The PEN ATLAS I am a very proud member of English PEN; I am also a huge supporter of PEN Atlas. So I’d like to devote my final Blog before Christmas and New Year – a time when we reflect on what’s good and bad about the world – to draw attention to PEN’s outstanding…

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If you read a lot – you forget a lot. And so, with Christmas approaching, if you think about the books you can remember from the past year, which plots you haven’t immediately forgotten, those that remain become your personal favourites. Here are my Top Five for 2014: Donna Tartt: The Goldfinch (Little, Brown; transl.…

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It’s that ‘Best Books Of The Year’ time again. Everyone who is Anyone in the Literary World is revealing their favorite reads of 2014. These lists are both exciting and depressing: all those books I’ve missed! All those books still to read! So, I’m going to depress and excite you too by revealing my best…

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Martin Šmaus and Jáchym Topol took part in a discussion with other finalists of the Polish award. The Czech authors were nominated for their books Dziewczynko, roznieć ogieniek (Książkowe Klimaty), translated by Dorota Dobrew, and Warsztat diabła　(W.A.B.), translated by Leszek Engelking. At the award ceremony in Wrocław’s Capitol Theatre on Saturday 18.10, actors performed excerpts…

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This morning (October 25th, Europan Literature Days 2014)  began with the tricky topic of War in World Literature. Sigrid Löffler delivered a lecture lambasting German-speaking authors for sticking to family instead of taking on the more consequential topic of conflict. She pointed to several non-European texts that dealt with war, from “veteran” narratives to “reflective”…

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For a few weeks in the year Spitz an der Donau is one of the most beautiful places on earth. The autumnal vines turn the hills into carpets of green and yellow; the October sun warms the Wachauer vines into aromatic white wines; the Danube ferries chug along the swollen river; nestling villages of willowy…

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‘Best European Fiction’, or ‘BEF’, is both the title of an inspirational annual anthology of European short fiction, and an aspiration – for more of it! (Excuse my Euro-effusiveness in this blog but I’m feeling rather buoyant – also on the eve of our annual ELIT festival in Austria – check out this very website…

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For the past 3 years I’ve been part of the editorial team on a magazine called ‘12 Swiss Books’ produced annually by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. Over 6 months we lovingly select 12 Swiss books from all the many publications written in the ‘Famous Four’ Swiss languages (and sometimes dialects), which we think…

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Here in Little Britain we have lived, breathed and dreamt ‘Unions’ for months. On Thursday 18th September Scotland spoke: it will remain part of the Union. We are still One. Just. It’s been a heady, headachy time and forced all of us to reflect on, and question, our identity as a nation and as a…

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