Brit’Lit - It’s Time to talk: it’s all about books
An online season of New British Writing
From Friday 11th September at 17.00h to Tuesday 15th December at 17.00h British Council Facebook Live
With the launch of It's Time to Talk: it’s all about books, the British Council in Spain hopes to contribute to the promotion of contemporary British authors currently published in Spanish and Catalan. As well as getting to know the latest works by a group of writers who together represent many of the genres to be found on bookshop shelves, the season also focuses on the publishing world itself and the different elements needed to make the entire process of creating a publication in another language happen.
The British Council is delighted that It’s Time to Talk: it’s all about books will be presented in partnership with Málaga 451: La Noche de los Libros, a literature festival run by La Térmica, Málaga’s major municipal arts centre. The season’s first episode is presented in the context of this year's edition of the festival and will focus on two authors who are no strangers to the Spanish-speaking publishing world: the poet of English and Balearic origin Ben Clark and the novelist and screenwriter David Nicholls. It’s Time to Talk: it’s all about books will continue its association with La Térmica's regular literature programme up to mid-December with a lineup of guest authors including Jessica Andrews, Emily Barr, Tom Gauld, Elly Griffiths, Sam Hepburn, Giles Kristian, Simon Scarrow or Anne Youngson.
Episode 1: Friday 11th September at 17.00h
Love forms the central axis of the first episode of It’s Time to Talk: it’s all about books by focusing on two seemingly very different authors who coincide in popularity and proximity to their readers: the poet of English and Balearic origin Ben Clark and the novelist and screenwriter David Nicholls. In response to why he writes love poems, Ben Clark answers, "Why? Because love is the great engine, the great mystery, the eternal promise of happiness”. For his part when asked if he would be able to write a book without a love story, David Nicholls replies “I don’t know if I could, or if I’d want to. It is such an interesting, life-changing event in most people’s lives. There’s no reason why it can’t be given weighty treatment.” (The Guardian).
“¿Y por qué no lo hacemos en el suelo?” (published by Espasa es Poesía) is a selection of Ben Clark’s best love poems including his famous viral poem that had a massive spread on Twitter and reached (and continues to reach) millions of readers. With “Sweet Sorrow” (published by Empúries in Catalan as “Un Dolor Tan Dolç” and by Umbriel in Spanish as “Dulce Despedida”), his fifth novel published exactly 10 years after his previous one, Nicholls transports us to the past of our youth and the intensity of first love.
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