BookBlast Podcast

BookBlast Podcast

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BookBlast Podcast episodes

  • BBC Radio 4 interview abt Lesley Blanch

    On the Wilder Shores of Love: A Bohemian Life, Lesley Blanch, published by Virago, Little Brown UK HB ISBN 978 0349005447 PB ISBN 978-0349005461

    Most famous for the group portrait, The Wilder Shores of Love, Lesley Blanch was a scholarly romantic and a bold writer with a lifelong passion for Russia, the Balkans and the Middle East. This book collects together the story of her marriage with Romain Gary, previously published only in French; her journalism on the artistic melting pot that was London between the wars; and a selection of her most evocative travel pieces, to create the story of a fascinating, bohemian – and, at times outrageous - life that spanned the twentieth century.


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    5 min
  • Lesley Blanch, Twenty Minutes, BBC Radio 3, February 2007
    Celebrated author and distinguished traveller, Lesley Blanch, MBE (1904-2007), talks to Teresa Cherfas about her love of Russia and of the mysterious family friend whom she referred to as The Traveller. Although to some it may seem that Blanch excelled in magnifying her own peculiarities to become larger than life, even mythic, she was always true to herself. Her private life was so inaccessible as to be virtually unimaginable. Blanch gave this interview the day after coming out of hospital. She died four months later.

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    20 min
  • XCiTes DJ Tov (reading)

    EXTRACT from "Lost in Music" by DJ Tov published in the anthology "XCiTés – The Flamingo Book of New French writing" (ed.) G de Chamberet. Contributors: Frédéric Beigbeder, Tonino Benacquista, Marcel Desailly, Agnès Desarthe, Virginie Despentes, Marie Desplechin, Ilan Duran Cohen, Michel Houellebecq, Mathieu Kassovitz, Mounsi, Abdourahman Waberi & others. Translators: Boris Belay, Steve Cox, Michael Dash, Christine Donougher, Paul Hammond, Will Hobson, Ruth McConnel,William Rodarmor, Brad Rumph, Ros Schwartz.


    INDEPENDENT – "French society is diverse, richly multi-cultural, and the writing in this collection represents some of that diversity. If a writer is clearly wonderful — Waberi (originally from Djibouti) or Mounsi (Algerian) — then we want more. The last three inclusions — scenes from Mathieu Kassovitz's film La Haine, a piece on the house music scene by DJ Tov and an interview with Chelsea defender Marcel Desailly — illustrate the point of this kind of new fiction which is to question traditional modes of publishing. The French are tired of their image."


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    2 min
  • Mounsi, BBC World Service
    Mounsi interview with Harriett Gilbert for 'The Word' broadcast by BBC World Service, about his novel THE DEMENTED DANCE, translated by Lulu Norman. TIME OUT (Book of the Week) – "The Demented Dance (La Noce des Fous) was first published in 1990, predating Irvine Welsh and the 'keeping it real' writing boom that came after … It's easy for the comfortable reader to make a fetish of others' deprivation, but this book demands more from its audience. What elevates The Demented Dance above similar stories is the interior life of the narrator. Even as he is written off by his teachers, Tarik remains aware of his own oblivion, thereby keeping himself alive. And the ending is a shock, an undeserved but somehow inevitable fate … For reference, think La Haine think the Cités — the concrete Parisian suburbs we only hear about when there's rioting. Nowadays it's hard to refer to anyone as an 'outsider' without instantly reducing their difference to a brand. So check out Mounsi's writing for yourself: it's a true lesson in walking in another's shoes."

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    8 min
  • Jamika meets Zenzile
    JAMIKA AJALON meets ZENZILE on albums: MODUS VIVENDI (Discograph 2005)| 5+1 JAMIKA MEETS CELLO (Discograph 2004)| TOTEM (Discograph 2002)| SOUND PATROL (Crash Disques 2001)| 5+1 ZENZILE MEETS JAMIKA (Crash Disques 2000)| Compilations — SAMPLING DNA features on APHRODISIAC, vol 3 (Infracom 2001) | LONGRAIN MUSIC 2 (Instinctive Travel 2004) Her track best loved by fans, SMELL THE ROSES, features on ANOTHER FRENCH REVOLUTION? (The Letter F 2004). AFRICULTURES.COM – "Those who discovered Jamika performing Live with Zenzile, who she hooked up with at the end of the 1990s, will not be disappointed. Jamika, who is sometimes referred to in the press as a female Tricky or the Grace Jones of the underground, expends great energy in the delivery of her subtle lyrics."

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    4 min

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