Meet the International Booker Prize Reading Challenge Ambassadors

Recently, we launched the International Booker Prize 2024 Reading Challenge, a self-guided reading challenge that encourages readers around the world to explore the 2024 longlist, share their thoughts, and connect with fellow International Booker Prize fans. As part of the challenge, we also invited independent booksellers and librarians in the UK and Ireland to participate, all of whom play a vital role in encouraging their communities to read great fiction. 

Here, we speak to the five booksellers and librarians chosen as Ambassadors. They told us what most excites them about the 2024 longlist and sharing the Reading Challenge with their customers, the vital importance of translated fiction, and why their bookstores and libraries offer so much more than simply books.

Tell us a bit about your library, and what makes it unique. 

Lewisham Libraries is a local authority public library service located in South East London. The Borough is home to a variety of cultural and linguistic communities, encompassing Polish, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Tamil, Ukrainian, and Romanian to name but a few. Many of the staff working in the libraries come from these local communities and reflect the multicultural and vibrant nature of the area. Within our Service, we operate a community library model with various sites across the Borough staffed largely by volunteers.

The unique way our partnership comes together, and staff and volunteers alike combine their shared love of libraries and books to run a vital frontline service is really inspiring. Their continued compassion for all library users and commitment to their local community make it a wonderful place to work every day. As a community-centred safe space, we provide more than just access to resources, and are mindful of the impact we have on our library users and the social and wellbeing role of libraries. As a front-line service, we are constantly reminded just how much residents need access to free literature, now more than ever.

How did you begin your career as a librarian, and what’s your favourite part of working in a library?

I originally started out in the community library sector in Lewisham as a volunteer. After having relocated from Australia and working in the education sector in a full-time capacity, I wanted to support my local library to ensure it remained open. I had previous experience in a school setting, but this was my first introduction to public libraries, and I fell in love and never left! I adored the sense of community and collaboration and the dedicated individuals who were offering their time and skills to ensure that local residents had access to vital literacy resources. I transitioned through various roles until I moved into a Council-led position and now oversee three hub libraries where I am very fortunate to work as part of a fantastic operations team.

Working in a library has always been a passion of mine and my favourite aspect is without a doubt the dynamic nature of the role. Modern public libraries have transformed into community-minded third spaces which provide a range of activities and resources, and every workday is different. As a service, we are undertaking anything from signposting and wellbeing support, to running VR workshops and author events, to offering digital literacy classes, along with our core delivery – all things books. I have been privileged to participate in so many initiatives that have moved beyond what a traditional library role would be and have had the opportunity to meet fascinating people from all walks of life.

What do you personally enjoy about reading translated fiction, and what purpose do you think TF plays for Anglophone readers? 

Translated fiction brings the reader into a hybrid space beyond cultural and linguistic constraints to facilitate humanity’s most basic want – the need to communicate. For me, it is the exact moment of tension when I can simultaneously comprehend a text linguistically and am challenged by nuances outside of my own perceived culture, that I can begin to better reflect upon my identity. Through masterful storytelling, those once-new elements start to feel more and more familiar, and I develop a deeper sense of connection to another reality, while strengthening my own idea of self.

Works in translation provide amazing insight and understanding into humanity outside of the dominant English-speaking literary scene and champion voices of multicultural and multinational individuals. For the Anglophone reader, it is an honour to peer into another life, often so far removed from their own. In this moment of confronting familiarity with the unknown, it becomes all the more obvious how interconnected we all are through storytelling.

Max Minerva’s is a vibrant, family-owned independent bookshop in Bristol that is characterised by its luminous yellow entrance and welcoming feel. Established in 2018, the shop has grown in size over the years and even expanded to Portishead, yet our core values have remained the same. The bookshop is driven by its interest in supporting and cultivating our local communities. Last year, we worked with 30 schools across Bristol, organising 55 school events, book fairs, reading lists, and the donation of £5000 worth of free books to children across the city – thanks to the generosity of CrimeFest, a Bristol-based crime fiction event which is one of the biggest in Europe.  

We also held 42 events for adults, including author events, our monthly book club and collaborative reading events with a local cheese and wine company. We held a Romance Festival, for the second year in a row, where we encouraged local authors, readers, and unpublished writers to participate in the celebration of this genre. Moreover, we take pride in our book subscription service, where our booksellers handpick titles and tailor recommendations to the individual tastes of our customers. Before we opened our shop in Portishead in 2022, the town did not have a literary scene. Over a year and a half later, we now host literary events regularly, encouraging more and more locals to indulge in a variety of literature.

Always aiming to work with our communities, each of our Max Minerva’s shops (of which there are two, one based in and one in Henleaze and Portishead) are slightly different, reflecting the tastes of respective customers, although holding a wide range of genres in both. Our bookshop’s motto echoes Lemony Snicket’s caution: ‘All the secrets of the world are contained in books. Read at your own risk.’ I believe this sentiment captures Max Minerva’s ethos in its entirety, as we aim to enrich and satisfy the curiosity, interests, and imagination of our readers.

How did you begin your career as a bookseller, and what’s your favourite part of working in a bookshop?

I have always been an avid reader, and growing up, books were an incredible source of curiosity and comfort for me. As I adjusted to life in the UK, having moved from Argentina, while becoming accustomed to the English language and various cultural clashes, books became my refuge. My love for literature led me to pursue an English degree at University, and now I’m continuing that pathway with a Master’s in Comparative Literatures and Cultures. In the final year of my undergraduate English degree, I was fortunate enough to have found a vacancy in Max Minerva’s Marvellous Bookshop, where I have been working for a little over two years. It is an immense privilege to be surrounded by books all day, and being a bookseller is an extremely rewarding and fulfilling job. My favourite part about being a bookseller is establishing connections with people through the kinds of literature that we read; I enjoy conversing with customers about the titles and genres they frequently indulge in, and I look forward to giving recommendations to those who are looking to try something new, as I enjoy the challenge of giving an adequate suggestion to those looking to push themselves out of their comfort zone.

What do you personally enjoy about reading translated fiction, and what purpose do you think TF plays for Anglophone readers?

Translated fiction, for me, is the most admirable art form. Translators are tasked with interpreting literature in one language and piecing together – like a puzzle – the best possible version in another language, ensuring to retain the tone, humour, style, and sentiment of the original. When I read translated literature, I am aware that every word I process has been chosen with care and intent – and this awareness completely transforms and elevates my reading experience. Translated fiction is my favourite kind of literature to read, for it has been meticulously crafted and thought over by translators who deserve recognition.

Growing up as a first-generation Argentine immigrant in the UK, I longed to find literature that represented me and other Latin American voices, cultures, and experiences. It wasn’t until I pursued higher education that I encountered international literature; Here, I was able to, once and for all, immerse myself in literature from a myriad of different voices, contexts, continents, and languages. I was immediately drawn to translated fiction, and I longed to establish connections with literature from cultures that are different to my own. I fell in love with different writing styles, adaptations of classic stories, and literature I would not have been able to access, were it not for the work of translators.

I believe that translation plays an integral role in our society. Literature is not only a transmitter of culture, but also, a tool that enables us to transport ourselves into different contexts. For monolingual Anglophone readers, in particular, it is an opportunity to encounter identities, perspectives, and settings that are unfamiliar to them, and yet, enriches their understanding of the world and the human experience. Unable to read the text in the original, Anglophone readers must place their trust in the hands of translators to continue to pave the way for us to access exceptional literary works from across the globe.

Tell us a bit about your library, and what makes it unique.

I think one of the things that makes our library unique is that it is in a prison! I must work especially hard to try and overcome barriers and difficulties that our learners have in relation to reading. We try to make it a space where people can forget where they are for a while, and put themselves in the setting of a book. 

How did you begin your career as a librarian, and what’s your favourite part of working in a library?

I began my career as a librarian straight after graduating from university. I have always loved reading, and working in a library has meant that I can share this with the learners in the education department and beyond. One of my favourite parts of working in the library is when people tell me that they have never read a book before, but then read one of my recommendations and ask for more books.

What do you personally enjoy about reading translated fiction, and what purpose do you think TF plays for Anglophone readers? 

Translated fiction allows Anglophone readers to investigate how writers from other countries think, and to get out of our own culture for a short while. I don’t think that we should be limited by language, translated fiction makes us able to read so many amazing books with different perspectives and styles in our own language. I also feel like I am reading the work of two people, the author, and the translator.

Tell us a bit about your bookshop, and what makes it unique. 

Night Owl Books is an independent bookshop in East Linton, Scotland, which I opened two years ago, in April 2022. I had moved to East Linton from London in 2020, and after discovering that there weren’t many local cafes or businesses open past 4pm, I really wanted to create a ‘third space’ that people could visit and enjoy in the early evening. As a firm night owl myself, I decided to make our opening hours 11 am to 7pm, hopefully giving customers the opportunity to pop in after work, or school.

Arriving in our new home a week before the first lockdown wasn’t really the best time to meet new people in the area, and I also hoped to create a hub that would provide a space to discover books in person, and connect with other readers. Now we hold regular book clubs, creative workshops, and author events, usually in the evenings, and it’s been wonderful to see friendships and connections develop through a shared love of books and reading.

Given our small space, we very carefully curate the selection of books and gifts that we stock, with a particular emphasis on wildlife and the natural world. As a general bookshop, we try to serve our community by stocking titles of local interest, but our shelves also reflect my passion for literature in translation, with titles from Japan, Korea, Latin America, France, Italy, and beyond; as do our choice of book club titles.

How did you begin your career as a bookseller, and what’s your favourite part of working in a bookshop/library?

I’ve always been something of a bookworm, and have happy childhood memories of staying up long after ‘lights out’ by curling up on my bedroom window sill, reading by street light behind the curtains… 

When I was a teenager I saw an advert for a Saturday job in the window of my local bookshop, White Rose Books, in Thirsk, and was so thrilled to get it! I loved working in the bookshop and cafe at weekends and during the holidays, and can still remember its unique smell of books and coffee as I stepped through the door. After a very happy year working at White Rose Books, I left to study French and Italian at university, but after finishing my Master’s degree in Art History, I returned to the world of books by becoming manager of Thomas Heneage Art Books, a specialist bookshop in St James’s, London.

Now, I’m very lucky to have my own bookshop, and my favourite part of being a bookseller is helping to inspire or reignite a love of reading in customers. I also love giving ‘book prescriptions’, helping customers to find exactly the right book for themselves in a specific moment in their life, or as a gift for others, and it’s particularly wonderful when they pop back to tell me how much they enjoyed a book!

What do you personally enjoy about reading translated fiction, and what purpose do you think TF plays for Anglophone readers? 

I enjoy reading literature in translation because of the opportunity it offers us to truly escape into other worlds, to experience life through another’s eyes, and to travel around the globe - all from the comfort of an armchair! I particularly appreciate reading fiction in translation that has a strong sense of place and setting, and which teaches me something new about a city, country, or moment in history. 

Having studied languages at university, I am always extremely grateful to translators for the incredibly skillful work that they do, and for allowing me to discover books and cultures that would otherwise be closed to me. Although I try to keep my language skills alive by reading in French and Italian, sadly I doubt I will ever be able to read my favourite German, Korean, and Japanese books in their original language! 

At a time when fewer and fewer students are choosing to study foreign languages at school or university, literature in translation offers us a vital link with the non-Anglophone world; an opportunity to be curious, and to build connection and empathy with others – which is surely more crucial than ever in our increasingly divided world.

Tell us a bit about your library, and what makes it unique. 

The people who I work with and who use our library service make it unique. We’re a very small team, offering a bespoke service to schools and educational settings across Northumberland and parts of Newcastle and Gateshead. Our library is open to school librarians, teachers and educators across all phases of education to drop in and borrow resources. At the beginning of each term, we send out bespoke boxes of resources to schools and at the end of the same term we collect them all back in – sometimes it feels like we work in a hamster wheel! 

We also provide professional advice and support to help schools either set up or develop their library. We are regularly buying new fiction and non-fiction, so schools have access to up-to-date quality books 

How did you begin your career as a librarian, and what’s your favourite part of working in a library? 

Aged 15, I started out on my career path with a Saturday job in my local public library. From there I decided that a degree in Librarianship was my way forward, and my first professional role was with the BBC in London. My favourite part of working in a library has to be having the opportunity to shout about the benefits of reading to anyone who will listen to me. We need positive role models in all walks of life, and it amazes me that the financial benefit to the economy of having a literate workforce isn’t discussed more by those in power. 

What do you personally enjoy about reading translated fiction, and what purpose do you think TF plays for Anglophone readers? 

Thirty-plus years ago, when I picked up my first translated fiction novel, I didn’t consciously question if it had been written in another language, I picked it up because it sounded interesting, different, and I was curious. Now I am still choosing books because they sound interesting, but I am aware that they have been written in another language and this adds to their interest and helps to broaden my understanding of our world. 

By reading translated fiction it allows the reader to consider how actions in the past impact us now. It helps us empathise with people in life situations that differ from our own, providing insights that we may never have considered. Reading translated fiction teaches us to be open to new experiences.