Kapka Kassabov at London Literature Festival

[PressSpy]

Kapka Kassabova is a travel writer and poet who grew up under the communist regime in Bulgaria and left for the West with her family when she was 16.

In her new book, Street Without a Name, Kassabova places under the microscope her uncomfortable, dislocated relationship with her country of origin.

A heady mix of memoir and travelogue, Kassabova brings to life her childhood growing up behind the iron curtain and she also provides a fascinating insight into present-day Bulgaria, giving the reader a very personal account of the place as she encounters it now (a country coming to terms with democracy, capitalism and EU membership).

It is the only book of its kind to have been written about Bulgaria and it is one that has increasing significance as Bulgarians access to work and live in the UK grows.

On Saturday, 19th July at 1pm there is an opportunity to hear Kapka discussing these themes at the London Literature Festival; having heard her speaking in Edinburgh recently I can promise a very special event...

For further details or if you'd like to book tickets please see:

London Literature Festival 2008

Portobello Books

[Eric]

Sorry chaps, but I get into my "spot the foreigner" mode when one British publishing house is promoting virtually the only non-English-speaking writer to grace the whole of the London Literary Festival.

We are not impressed. One Bulgarian who has lived in New Zealand and Edinburgh is simply nowhere near taking the literature of the countless countries of Europe on board. This is y'r actual Eastern European tokenism. Tokenism in no way opens up Britain to the hundreds of authors from Europe that have simply been ignored by this festival.

Where are the other authors from Europe at this festival, held in the centre of the British capital?

[Irene Wilde]

Mr. Dickens,

I invite you to peruse the authors list for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books from last spring: 2008 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books - Authors

Not only might it soften your feelings to UK festivals, it should also increase your thankfulness for so far in your life avoiding Los Angeles. Yes, nothing says serious literary aspirations like the sitcom star turned rock star's wife turned authoress.