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Otherppl with Brad Listi

711. Lana Bastasic

Otherppl with Brad Listi

Brad Listi

Arts, Society & Culture, Books

4.8 • 554 Ratings

šŸ—“ļø 16 June 2021

ā±ļø 115 minutes

šŸ§¾ļø Download transcript

Summary

Lana Bastasic is the author of the debut novelĀ Catch the Rabbit, winner of the 2020 European Union Prize for Literature. Available now in translation from Restless Books. The official June pick ofĀ The Nervous Breakdown Book Club. Bastasic is a Yugoslav-born writer. She majored in English and holds a master’s degree in cultural studies. She has published three collections of short stories, one book of children’s stories and one of poetry. She lives in Belgrade. Her short stories have been included in regional anthologies and magazines throughout the former Yugoslavia. She has won the Best Short Story section at the Zija Dizdarević competition in Fojnica; the Jury Award at the ā€˜Carver: Where I’m Calling From’ festival in Podgorica; Best Short Story at the Ulaznica festival in Zrenjanin; Best Play by a Bosnian Playwright (Kamerni teatar 55 in Sarajevo) and the Targa Unesco Prize for poetry in Trieste. In 2016 she co-founded Escola Bloom in Barcelona and she now co-edits the school’s literary magazineĀ Carn de cap. She is one of the creators of the ā€˜3+3 sisters’ project, which aims to promote women writers of the Balkans. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Launched in 2011. Books. Literature. Writing. Publishing. Authors. Screenwriters. Life. Death. Etc. Support the show on Patreon Merch www.otherppl.com @otherppl InstagramĀ  YouTube Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is aĀ proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, everybody. How are you? Welcome to The Other People Show. My name's Brad Listy, and I'm in Los Angeles. It's nice to be with you. I hope you're doing okay, wherever you are. I have on the program today, Lana Bostasich, her debut novel, Catch the Rabbit, is available now in translation from restless books.

0:27.9

Catch the Rabbit is the official June pick of the Nervous Breakdown book club. The Nervous Breakdown.com is my online culture magazine and literary community. It has its own monthly book club.

0:39.3

If you want to sign up for that, just go to the Nervous Breakdown.com.

0:48.1

Catch the Rabbit is the winner of the 2020 European Union Prize for Literature.

0:55.0

Lana Bostisich is a Yugoslav born writer, and when I spoke with her, she was in Switzerland,

1:07.0

where she's been doing a residency for the past several months, working on her next book.

1:13.8

And I really enjoyed meeting her and talking with her.

1:17.3

And I really enjoyed this novel.

1:19.1

It's an excellent book about two old friends who are reunited,

1:25.2

and they go on the road to Vienna.

1:32.2

That's a really simple way of putting it.

1:34.2

It's a road novel.

1:36.3

It's a novel about memory, childhood, the past, the people who show us who we are and who we wish we weren't

1:51.0

sometimes. Just wonderfully done. And I'm very pleased to get to share this conversation with you.

1:59.9

Perhaps this is your introduction to Lana

2:01.8

Bostischich and Catch the Rabbit. I think you're in for a treat. So let's get to it. Here she is,

2:08.0

folks. This is Lana Bostich and her debut novel, her award-winning debut novel one more time,

2:15.4

is called Catch the Rabbit.

2:26.2

I decided that I would analyze in a way the 12 chapters of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,

2:33.3

which is the first Alice book, and then try to mirror those 12 chapters with my own story,

2:35.5

which is mostly set in Bosnia.

2:41.9

And at first, this was just this kind of fun idea you have as a writer, like, okay, this could be a cool experiment.

...

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