German humour – are you joking?! We definitely need some humour at this unhappy time in the UK’s European revolution, but surely not German humour?

by Rosie Goldsmith

For European Literature (EL) lovers, the month of May is the equivalent of Christmas, Hanukkah or Eid – it’s the festive highlight of our year when we celebrate our year-round efforts to publish and promote our beloved EL.

Slovenia may have closed its borders to international refugees, but it’s remarkably open to international literature.

A few years ago I presented a BBC Radio programme called ‘Shakespeare is German’ about a season of Shakespeare plays and films performed in German in the UK, organized by The Globe Theatre in London, the Goethe-Institut and several partners. It’s true that no other country in the world outside the UK has embraced the great 16th century playwright more than Germany.

Saturday February 6th 2016 is National Libraries Day in the UK. Literary luminaries, from Joanna Trollope, Ali Smith and Neil Gaiman, to former poet laureate Andrew Motion, have lined up to support it. Libraries across the country are holding a week of special activities. NLD is both a celebration and an urgent necessity.

My annual Hay Party (Conference?) began and ended loudly.

I do like a challenge. After all, I promote European literature in the UK!

One of my roles as your Blogger-in-UK-residence is to share any Good News about International writing on ‘our’ side of the Channel – and I’ve just been served up a large delicious helping of brain food which I want to share with you to give your new year a healthy start. Thanks to the great work of PEN Atlas (editor Tasja Dorkofikis), English PEN (of which I am a member) and my many UK publisher colleagues dedicated to translated literature we have the ultimate list of reading choices for 2015. A whole range of publishers (the majority independent) pick their best for your book year ahead. Rosie Goldsmith – At Your Service!

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 work on behalf of writers round the world.

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 ‘E-books’ – ‘E’ for ‘European’ of course. As chair of ‘European Literature Night’ and director of the ‘European Literature Network’ in the UK, I was asked by ‘The Bookseller’ magazine (to whom many thanks) to name my top five contemporary novels in translation. Here goes.

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 church spires and pastel-painted baroque buildings punctuate the river banks. Every blink of the eye a picture to treasure for ever.

‘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!

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 you would like to translate, publish and read in English.

Life is always good for book-lovers. We live in a state of constant excitement. There are always new books, always some gossipy book news and always old books to read anew.

If you’re a politician in Britain today everything is political. Even your holidays. Whether you even go on holiday. Who with (Silvio Berlusconi is not a good idea. Cf. Mr Blair). What you wear (sandals and shorts? You mean, politicians have legs?!). Where you go on holiday (Europe=in favour of the EU; Scotland=in favour of Scottish Independence; the Caribbean = your salary is too high!).

For once we in the UK share something positive with the rest of Europe: we’re enjoying a heatwave! But in spite of our generally Eurosceptic tendencies in the UK, I am happy to announce that we are also sharing more than high temperatures – an interest in European literature.

My summer reading is so precious that I start gathering my pile of holiday books as early as Christmas. And I look forward to it like a child at Christmas too, knowing that summer – as it is for many of us – provides our only stretch of real relaxation all year.

President Bill Clinton famously described the UK’s Hay-on-Wye literature festival as ‘the Woodstock of the Mind’. But for me ‘Woodstock’ doesn’t quite convey the quintessential British nature of 2 of our greatest summer festivals at Hay and Glastonbury. Yes, ofcourse ‘Woodstock’ implies tents and fields, festival chic and mind-expanding events but it doesn’t convey ‘British summer weather’ – the rain, mud, wellingtons and umbrellas integral to our festival experience.

On a hot sunny Friday in June 2014 a group of us were engaged in heated battle. No, it wasn’t over whether England would win (!) at the World Cup in Brazil but over the Balkans. The UK has a pretty poor record on both ‘pitches’ but this was an intellectual battle over definitions and it was taking place in one of our greatest institutions, the British Library in London.

A minor earthquake took place in the UK this week. No, it wasn’t the results of the European Elections (although the earth certainly has moved there) but the amazing news that in May 2014 the bestseller list in the UK was topped by 3 foreign titles – yes, 3 TRANSLATED novels!

It’s that time of the year again! It’s our 6th annual ‘European Literature Night’ (ELN) at the British Library in London.

I recently conducted a survey on your behalf.

I love literature festivals but – perhaps I’m odd – I also love book fairs! Admittedly, as a journalist and moderator, I don’t have to race around exhibition halls in flat shoes and a serious suit chasing rights and deals.