![]() ![]() You need a willingness if you want to belong to a place-with courage, with humour, with lots of passion. In those three years, I thought to myself: “Where is my place?” I think that we, or I, can make anywhere our own place, but you need to want it. Then, when I moved to Switzerland, there was another problem, because I discovered that I was black in our classroom at Università della Svizzera italiana, the Lugano university. And you see me with the red lipstick now because I’ve come to terms with who I am. In Cameroon, back in the day, I couldn’t feel at home because I didn’t fulfill the criteria of being a man. Today, I live in Geneva, and most of the time I’m always travelling, travelling, travelling, to preach the gospel of literature, of my literature, of my voice. I was born in Douala, and then I moved from Douala to Lugano, which is in the Italian part of Switzerland. Max Lobe (ML): The fact of belonging nowhere is something that really speaks to me. Max and Ros, how do you think the concept of belonging fits in this book? Where does the nature of belonging fit overall in books that speak of migration? ![]() Laurel Taylor (LT): Does Snow Turn a Person White Inside? is a novel with an immigrant at its center, and the book has been described as a contemporary story of alienation, that feeling of belonging nowhere catalysed by migrancy. You can sign up to receive next month’s selection on our website for as little as USD20 per book once you’re a member, join our Facebook group for exclusive book club discussions and receive invitations to our members-only Zoom interviews with the author or the translator of each title. The Asymptote Book Club aspires to bring the best in translated fiction every month to readers around the world. In this following interview, Laurel Taylor speaks to Lobe and translator Ros Schwartz about the concept of a “national literature,” textual musicality, and what it means to belong somewhere, nowhere-or everywhere. Centred around an incredibly intimate mother-son relationship that crosses from Cameroon to Switzerland, Lobe addresses the politics of a contemporary, itinerant existence with humour, wisdom, and frankness. In our December Book Club selection, Does Snow Turn a Person White Inside?, Swiss writer Max Lobe paints a vivid psychic landscape of migration, queerness, and class. An Interview with Susanne Bergström Larsson from the Swedish Arts Council.An Interview with Wenona Byrne from Creative Australia.An Interview with Shun Inoue from the Japan Foundation.An Interview with Marieke Roels from Flanders Literature.Translated from the Indonesian by Toni Pollard Translated from the Indonesian by Jessica Jemalem Ginting Andina Dwifatma, from Quieter Than a Whisper.Translated from the Indonesian by Dalih Sembiring Raudal Tanjung Banua, Ben Anderson’s Final Message to a Street Musician in Jogja.Translated from the Indonesian by John H. Translated from the Javanese by George Quinn Translated from the German by Margot Bettauer Dembo Anne Seghers, The Dead Girls’ Class Trip.Translated from the Spanish by Chris Andrews Translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won Translated from the Spanish by Julia Sanches Translated from the Middle English by Simon Armitage Translated from the Chinese by brenda Lin Translated from the Ukrainian by Patricia Dubrava Translated from the Ukrainian by Ali Kinsella Translated from the Portuguese by Rachel Morgenstern-Clarren Amyr Klink, from One Hundred Days Between Sky and Sea.Translated from the Romanian by Amanda L. Translated from the French by Ray Ellenwood and Adam Seelig Claude Gauvreau, from The Vampire and the Nymphomaniac.Translated from the German by Sharon Howe Translated from the Danish by Michael Favala Goldman Kirsten Hammann, from The Georg Complex.Translated from the Korean by Yoojung Chun Translated from the Italian by Antonella Lettieri Enrico Remmert, from The War of the Murazzi.Translated from the Spanish by Victor Meadowcroft Translated from the Chinese by Eleanor Goodman Zang Di, from The Loquat Boy: Elegies for my Son.Translated from the Lithuanian by Rimas Uzgiris Translated from the Spanish by Lowry Pressly Translated from the Spanish by Wally Swist Translated from the Arabic by Nina Youkhanna and Elliott Colla Translated from the Catalan by Sonia Alland and Richard Jeffrey Newman Salvador Espriu, from The Book of Sinera. ![]()
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