Daniel Kehlmann’s The Director, shortlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize, tells the story of legendary filmmaker G.W. Pabst and raises a question that extends far beyond one artist or one historical moment: what happens when creative people find themselves face to face with power?

In this episode of Transatlantic Bookmarks, we discuss the uneasy relationship between artists and tyrants, artistic freedom, censorship, free speech, and the compromises creators make to survive. From Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia to modern publishing, Hollywood, and social media, we explore where the line lies between pragmatism and complicity, whether great art can be separated from its creator, and why these debates remain as relevant today as ever.

📚 BOOKS MENTIONED:
• The Director by Daniel Kehlmann
• The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri
• Isola by Allegra Goodman
• Departure(s) by Julian Barnes
• Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
• Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
• The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
• The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

💌 Our Substack & Show Notes:
https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/

📚 Read Ksenija’s Novels:
https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/p/publications

📚 Ksenija on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449766.Ksenija_Popovi_

🎙️ ABOUT TRANSATLANTIC BOOKMARKS

Hosted by European novelist Ksenija Popović and American engineer Sue Graham Johnston, Transatlantic Bookmarks uses books as the starting point for conversations about culture, history, psychology, morality, politics, and the questions hiding between the lines.

New episodes every Saturday.

👉🏻 CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:44 What We’re Reading
06:42 The Director by Daniel Kehlmann
11:33 Historical Context of Artists and Power
18:05 Moral Dilemmas in Artistic Integrity
25:15 The Different Standards for Artists, Tech Bros, and Podcast Bros
30:00 Censorship in the Publishing Industry
39:03 The Nuances of Free Speech
41:06 Art, Politics, and the Artist’s Responsibility
49:05 Does Great Art Require Angst?
51:14 The Compromises of Artistic Freedom
1:06:26 Book Recommendation