00:00Last year, I played live in 33 cities, in 20 countries, and sang in 9 different languages.
00:07It turns out my reading habits follow a similar pattern.
00:11Since we launched the Service 95 Book Club three years ago,
00:15eight of my 33 monthly reads have been translated fiction.
00:19Just as importantly, these 33 books tell stories that span Japan, Korea, Nigeria, Colombia,
00:26the U.S., Mexico, Hungary, Norway, Afghanistan, Poland, Ireland, Spain, the U.K., France, Vietnam, and Australia.
00:38I read as much as time allows, and while some of the books I love become book club titles,
00:43others remain private passions.
00:45I'm a reader who loves to be immersed in a novel, and I mean really deeply in it.
00:51When I re-translated fiction, and some of you will recognize these scenes,
00:57I walk the streets of Naples in the shoes of a young girl who's becoming aware that her future will
01:03be defined by her gender.
01:05I've borne witness to animals taking revenge on their hunters in rural Poland.
01:09Or did they?
01:12I've gained wisdom I didn't know I needed from a pigeon on a balcony in Mexico City,
01:17and as Guadalupe Natal writes, you can't get anything past a pigeon.
01:22There really isn't anything quite like a book to understand the perspective of others,
01:27and translated fiction takes that even further.
01:30I guess it's the fusion of an experience that's so universal and at the same time so unique.
01:35It's the antidote to othering.
01:38When I launched my book club, it wasn't in a cozy cafe in London,
01:42it was with a reading group in Downview Women's Prison.
01:44I was there with Gabby as part of the Books Unlocked program.
01:49Each year, the Booker Prize Foundation provides free Booker-nominated books to UK prisons and young offender institutions,
01:56and that also includes titles from the international list.
02:00One of the most insightful conversations about a book I've ever had was that morning in Downview,
02:06and I'll never forget what one of the women shared with the group,
02:09that perhaps that if she'd read more books when she was younger, maybe she wouldn't be here now.
02:15That moment really brought it home to me that reading a book is often so much more than a solitary
02:20activity.
02:22It can trigger a conversation with a friend,
02:24or, like in Downview, provide a way to share a profound experience with a wider group.
02:31And a book club discussion is maybe the one occasion where you get even more out of it if you
02:38disagree.
02:40Last year's winner of the International Booker Prize was Heartlamp, written by Banu Mushtaq and translated by Deepa Bashti.
02:47In her acceptance speech, Banu said,
02:50this book was born from the belief that no story is ever small,
02:54that in the tapestry of human experience, every thread holds the weight of the whole.
02:59As a reader, I want to follow those threads of connection.
03:03What a joy it is to read.
03:06What a joy to read the world.
03:08Thank you very much.
03:08Thank you.
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