Lit_cast Slovakia

Since April 2020 Julia Sherwood has interviewed nearly thirty guests for Lit_Cast Slovakia. In today’s final – and slightly longer, 30th episode Peter Michalík, who has worked with her on this podcasts series, has turned the tables on her. He coaxed the renowned translator and tireless promoter of Slovak literature to tell the fascinating story of her enforced exile from Czechoslovakia, her years in Germany, England and the US, her love of Central Europe and her beginnings as a literary translator.

In LitCast Slovakia 29 deputy director of Karolinum Press Martin Janeček talks to Julia Sherwood about bringing Czech books to foreign audiences, being undeterred by the disruptions to publishing schedules caused by the pandemic, and about the Modern Czech Classics series that aims to go beyond the traditional literary canon. And – ta-da! – he reveals plans for a new Modern Slovak Classics series and his publishing house‘s long-term commitment to introduce the best of Slovak literature.

In LitCast 28 translator and journalist Tomáš Hučko talks to Julia Sherwood about what made him co-found the monthly Kapitál, about championing socially engaged writing and political comic books, about the most popular Slovak children’s books since 1989 as well as the joys and challenges of translating John Fante, Henry David Thoreau and John Steinbeck. He has plenty of suggestions of books by Slovak authors that might be worth translating into English, and recommends taking a fresh look at some interwar communist writers.

In episode 27 of LIT_cast Slovakia the writer, artist, editor and DIY enthusiast Monika Kompaníková talks to Julia Sherwood about the universal appeal of her novel Boat Number Five, about book’s screen adaptation and the importance of translations as well as about discovering deep sea creatures with her son, writing lyrics for rock bands and commissioning books that aim to improve access of Roma children to education and change the way people think.

In LitCast 26 translator Tünde Mészáros talks to Julia Sherwood about growing up bilingually in Bratislava and raising multilingual daughters in Budapest, about the importance of musicality in translation, the variety of specialists she consults in her research, why she prefers good non fiction to bad fiction and how a swimming pool attendant helped her solve a particular translating challenge in Samko Tále’s Cemetery Book.

In LitCast Slovakia #25 David Short, scholar and translator from Czech and Slovak, talks to Julia Sherwood about some of the staggering number of books he has translated, about grappling with ambiguities and archaisms in Vladislav Vančura’s works and deciphering the mix of Czech and Slovak in the writing of 18th century Slovak writer Jozef Ignác Bajza. He reveals his preferred English rendition of Hrabal’s words pábení and pábitel and explains why České Budějovice might be the only place in the Czech Republic where people chat away in pidgin (Tok Pisin) in local pubs.

In LitCast Slovakia 24, literature scholar, translator and one-time rock band member Peter Petro admits to being baffled by the mysterious link between Slavonic studies and rock music. He further talks to Julia Sherwood about the difficulties in finding publishers for Slovak books in English, praises the natural beauty of Vancouver and the kindness of Canadians and pleads for fair pay for authors and translators.

In LIT_cast Slovakia 23 literature scholar Ivana Hostová talks to Julia Sherwood about the agendas that drive translations of Slovak poetry into English and why quantity does not necessarily translate into quality, and why publishing poetry in translation is challenging even in a translation-dominated culture such as Slovakia. She also introduces Nóra Ružičková, one of the first Slovak experimental poets, as well as the subversive poetry of Peter Macsovszky.

In LitCast Slovakia 22 Hungarian literary organiser Éva Karádi talks to Julia Sherwood about championing European and, specifically, Slovak literature and which Slovak writers have made their mark in Hungary. She explains how editing Hungarian Lettre Internationale taught her that writers write better than philosophers, about the the importance of cultural bridge-building and why we shouldn’t make a distinction between ‘big’ and ‘small’ literatures.

In LitCast Slovakia #21 the award-winning writer and journalist Irena Brežná talks to Julia Sherwood about rebelling against the dogma of writing in her native language, the importance of maintaining an outsider’s perspective and avoiding the trap of assimilation. She also talks about her political birth during the Prague Spring of 1968, about combining writing with activism as well as feminism.