Ann Morgan, Reading the World: Confessions of a Literary Explorer, Harvill Secker. See Ann on Thursday March 26 2015 in Chelmsford, Essex www.essexbookfestival.org.uk
From Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist to Joanne Harris's Chocolat, so many of us enjoy reading novels about other countries.
It's this enthusiasm that has led Oxygen Books, well known for its offbeat city-pick urban travel anthologies, to come up with an exciting new Arts Council funded project called A Year of Living Dangerously.
The project's aim is simple: to introduce a wider public to the joys of writing in translation from a range of countries.
Working with library authorities and book festivals across London and Essex, A Year of Living Dangerously will involve an extensive touring exhibition highlighting some of the best writers from India, Africa, China, France, Turkey, South America, the Netherlands, Russia, Scandinavia and Japan.
A website, including interviews with key translators and podcasts, special bookmarks, visits to book groups across London and Essex, stock promotions and new links between cultural agencies and libraries will all help to raise the profile of world writing among general readers.
Also, a series of events in which well known writers and commentators discuss their own work and books from particular countries which have inspired them, will make writing in translation even more accessible.
Across 2015 and 2016 these will include an evening of Russian writing with Orange Prize-winner Helen Dunmore, exploring books and writers from every country in the world with Reading the World author Ann Morgan, a celebration of Asian poetry with award winning poet Moniza Alvi and an evening of Scandinavian crime featuring a well-known Scandinavian crime writer in discussion with Professor Amanda Hopkinson.
'We want this project to entertain and enthrall our readers as we journey across the globe with them,' says project manager Malcolm Burgess from Oxygen Books. 'Writing in translation doesn't have to be heavy or worthy: in fact there's something for every possible reading taste.'
For more information about A Year of Reading Dangerously: http://ayearofreadingdangerously.com
To speak to the project team: malcolm.burgess3@btopenworld.com; 07594490216/ 01277 263770
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