Book after Book

Hi Daniel ! Thank you for joining me today. I have just finished reading Ascension , which you translated from the French to English, and I’d like to ask you a few questions both on this specific book and more generally on translation. So let’s begin… How did you get started in literary translation? A: Hi Silvia. Like a lot of people (especially those who started more than a few years ago), I started more or less by accident. A publisher friend asked me to read a book she was considering for publication and tell her what I thought of it; I read it, and told her it was brilliant, and she asked me to translate it, and I said yes. It seemed like a sensible idea at the time, tho’ I’m not so sure now… What did you think when you were first approached to work on Dixen’s first book in the Phobos trilogy? Is this a genre you enjoy translating? A: I haven’t translated anything like this before, but I do read and work with a lot of YA writing (not specifically speculative stuff, just m...

By Lexie Elliott Published by Corvus Books Synopsis: She appears, lithe and tanned, by the swimming pool one afternoon. Severine - the girl next door. It was supposed to be a final celebration for six British graduates, the perfect French getaway, until she arrived. Severine's beauty captivates each of them in turn. Under the heat of a summer sky, simmering tensions begin to boil over - years of jealousy and longing rising dangerously to the surface. And then Severine disappears. A decade later, Severine's body is found at the farmhouse. For Kate Channing, the discovery brings up more than just unwelcome memories. As police suspicion mounts against the friends, Kate becomes desperate to resolve her own shifting understanding of that time. But as the layers of deception reveal themselves, Kate must ask herself - does she really want to know what happened to the French girl? How did this book end up in my hands? The publisher sent me this book in exchange of my hones...

Hi Holly! First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the publication of Love Will Tear Us Apart . Can you please briefly tell us what it is about? A: Thank you! It’s about Kate and Paul, childhood friends who made a vow as teenagers that if they were still single aged 30, they would get married. It’s something so many of us have done, but the difference here is that they actually did it. The story follows them in the run up to their tenth wedding anniversary and we meet them as children and see how and why they became so tightly bound. And of course, nothing is quite what it seems…  Where do you normally find the inspiration for your novels and what sparked the idea for this book in particular? A: It can come from anywhere. News stories, overheard conversations, personal experiences… Writers are like magpies, we store little bits of gold away for future use. I keep a list of ideas on my phone but the ideas I really love are always in my mind anyway. This was one of t...

By Omar Khaled Ahmad, Nibal Alalo, Safa Khaled Algharbawi, Omar Abdellatif Alndaf, Rayan Mohamad Sukkar, Safiya Badran, Fatima Omar Ghazawi, Samih Mahmoud, Hiba Mareb Translated from the Arabic by Nashwa Gowanlock Published by Peirene Press Synopsis: Adam and his family flee Syria and arrive at the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut. Conditions in this overcrowded Palestinian camp are tough, and violence defines many of the relationships: a father fights to save his daughter, a gang leader plots to expand his influence, and drugs break up a family. Adam struggles to make sense of his refugee experience, but then he meets Shatha and starts to view the camp through her eyes. How did this book end up in my hands? I was offered a copy of this book in exchange of my honest opinion by one of Peirene Press’s talented publishing assistants and I didn’t hesitate to accept the opportunity to read this novel written by Syrian and Palestinian refugees. Was it a page-turner? In line with ...

This week I have the pleasure of catching up with Cat from happy-go-lucky Cat , where she writes about anything and everything - books, food, travel and lists of the little things that have made her smile that week. Are your bookshelves a ‘work in progress’ like mine or are they clearly and systematically organised? Tell us a little bit about your method if you have one. They used to be very organised! Shortly after I moved home after living abroad for a few years, I broke my ankle and found myself back in my childhood bedroom, having very much lost all of the independence I had loved living abroad. My bookshelves became a bit of a project and I pulled all of the books (and I have a lot!) off the shelves and organised them all alphabetically. It was my pride and joy! Having moved out a few years later, my books were all boxed up and they remain, for the most part, in boxes at my parents’ house. My husband and I have not long moved into a new house and I’m anxious to bring all my b...

Hi Chloe! First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the publication of Bookshop Girl . Can you please briefly tell us what it is about? A: Hi Silvia! Thank you so much for having me and asking me to talk about my first ever book! Bookshop Girl is the story of Paige Turner, a sixteen year old bookseller who tries her best to save her town’s one and only bookshop when it faces closure. It’s an introduction to activism and girl power. Friendships and unlikely allies. Sulky art school hunks and badly-chopped fringes.  Did you have the plot entirely figured out when you started writing or did it develop before your eyes as the characters grew on the page and did something that you were not expecting? A: When I started writing, all I knew was that if it was going to be about growing up, it was going to be about growing up in a bookshop. I (like Paige) started bookselling when I was sixteen, so bookshops and the people in them made my teen years what they were. I can’t th...

By Chloe Coles Published by Hot Key Books Synopsis: Bennett's Bookshop has always been a haven for sixteen-year-old Paige Turner. It's a place where she can escape from her sleepy hometown, hang out with her best friend, Holly, and also earn some money. But, like so many bookshops, Bennett's has become a 'casualty of the high street' - it's strapped for cash and going to be torn down. Paige is determined to save it but mobilising a small town like Greysworth is no mean feat. Time is ticking - but that's not the only problem Paige has. How is she going to fend off the attractions of beautiful fellow artist, Blaine? And, more importantly, will his anarchist ways make or break her bookshop campaign? How did this book end up in my hands? I entered a competition to win a copy of this book ahead of publication date and I was terribly lucky as it had been on my radar for some time. Was it a page-turner? Once I started reading about the adventures of...

This week I have the pleasure of catching up with Ashley from Thrifty Bibliophile , where she writes about books and all things bookish. Are your bookshelves a ‘work in progress’ like mine or are they clearly and systematically organised? I’m constantly rearranging my shelves! Someday I’ll find a system that I love, but until then, I think it’s fun to experiment. Right now my books are sorted by type — Women’s Fiction, Book of the Month Books, Young Adult series, Young Adult Standalones, etc. Apart from books, what is to be found on your bookshelves? Bookmarks, FUNKO Pops, mugs, and misc. bookish items. What is the prettiest book to be found in your current TBR pile? Definitely the Wicked Deep by SheaErnshaw . The naked cover is just as pretty as the dustcover. I absolutely adore it. What do you do with books once you’ve read them? I keep them, hoard them, and obsessively love them. Do you tend to re-read books? If I loved the book, then yes, I’ll re-read it. I don...

Hi Fenella! First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the publication of The Reading Party . Can you please briefly tell us what it is about? A: Thank you! The simplest is to say that it’s a love story about a woman trying to make her way in a man’s world. But the setting and the period are significant: It’s Oxford, where the main character, Sarah Addleshaw, is a feisty young academic; and it’s the 1970s, when women were just being admitted to male colleges. So Sarah faces the double challenge of being the first ‘Fellow’ in the college she joins and also of hosting its first mixed student retreat to Cornwall. The pressures on her to set a good example are acute – and then she goes and falls for ‘the wrong person’.   Did you have the plot entirely figured out when you started writing or did it develop before your eyes as the characters grew on the page and did something that you were not expecting? A: Absolutely not the first and only a bit of the second! I st...

By Holly Seddon Published by Corvus Books Synopsis: Fearing eternal singledom, childhood friends Kate and Paul make the age-old vow that if they don't find love by thirty, they will marry each other.  Years later, with the deadline of their 30th birthdays approaching, the unlikely couple decide to keep their teenage promise. After all, they are such good friends. Surely that's enough to make a marriage?  Now, on the eve of their 10th wedding anniversary, they will discover that love between men and women is more complex, and more precarious, than they could ever have imagined. As Kate struggles with a secret that reaches far into their past, will the couple's vow become the very thing that threatens their future? How did this book end up in my hands? I won a copy of this book ahead of publication date. I am lucky, aren’t I? Was it a page-turner? This is one of those books I couldn’t put down for too long. I have had the pleasure of reading quite a few books l...