30 book festivals - spot the foreigner

**Eric** · 09-Jun-2008, 00:08

This is from that staid daily, The Times. The best books festivals. The challenge of the week is to count up the number of prominent contemporary European authors invited to any of these events. And I mean: European authors writing in languages other than English.

There appears to be something seriously wrong with the way the British books establishment views European authors, compared with the number of such people translated and discussed throughout the rest of Europe.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co....cle3944848.ece

**Colette Jones** · 09-Jun-2008, 07:17

Ah, but the two biggest (Hay and Edinburgh) do not have the authors listed. There was a lot about translation at Edinburgh last year or the year before. This year's list will come out on Thursday so I guess we'll see whether that was just a theme for that year. Also The Times were picking and choosing which authors to list, so maybe they are the ones who don't appreciate the Europeans authors.

**Stewart** · 09-Jun-2008, 10:07

Originally Posted by Eric

The challenge of the week is to count up the number of prominent contemporary European authors invited to any of these events.

Perhaps they are too busy attending events on mainland Europe, where they are better appreciated, to take the trouble crossing the water to address what would be, if we grudgingly admit it, a tiny percentage of the crowd.

**Colette Jones** · 12-Jun-2008, 10:54

Edbookfest programme just launched. I count 28 events labeled "world writing".

Writers of the World
Internationalism is our passion. We believe that in our increasingly globalised but also increasingly fragmented and uncomprehending world, knowing what other countries and cultures read, write and think is the greatest key to empathy and understanding. We therefore actively seek to bring writers from all over the world to the heart of Scotland - many of them would never otherwise visit the UK. Look out for our Writers of the World series in our lovely Writer's Retreat at a special low price. Amazing new novelists and poets from other lands await your discovery - the very heart of what the festival is for.