Events Archive - BookBlast® Official

Our curated events offer audiences a window into the lives, thoughts and experiences of people from a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds both at home and abroad. Our mission is to inspire reading for pleasure through the lens of some of the best international literature in translation, celebrating cultural identity and cultivating cross-cultural exchange.

The 2020 BookBlast® Podcast series: Bridging the Divide — Translation and the Art of Empathy

The 2020 BookBlast® Podcast series, Bridging the Divide: Translation and the Art of Empathy featured award-winning authors from across Europe alongside their translators and publishers.

MEET the authors, translators, publishers featured in the Bridging the Divide podcast series

Bridging the Divide Season 1

Bridging the Divide Season 2

Listen to the episodes via Apple on your iPhone: Apple Podcasts

Via iOS & your Android iphone: Soundcloud | Spotify | Podbean

Testimonials

Eland Publishing – “The podcasts have cast an invaluable light on a niche subject, translation in publishing. For us specifically, the Nicolas Bouvier/Eland podcast has provided both an interesting and useful record of the author, that could be a beneficial tool for research in the future and a documentation of both our editor and translator in conversation; live events are not usually caught in this way. The fact that the interviewee is given space to talk at length on a subject means that these podcasts could be used for students of publishing, literature and/or translation alongside the information given about a specific author”

Margot Vanderstraeten, author of featured title, Mazel Tov – “I loved working with BookBlast®. It was professional, warm, open-minded, efficient. I also loved the mix offered”

Jane Hedley-Prole, translator – “What a great initiative! I really appreciate your help in raising the profile of Mazel Tov, as well as for putting the spotlight on literary translation”

Olivia Hellewell, translator of featured title, The Fig Tree – “Very professional, well coordinated. An enjoyable and rewarding experience”

Beka Adamashvili, author of Bestseller – “It was a wonderful experience. It was the first podcast in English for me, and also, questions made me think about the things/subjects which I’ve never thought of before. Everything went according to the plan and the environment during the interview was very friendly”

Special thanks to all of our listeners, supporters, sponsors, featured publishers, writers, translators, and the BookBlast events team: sound editor, Rupert Such; BookBlast® Podcast theme-tune composer, Edward Campbell; Tech Director Ben Fiagbe; reviewer Henrietta Foster; interviewer Lucy Popescu; and intern, Rachel Goldblatt, for their commitment, expertise and enthusiasm.

Partners

The BookBlast® 10×10 Tour in association with Waterstones

10 small independent trade publishers hosted author/translator talks in 10 cities over 9 weeks, one in each city, showcasing some of the finest independent-spirited, eclectic literature and poetry being published today. A tour of this kind had not been done before.

Testimonials

Head of Events, Waterstones HQ — “The 10×10 Tour brought authors into our shops who would never normally have visited and, as such, brought new customers into our shops. It helped us to build relationships with indie publishers and hopefully showed them that Waterstones is open to collaboration. Georgia’s vision and enthusiasm drove this project, both in terms of its conception and placing, and also in promotion and selling tickets”

Programme Director, National Centre for Writing – “Nicely done . . . for writers and listeners: everyone wins!”

Projects Manager, Society of Authors — “It was good to discover indie publishers I did not know about thanks to the 10×10 Tour”

Interview: Robert Elms, BBC Radio London