World Literature Weekend - 19-21 June 2009

The London Review Bookshop’s inaugural World Literature Weekend on 19 – 21 June was a lively and stimulating affair, and well attended by the public. From Hanan al-Shaykh’s talk with Esther Freud on Friday afternoon to Marina Warner and Robert Chandler’s closing discussion on Sunday evening, the enthusiasm of the audience was apparent at every event.

At the launch party on Friday evening, Christopher MacLehose introduced this year’s Independent Foreign Fiction Prize-winning translator, Anne Maclean, who also appeared at the sold-out panel discussion on translation at the British Museum.

Variety characterised these talks: Boyd Tonkin discussing the IFFP-shortlisted Beijing Coma with author Ma Jian and translator Flora Drew; Faïza Guène discussing the French-Algerian ghettos in Paris; and the passionate interchange between the Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti and Ruth Padel.

We are, it need hardly be said, very grateful to the British Museum, Arts Council England and the IFFP for supporting this inaugural venture.

Andrew Stilwell