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Ann Morgan: My year reading a book from every country in the world
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Ann Morgan considered herself well read -- until she discovered the "massive blindspot" on her bookshelf. Amid a multitude of English and American authors, there were very few books from beyond the English-speaking world. So she set an ambitious goal: to read one book from every country in the world over the course of a year. Now she's urging other Anglophiles to read translated works so that publishers will work harder to bring foreign literary gems back to their shores. Explore interactive maps of her reading journey here: go.ted.com/readtheworld
Ann Morgan - Writer, blogger, author
Ann Morgan challenged herself to read a book from every country in the world. Full bio
Ann Morgan challenged herself to read a book from every country in the world. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
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It's often said that you can tell
a lot about a person
a lot about a person
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by looking at what's on their bookshelves.
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What do my bookshelves say about me?
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Well, when I asked myself
this question a few years ago,
this question a few years ago,
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I made an alarming discovery.
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I'd always thought of myself
as a fairly cultured,
as a fairly cultured,
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cosmopolitan sort of person.
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But my bookshelves told
a rather different story.
a rather different story.
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Pretty much all the titles on them
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were by British or North American authors,
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and there was almost
nothing in translation.
nothing in translation.
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Discovering this massive,
cultural blind spot in my reading
cultural blind spot in my reading
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came as quite a shock.
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And when I thought about it,
it seemed like a real shame.
it seemed like a real shame.
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I knew there had to be lots
of amazing stories out there
of amazing stories out there
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by writers working in languages
other than English.
other than English.
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And it seemed really sad to think
that my reading habits meant
that my reading habits meant
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I would probably never encounter them.
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So, I decided to prescribe myself
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an intensive course of global reading.
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2012 was set to be a very
international year for the UK;
international year for the UK;
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it was the year of the London Olympics.
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And so I decided to use it
as my time frame
as my time frame
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to try to read a novel,
short story collection
short story collection
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or memoir from every country in the world.
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And so I did.
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And it was very exciting
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and I learned some remarkable things
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and made some wonderful connections
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that I want to share with you today.
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But it started with some
practical problems.
practical problems.
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After I'd worked out which of the many
different lists of countries in the world
different lists of countries in the world
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to use for my project,
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I ended up going with the list
of UN-recognized nations,
of UN-recognized nations,
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to which I added Taiwan,
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which gave me a total of 196 countries.
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And after I'd worked out
how to fit reading and blogging
how to fit reading and blogging
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about, roughly, four books a week
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around working five days a week,
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I then had to face up to the fact
that I might even not be able
that I might even not be able
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to get books in English
from every country.
from every country.
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Only around 4.5 percent
of the literary works published
of the literary works published
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each year in the UK are translations,
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and the figures are similar for much
of the English-speaking world.
of the English-speaking world.
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Although, the proportion
of translated books published
of translated books published
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in many other countries is a lot higher.
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4.5 percent is tiny enough to start with,
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but what that figure doesn't tell you
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is that many of those books
will come from countries
will come from countries
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with strong publishing networks
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and lots of industry professionals
primed to go out and sell those titles
primed to go out and sell those titles
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to English-language publishers.
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So, for example, although well over 100
books are translated from French
books are translated from French
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and published in the UK each year,
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most of them will come from countries
like France or Switzerland.
like France or Switzerland.
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French-speaking Africa, on the other hand,
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will rarely ever get a look-in.
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The upshot is that there are
actually quite a lot of nations
actually quite a lot of nations
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that may have little or even no
commercially available literature
commercially available literature
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in English.
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Their books remain invisible to readers
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of the world's most published language.
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But when it came to reading the world,
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the biggest challenge of all for me
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was that fact that I didn't
know where to start.
know where to start.
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Having spent my life reading
almost exclusively British
almost exclusively British
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and North American books,
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I had no idea how to go about
sourcing and finding stories
sourcing and finding stories
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and choosing them from much
of the rest of the world.
of the rest of the world.
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I couldn't tell you how to source
a story from Swaziland.
a story from Swaziland.
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I wouldn't know a good novel from Namibia.
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There was no hiding it --
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I was a clueless literary xenophobe.
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So how on earth was I
going to read the world?
going to read the world?
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I was going to have to ask for help.
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So in October 2011, I registered my blog,
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ayearofreadingtheworld.com,
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and I posted a short appeal online.
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I explained who I was,
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how narrow my reading had been,
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and I asked anyone who cared to
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to leave a message suggesting
what I might read
what I might read
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from other parts of the planet.
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Now, I had no idea whether
anyone would be interested,
anyone would be interested,
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but within a few hours
of me posting that appeal online,
of me posting that appeal online,
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people started to get in touch.
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At first, it was friends and colleagues.
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Then it was friends of friends.
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And pretty soon, it was strangers.
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Four days after I put that appeal online,
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I got a message from a woman
called Rafidah in Kuala Lumpur.
called Rafidah in Kuala Lumpur.
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She said she loved
the sound of my project,
the sound of my project,
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could she go to her local
English-language bookshop
English-language bookshop
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and choose my Malaysian book
and post it to me?
and post it to me?
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I accepted enthusiastically,
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and a few weeks later,
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a package arrived containing
not one, but two books --
not one, but two books --
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Rafidah's choice from Malaysia,
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and a book from Singapore
that she had also picked out for me.
that she had also picked out for me.
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Now, at the time, I was amazed
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that a stranger more than 6,000 miles away
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would go to such lengths to help someone
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she would probably never meet.
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But Rafidah's kindness proved
to be the pattern for that year.
to be the pattern for that year.
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Time and again, people went
out of their way to help me.
out of their way to help me.
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Some took on research on my behalf,
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and others made detours
on holidays and business trips
on holidays and business trips
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to go to bookshops for me.
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It turns out, if you want
to read the world,
to read the world,
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if you want to encounter it
with an open mind,
with an open mind,
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the world will help you.
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When it came to countries
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with little or no commercially
available literature in English,
available literature in English,
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people went further still.
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Books often came from surprising sources.
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My Panamanian read, for example,
came through a conversation
came through a conversation
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I had with the Panama Canal on Twitter.
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Yes, the Panama Canal
has a Twitter account.
has a Twitter account.
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And when I tweeted at it about my project,
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it suggested that I might like to try
and get hold of the work
and get hold of the work
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of the Panamanian author
Juan David Morgan.
Juan David Morgan.
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I found Morgan's website
and I sent him a message,
and I sent him a message,
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asking if any of his
Spanish-language novels
Spanish-language novels
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had been translated into English.
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And he said that nothing
had been published,
had been published,
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but he did have an unpublished translation
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of his novel "The Golden Horse."
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He emailed this to me,
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allowing me to become
one of the first people ever
one of the first people ever
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to read that book in English.
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Morgan was by no means the only wordsmith
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to share his work with me in this way.
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From Sweden to Palau,
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writers and translators
sent me self-published books
sent me self-published books
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and unpublished manuscripts of books
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that hadn't been picked
up by Anglophone publishers
up by Anglophone publishers
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or that were no longer available,
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giving me privileged glimpses
of some remarkable imaginary worlds.
of some remarkable imaginary worlds.
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I read, for example,
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about the Southern African king
Ngungunhane, who led the resistance
Ngungunhane, who led the resistance
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against the Portuguese
in the 19th century;
in the 19th century;
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and about marriage rituals
in a remote village
in a remote village
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on the shores of the Caspian sea
in Turkmenistan.
in Turkmenistan.
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I met Kuwait's answer to Bridget Jones.
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(Laughter)
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And I read about an orgy
in a tree in Angola.
in a tree in Angola.
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But perhaps the most amazing example
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of the lengths that people
were prepared to go to
were prepared to go to
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to help me read the world,
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came towards the end of my quest,
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when I tried to get hold of a book
from the tiny, Portuguese-speaking
from the tiny, Portuguese-speaking
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African island nation
of São Tomé and Príncipe.
of São Tomé and Príncipe.
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Now, having spent several months
trying everything I could think of to find
trying everything I could think of to find
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a book that had been translated
into English from the nation,
into English from the nation,
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it seemed as though
the only option left to me
the only option left to me
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was to see if I could get something
translated for me from scratch.
translated for me from scratch.
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Now, I was really dubious
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whether anyone was going
to want to help with this,
to want to help with this,
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and give up their time
for something like that.
for something like that.
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But, within a week of me putting
a call out on Twitter and Facebook
a call out on Twitter and Facebook
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for Portuguese speakers,
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I had more people than I could
involve in the project,
involve in the project,
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including Margaret Jull Costa,
a leader in her field,
a leader in her field,
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who has translated the work
of Nobel Prize winner José Saramago.
of Nobel Prize winner José Saramago.
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With my nine volunteers in place,
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I managed to find a book
by a São Toméan author
by a São Toméan author
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that I could buy enough copies of online.
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Here's one of them.
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And I sent a copy out
to each of my volunteers.
to each of my volunteers.
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They all took on a couple
of short stories from this collection,
of short stories from this collection,
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stuck to their word, sent
their translations back to me,
their translations back to me,
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and within six weeks,
I had the entire book to read.
I had the entire book to read.
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In that case, as I found so often
during my year of reading the world,
during my year of reading the world,
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my not knowing and being open
about my limitations
about my limitations
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had become a big opportunity.
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When it came to São Tomé and Príncipe,
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it was a chance not only
to learn something new
to learn something new
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and discover a new collection of stories,
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but also to bring together
a group of people
a group of people
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and facilitate a joint creative endeavor.
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My weakness had become
the project's strength.
the project's strength.
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The books I read that year
opened my eyes to many things.
opened my eyes to many things.
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As those who enjoy reading will know,
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books have an extraordinary power
to take you out of yourself
to take you out of yourself
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and into someone else's mindset,
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so that, for a while at least,
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you look at the world
through different eyes.
through different eyes.
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That can be an uncomfortable experience,
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particularly if you're reading a book
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from a culture that may have quite
different values to your own.
different values to your own.
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But it can also be really enlightening.
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Wrestling with unfamiliar ideas
can help clarify your own thinking.
can help clarify your own thinking.
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And it can also show up blind spots
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in the way you might have
been looking at the world.
been looking at the world.
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When I looked back at much
of the English-language literature
of the English-language literature
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I'd grown up with, for example,
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I began to see how narrow a lot of it was,
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compared to the richness
that the world has to offer.
that the world has to offer.
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And as the pages turned,
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something else started to happen, too.
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Little by little,
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that long list of countries that
I'd started the year with, changed
I'd started the year with, changed
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from a rather dry, academic
register of place names
register of place names
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into living, breathing entities.
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Now, I don't want to suggest
that it's at all possible
that it's at all possible
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to get a rounded picture of a country
simply by reading one book.
simply by reading one book.
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But cumulatively, the stories
I read that year
I read that year
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made me more alive than ever before
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to the richness, diversity and complexity
of our remarkable planet.
of our remarkable planet.
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It was as though the world's stories
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and the people who'd gone
to such lengths to help me read them
to such lengths to help me read them
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had made it real to me.
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These days, when I look at my bookshelves
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or consider the works on my e-reader,
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they tell a rather different story.
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It's the story of the power
books have to connect us
books have to connect us
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across political, geographical,
cultural, social, religious divides.
cultural, social, religious divides.
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It's the tale of the potential
human beings have to work together.
human beings have to work together.
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And, it's testament
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to the extraordinary times we live
in, where, thanks to the Internet,
in, where, thanks to the Internet,
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it's easier than ever before
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for a stranger to share a story,
a worldview, a book
a worldview, a book
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with someone she may never meet,
on the other side of the planet.
on the other side of the planet.
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I hope it's a story I'm reading
for many years to come.
for many years to come.
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And I hope many more people will join me.
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If we all read more widely,
there'd be more incentive
there'd be more incentive
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for publishers to translate more books,
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and we would all be richer for that.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ann Morgan - Writer, blogger, authorAnn Morgan challenged herself to read a book from every country in the world.
Why you should listen
One day British writer Ann Morgan realized that most books in her bookshelves were by British or American authors. She undertook to read, over the course of a year, at least one book from each of the world's 196 countries -- texts often suggested by bibliophiles from all over the world.
Her experience inspired her book Reading the World (US title: The World Between Two Covers). She blogs about international literature, and her first novel, a psychological literary thriller called Beside Myself, will be published in January 2016.
Ann Morgan | Speaker | TED.com