Outreach Signals
Publishing Details
About This Podcast
Istros Conversations has been set up by Istros Books to talk about the art of literature, with particular attention to literature in translation, and the process through which words are remade and thoughts conveyed across languages and cultures.
Listen to interviews and discussions with authors, translators, and those working in the world of translation.
Istros Books is an independent publisher which specializes in literature in translation from the Balkans and South-East Europe. Istros is supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
Explore Statistics
Recent Episodes
Stratos comes to the UK
They say that author Chrysoula Georgoula has written a pitch-perfect portrayal of the male psyche, of a certain kind of Greek male, often with brutal authenticity. We find out what inspired her, and…
Croatian Crime
An interview with Jurica Pavičić, Croatian journalist and crime author
'In Late Summer'
A conversation with the author of 'In Late Summer', a novel published by Linden Editions, 2025.
Travelling, Remembering, Investigating...
The news of his mother's death finds the writer in Budapest and prompts the opening of an old black box of family mementos. Inevitably, this leads to an unravelling of multi-layered stories and an…
A Grandma's Story through Younger Eyes
Macedonian writer and poet, Lidija Dimkovska, talks to Lana Lazarevski about her latest novel, which takes the reader from a love affair on the Dalmatian coast during WWII to the wilds of Sicily…
Expressing the inexpressible
Çiler Ilhan writes about what most writers avoid: the maltreatment of women - and of dogs - family feuds fuelled by government policy, the suffering of children...For her first collection of short…
Special Needs
Host Laura López speaks with Croatian author Lada Vukić and translator Christina Zorić, who also serves as live interpreter in this conversation. They discuss their shimmering novel, Special Needs,…
The Fruit of our Labour - writing and translating from Slovenia
'The Fig Tree' by Slovene author Goran Vojnović is an intergenerational family saga, set against the backdrop of the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. Host Joe Williams talks to Goran and translator…
Mitja Čander in conversation
For decades, Mitja Čander has been one of the most influential figures in Slovenia’s literary and publishing world – even though his literary debut, Blind Man(Slepec), appeared only in 2019. An…
Maramureș Remembered
On the occasion of International Holocaust Memorial Day 2021, we launch a new collection of stories from the Romanian/Jewish writer, Ludovic Bruckstein. Erased from the national literature when he…
Interview with Katja Perat
The author of THE MASOCHIST talks about her writing, the publication of her fist novel and the sense of home for a person who lives abroad This episode was recorded as part of Trafika Europe…
A Tale from Montenegro
An interview with Olja Knežević about her novel Catherine the Great and the Small, together with her translators, Paula Gordon & Ellen Elias-Bursać Re-posted with the kind permission of the…
Slovak Literature in Focus
Re-posted from Lit_Cast Slovakia podcast series
United in Bread
Christina Zoric and Stephen Watts discuss the author of 'Our Daily Bread', Predrag Matvejević, a European academic and writer whose life and work were committed to cross-cultural pollination and…
Talking Turkish
This episode was originally produced for Trafika Europe Radio's Women in Translation series: https://trafikaeurope.org/go/radio
A Room of One's Own
Author Olja Knezevic talks about writing as a woman and the importance of finding one's own space; the dangers of national identities, and how a Creative Writing MA at Birkbeck (University of London)…
History as Inspiration - two new novels from Slovenia
http://istrosbooks.com/products/books/the-end-and-again-104/
An English Home for a Slovenian Narrative - Talking to translator Rawley Grau
Rawley Grau - in town to attend the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize ceremony - talks to poet and editor, Stephen Watts about his translation of the novel PANORAMA by Dušan Šarotar. Rawley is one…
Aleš Šteger's novel 'Absolution' - The Power of Forgiveness
The Slovenian writer Aleš Šteger talks to poet and translator, Stephen Watts about his debut novel, Absolution. In the tradition of Bulgakov and Gogol, Šteger lets the forces of good and evil collide…
Discussing Antonín Bajaja's novel with Rajendra Chitnis
'Burying the Season' is an affectionate, multi-layered account of small town life in central Europe in the 20th century, just out from Jantar publishing. Listen to Rajendra Chitnis of Bristol…
Frequently Asked Questions
Istros Conversations has published 45 episodes since April 2012, covering topics in Technology.
Istros Conversations is currently moderate with new episodes every 2 months. Average episode length is 32m.
