that veer at times into the absurd, creating a tapestry of strange poetic imagery, episodes of bizarre shape-shifting, time warps, and a resonant exploration of identity, love, loss. What is real? What is a dream? The boundaries are blurred. The discussion includes insights about the art of translation by Nicky Harman, translator from the Chinese, and Aneesa Higgins, translator from the French. In April 2025, Hiromi Kawakami's novel, Under the Eye of the Big Bird, translated by Asa Yoneda, was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025.

33 min
01/06/2025

A Dictator Calls, Ismail Kadare, Translation Book Club

A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare translated by John Hodgson discussed at the BookBlast® Translation Book Club, Hatchards, Piccadilly Ismail Kadare, the renowned Albanian novelist and poet, navigated the oppressive environment of communist Albania under dictator Enver Hoxha. This unusual book is based around Stalin’s alleged three-minute telephone call to Boris Pasternak. The discussion examined the relationship between dictators and writers, the power of fear and the game of divide and rule and everyone playing off each other, Osip Mandelstam and the gulag, Stalin’s purges of the intelligentsia, whether Stalin favoured Pasternak the way Lenin favoured Gorky, Putin’s regime today, Anna Politkovskaya and censorship, methods of eliminating those who speak out against a dictator, and more. The discussion includes insights from publisher Christopher MacLehose.

33 min
01/02/2025

Clara Reads Proust, Stephane Carlier, Translation Book Club

Clara Reads Proust by Stephane Carlier translated by Polly Mackintosh discussed at the BookBlast Translation Book Club, Hatchards, Piccadilly. Set in part in a hairdresser's salon in regional France this engaging novel about how Proust changes Clara's life answers many questions including: Why read Proust?; how can a book change your life?; the beauty of Proust's descriptions; Proust and Ernaux as observers of the zeitgeist; what lies behind the image; Proust suffering from the Ehlers–Danlos Syndrome and its impact; Proust's sexuality; Gallimard's publication in 2021 of never-before-published work by Proust; differences and parallels between the reading cultures of England and France; Proust: A Family Novel by Laure Murat, and more.

35 min
11/03/2024

Warsaw Tales, BookBlast® Translation Book Club, Hatchards Piccadilly

The BookBlast® Translation Book Club meets in person on the second Monday of each month, hosted by Georgia de Chamberet, at Hatchards, Piccadilly, to discuss works of fiction in translation published in the last ten years. Georgia and Hatchards’ booksellers, choose well-written, engaging storytelling to inspire reading for pleasure as well as illuminating cultures from around the world. Hear our special guest at the October BookBlast® Translation Book Club, 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. Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | A BookBlast® Production

35 min
07/21/2024

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

Pour célébrer la parution du livre 'Une femme, deux hommes Lesley Blanch, Théodore Kommissarzhevsky et Romain Gary' à la Maison de Balzac, Paris, le Mercredi 5 Juin 2024, Simon Bentolila de Lire Magazine a discuté avec Georgia de Chamberet, de la vie et des amours de Lesley Blanch (1904-2007). Femme libre et autonome, artiste complète et grande voyageuse, elle n’en était pas moins totalement dévouée aux deux hommes de sa vie, le dramaturge Théodore Kommissarzhevsky et l’écrivain Romain Gary, dont elle fut le première épouse. "Il faudrait toujours chercher la femme exceptionnelle qui se cache derrière l'oeuvre d'un grand homme," Journal de Dimanche A BookBlast® Production

32 min

The BookBlast® Podcast is for writers, translators and curious readers who want a behind-the-scenes snapshot of the world of literature and translation. BookBlast® Diary launched in 2015 to celebrate independent thinking and international literature. BookBlast® is a registered trademark. Find us on instagram @bookblastofficial

Creator

BookBlast Ltd and the individual artists
Years Active

2020 - 2026
Episodes

37
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© Copyright 2020 by the individual authors and creators. Format copyright BookBlast Ltd. All rights reserved. For your personal and non-commercial use.
Show Website

BookBlast® Podcast