Istros Conversations

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 why 'Call Me Stratos' is not just a good read, it is a vivid portrayal of some of the most important aspects of Greek society.

An interview with Jurica Pavičić, Croatian journalist and crime author

A conversation with the author of 'In Late Summer', a novel published by Linden Editions, 2025.

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 investigation into everyday lives and times that no longer exists. Christina Pribichevich-Zorić gives us her perspective, as the translator, on this gentle novel: the search for a lost mother, the story of a country and a people who have passed; an elegy for Yugoslavia as well as a family.

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 where the young couple move from armies to mafia and a new life coloured by the old...

'Grandma Non-Oui' is published on Sept 1st, 2024

Translated by Christina E Kramer

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 stories (Exile, Istros 2015), she was awarded the EU Prize for Literature. With her latest novella, Engagement, she delves into the mechanisms at work behind a massacre which took place in the east of Turkey, in Mardin, in 2009. Lana Lazarevski finds out what motivates her unwavering gaze....

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, as well as the situation of Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian translation in literature. This episode has been kindly shared by Trafika Europe - https://www.trafikaeurope.org/podcast/women-in-translation

'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 Olivia Hellewell about the book’s narrative structure and themes, and the challenges of reproducing the Balkan context of the book for an English-language audience

This podcast is re-posted here from Trafika Europe Radio · literary livestream: https://trafikaeurope.org/go/radio

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 editor and literary critic, the co-founder and director of Beletrina Academic Press, essayist, screenwriter, dramaturge, columnist, and candidate for national chess master. 
Here in conversation with the translator of his novel, Rawly Grau, Mitja talks about his life and his motivation for writing.

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 moved to Israel in the 70s, Bruckstein’s plays and prose writing remained undiscovered for half a century. We talk to his son about the life and work of this father's extraoridnary legacy.