International Booker Episodes

"Welcome to Harshaneeyam Podcast. Today, we enter the intricate, wickedly humorous, and deeply observant world of Swedish author Ia Genberg. Joining us is the acclaimed translator Kira Josefsson, whose English translation of the short story collection - Small Comfort, has been longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026.


Kira is no stranger to Genberg’s sharp prose; she also translated the 2024 International Booker Prize-shortlisted novel The Details. In Small Comfort, the author shift...

"Welcome to Harshaneeyam. Today, we delve into a powerful work of Bulgarian literature that has recently made its way to the 2026 International Booker Prize shortlist: 'She Who Remains' by Renée Karbash translated into English by Izidora Angel.


The novel explores the life of a 'sworn virgin'—a woman who, according to an ancient Balkan tradition, takes a vow of celibacy and lives as a man to gain the rights and status reserved for men in a patriarchal society. However, Karbash moves beyond the...

"Can a work of art ever truly be washed clean of the hands that funded it? Is it possible to create a masterpiece in the shadow of a monster? Today, we are exploring these haunting questions through the lens of The Director—the latest novel by the brilliant German author Daniel Kehlmann and translated into English by Ross Benjamin. Set against the harrowing backdrop of the late 1930s and 1940s, the story follows the legendary film director G.W. Pabst as he returns to Nazi-occupied Austria.

Guest for this Episode is Writer, Translator Lin King -


Lin King is a writer and translator based in Taipei and New York


Her fiction has appeared in One Story, Boston Review, and Joyland, among others, and has received the PEN/Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers.


Translations include the graphic novel series The Boy from Clearwater by Yu Pei-Yun and Zhou Jian-Xin.


Her debut novel, Weeb, is forthcoming from Holt.


Her translation of the novel Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-...

In this episode we have with us Padma Viswanathan.

Padma Viswanathan is a Canadian-American writer and translator.

Her novels have been published in eight countries and shortlisted for the PEN USA Prize, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and others. She has published short fiction, essays and translations in Granta, The Boston Review, BRICK, and elsewhere. Full-length translations include São Bernardo, by Brazilian novelist Graciliano Ramos and Where We Stand, by Djamila Ribeiro. Her most recent no...

Today we have David Mckay on Harshaneeyam Podcast.


Born and educated in the United States, David McKay is an award-winning translator of Dutch fiction and non-fiction


He holds degrees in philosophy, linguistics and international relations, and has lived in and around The Hague since 1997.


His literary translations include War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2017, and Multatuli’s classic Max Havelaar , as well as contributions...

Today's Guest on Harshaneeyam is Ruth Martin.

Ruth Martin studied English literature before gaining a PhD in German

She has been translating fiction and non-fiction books since 2010, by authors ranging from Joseph Roth and Hannah Arendt to Volker Weidermann and Shida Bazyar.

She has taught translation at the University of Kent and the Bristol Translates summer school, and is a former co-chair of the Society of Authors Translators Association.

She translated Shida Bazyar’s The Nights Are Quie...

Our guest for today is Jordan Stump.

Jordan Stump has translated many authors into English from French, including Marie Redonnet, Eric Chevillard, and Honoré de Balzac

His translation of Jardin des Plantes by Claude Simon won the 2001 French-American Foundation translation prize, and was named a Chevalier (Knight) in the Order of Arts and Letters for his work by the French government 2006.

His English language translations of works by Marie NDiaye have been nominated for the International Boo...

Today’s Guest, Charlotte Mandell has translated over 50 books of fiction, poetry and philosophy from French. Her translations include works by Marcel Proust, Maurice Blanchot, Abdelwahab Meddeb and Jean-Luc Nancy. Her translation of Compass by Mathias Énard was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2017 and was the recipient of the 2018 ALTA National Translation Award in Prose. She was named a Chevalier (Knight) in the Order of Arts and Letters for her work by the French government and ...

Today's Guest, Antonella Lettieri is a translator working between English and Italian. Her translations include Maria Grazia Calandrone’s Your Little Matter (Foundry Editions, 2024), Roberta Recchia’s All That Is Left of Life (Dialogue Books, 2025), and Matteo Melchiorre’s The Duke (Foundry Editions, 2025), which is currently longlisted for the International Booker Prize. She was the National Centre for Writing’s Emerging Translator Mentee for Italian in 2023 and won the John Dryden Translation ...

Today we are talking to Sophie Hughes as a part of our International Booker 2025 series. her translation of Vincenzo Latronico’s Perfection  was short listed. Its the first book she translated from Italian into English. Sophie Hughes is a literary translator from Spanish and Italian, and is the most nominated translator in the 10-year history International Booker Prize. Her translations have been longlisted or shortlisted for the International Booker Prize five times.

She is a judge for the Int...

Romesh Gunesekera is on Harshaneeyam talking about evaluating the International Booker Prize - 2024 and his journey as a reader and writer.

Romesh Gunesekera was born in Colombo and lives in London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He is currently judging the 2024 International Booker Prize.

(00:00) Introduction to Ramesh Bhunasekara and His Literary Journey

(01:16) The Beginnings of a Reader Turned Writer

(07:38) The Evolution of a Writer: From Reader to International Auth...

In this episode, Book Blogger, Reviewer, Stuart Allen spoke about the novel 'Undiscovered' and his passion for book reading.

Stuart Allen Lives in Chesterfield near the Peak District in UK. He works for the NHS to support patients with learning disabilities in the community to avoid going into hospital. He started his blog 'Winston'sdad' 14 years ago.

Initially, the challenge was to read 52 books from 52 countries; having done that, the focus has predominantly been on books in translation. He ...

'Kairos' is a novel written by the famous German Novelist Jenny Erpenbeck. It was translated into English by Michael Hoffman. It is about life in East Germany in the 1980s, the Fall of the Berlin Wall, and its effects. its short listed for International booker prize in 2024.

In this episode, Marina Sofia talks about the novel in detail, having read both the German and the English versions.

Marina Sofia is a reputed translator and co-founder of Corylus Books, a publishing house that translates ...

Our Guest for this episode is Fiammetta Rocco, Administrator for International Booker Prize since it was established in 2005.

Fiammetta spoke about her childhood in Nairobi, her love for books, her multilingualism, and the significance of the International Booker Prize to the world of literary fiction.

Fiammetta Rocco was an editor for 25 years at The Economist, specialising in books and arts.

Her journalism has won awards on both sides of the Atlantic. Fiammetta has been the judge of numerou...

Sarah Timmer Harvey spoke about translation of the novel, ' What I would Rather not think about' which is Short listed for International booker prize - 2024 in this episode.

Sarah Timmer Harvey is a translator and writer currently based in Woodstock, New York. She holds an MFA from Columbia University in New York and a BA from Southern Cross University. Sarah’s translation of Jente Posthuma’s novel 'What I’d Rather Not Think About' was published by Scribe in 2023. Reconstruction, their translat...

This episode's guest is Kira Josefsson. She spoke about her translated work, 'The Details,' which is long-listed for the International Booker Prize 2024.

'The Details' was originally published in Swedish. Ia Genberg is the author.

Kira Josefsson is a writer, editor, and translator between Swedish and English. Her work has been Long-listed for the International Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Bernard Shaw Prize. She lives in Queens, New York, and writes on US events and politics in the Swe...

Today We have Boris Dralyuk With us. He is speaking about his translation of 'The Silver Bone' Written in Russian by Andrey Kurkov. 'The Silver Bone' is Long-Listed for International Booker Prize - 2024.

Boris Dralyuk is a poet, translator, and critic. He holds a Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literatures from UCLA and has taught at UCLA and the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He currently teaches in the English Department at the University of Tulsa.

He is the author of My Hollywood and Oth...

Today, we have Distinguished Albanian translator John Hodgson with us. He is talking about his international Booker-longlisted rendition of 'A Dictator Calls' written by Albanian Writer Ismail Kadare. The author and translator were previously longlisted for the novel The Traitors Niche for the Man Booker International prize in 2017.

So far, John Hodgson has translated seven novels by Ismail Kadare.

John Hodgson’s origins are in Tyneside. He studied English at the Universities of Cambridge and ...

Today, Johnny Lorenz will speak on his translation of 'Crooked Plow,' which is long-listed for the International Booker Prize-2024.

Johnny Lorenz, son of Brazilian immigrants to the United States, is a translator of Brazilian Literature, poet and literary critic. He holds a doctorate in English from the University of Texas at Austin and is a professor at Montclair State University. His translation of Clarice Lispector's A Breath of Life (New Directions) was a finalist for the Best Translated Bo...

Guest for Today's Episode is Noel Hernandez Gonzalez talking about hsi experience of Co-Translating 'Simpatia' a Spanish Novel, which has been longlisted for International Booker - 2024.

Noel Hernández González is originally from Tenerife and have lived in the UK for the last 19 years. He has a degree in Telecommunication Engineering from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain), a postgraduate diploma in journalism from the London School of Journalism and an MA in Literary Translat...

Guest for this Episode is Annie Mcdermott.

Annie McDermott is the translator of a dozen books from Spanish and Portuguese, by such writers as Mario Levrero, Ariana Harwicz, Brenda Lozano, Fernanda Trías and Lídia Jorge. She was awarded the Premio Valle-Inclán for her translation of Wars of the Interior by Joseph Zárate, her translation of Brickmakers by Selva Almada was shortlisted for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, and her translation of Not a River, also by Selva Almada, is curre...

Guest for this episode is Leah Janeczko.

Originally from Chicago, Leah Janeczko has lived in Milan since 1991. For over 25 years she’s been an Italian-to-English translator of fiction for all ages. Her recent translations include Glowrushes by Roberto Piumini, who has been nominated three times for the Hans Christian Andersen Award; Her other notable translations are -The Women at Hitler’s Table by Rosella Postorino, winner of the 2018 Campiello Prize; and Lost on Me by Veronica Raimo, which wa...

Sora Kim Russell and Youngjae translate from Korean to English. Their co-translation of Hwang Sok-yong’s Mater 2-10 has been longlisted for the 2024 Booker International Prize. In this episode, they spoke about the author and their experience of translating the book.

Sora Kim-Russell has translated works by Pyun Hye-young, Kim Un-su, Hwang Sok-yong, and Bae Suah, among others. Her translation of Pyun Hye-young’s The Hole won the 2017 Shirley Jackson Award for best novel. Her translation of At D...