Three Percent Podcast

Latest Episodes:

#127: The 2017 Best Translated Book Award Finalists Apr 18, 2017

Show notes

Riffraff co-owner and BTBA poetry judge Emma Ramadan joins Chad and Tom to talk about the fifteen finalists for this year's Best Translated Book Awards. After breaking down the poetry and fiction lists, the three talk about the new New York Times Match Book column and the value of booksellers and librarians.

This week's music is "High Ticket Attractions" by The New Pornographers.

As always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to: threepercentpodcast@gmail.com. Also, if there are articles you'd like us to read and analyze, send those along as well.

And if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes!

#126: The Potential Perils of Freelancing Apr 11, 2017

Show notes

On this week's podcast, Tom and Chad discuss the potential troubles of getting paid as a freelance translator, the Missing Richard Simmons podcast, and Seed by Joanna Walsh. There are also allusions to the forthcoming BTBA shortlists, and a new podcast project that will be starting up in May . . .

This week's music is "Here's to the Fourth Time!" by Los Campesinos!

As always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to: threepercentpodcast@gmail.com. Also, if there are articles you'd like us to read and analyze, send those along as well.

And if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes!

#125: 2017 Best Translated Book Award Longlists Mar 28, 2017

Show notes

In this podcast, Tom and Chad go over all thirty-five longlisted titles on this year's Best Translated Book Award longlists. They offer up some uninformed opinions (and a couple informed ones), make their guesses as to which titles will move on, and talk generally about the plethora of Spanish titles on the two lists.

If you haven't seen them yet, click here for the fiction list, and here for the poetry one.

This week's music is "Emoshuns" by Spiral Stairs.

As always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to: threepercentpodcast@gmail.com. Also, if there are articles you'd like us to read and analyze, send those along as well.

And if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes!

#124: Amazon Gets Physical Mar 07, 2017

Show notes

This week, Tom and Chad talk about the Cubs and their "Zen way," the largest publishers in the U.S., this "If there were Oscars for Books!" "article," and, most importantly, the new Amazon bookstore, which Tom visited and brought back some pictures.

This week's music is "Feel It Still" by Portugal. The Man.

And, as always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to threepercentpodcast@gmail.com. Also, if there are articles you'd like us to read and analyze, send those along as well.

And, if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes.

#123: The Challenges of Selling Books Feb 10, 2017

Show notes

This week's podcast opens with the sad news of Harry Mathews's passing, then goes deep on Winter Institute, and a couple really long essays Chad wrote for Three Percent. There's a lot that gets unpacked in this episode, from anticipatory lists and market acceleration, to the way that bookstores choose which titles to stock and how comp titles work.

Here are links to specific things covered in this podcast:

Harry Mathews in the Paris Review
List of Winter Institute programs and authors
Reader Selection and Market Acceleration and The Structural Inequality of Comp Titles
The Millions Great 2017 Book Preview

This week's music is "I'm Gonna Live Forever (If it Kills Me)" by William Tyler.

Also, a reminder, since we changed our podcast feed, you may need to unsubscribe and resubscribe to the correct feed in iTunes at that link, or right here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/three-percent-podcast/id434696686

Or, you can just put this feed link into whichever is your podcast app of choice:

http://threepercent.libsyn.com/rss

And, as always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to threepercentpodcast@gmail.com.

Also, if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes.

#122: Music We Listened to in 2016 Jan 17, 2017

Show notes

As in years past, the entire Open Letter crew (Chad, Nate, Kaija) got together to talk about some of the music they listened to over the past year. (That and Bud Light ads.)

You can listen to all the songs featured on this podcast on the Spotify playlist that's on the podcast post over at Three Percent.

Also, a reminder, since we changed our podcast feed, you may need to unsubscribe and resubscribe to the correct feed in iTunes at that link, or right here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/three-percent-podcast/id434696686

Or, you can just put this feed link into whichever is your podcast app of choice:

http://threepercent.libsyn.com/rss

And, as always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to threepercentpodcast@gmail.com.

Also, if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes.

#121: The Summer Following Dec 20, 2016

Show notes

Caroline Casey from Coffee House Press joined Chad and Tom on this podcast to talk about 2016 movies, TV shows, and podcasts. Before they got into a long discussion about the royal family, Luke Cage, Crimetown, Midnight Special, and more, they touched on a number of things that are both intriguing and a little bit batshit.

Here's the full rundown of this week's episode:

Sylvester Stallone to head the NEA?
John O'Brien: "The National Endowment to the Arts in the United States has consistently demonstrated either an indifference to or a hostility towards translations, though it bristles with indignation when this is brought to their attention. A number of years ago I would be told what objections some panel members had to our applications, and in almost all cases the objections centered on panelists not seeing how translations benefited the public and further objected to American money going to writers who weren't American."
Andrew Wylie: "Many agencies only think about money. But we only look at the quality of the writing. We train people in the agency to forget about money. It’s not of interest whether we think a book will sell thousands of copies. Pay attention to the quality of the work. If the writing is unusual, appealing, and drives you a little crazy, then that’s someone that we want to represent."
Little Boxes
The best commercial ever

This episode's music is "Run to Your Mama" by Goat.

Also, a reminder, since we changed our podcast feed, you may need to unsubscribe and resubscribe to the correct feed in iTunes at that link, or right here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/three-percent-podcast/id434696686

Or, you can just put this feed link into whichever is your podcast app of choice:

http://threepercent.libsyn.com/rss

And, as always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to threepercentpodcast@gmail.com.

Also, if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes.

#120: Crime and Concept Stores Nov 30, 2016

Show notes

It's been a few weeks since the last podcast, but Chad and Tom are back with a over-stuffed episode that starts with a recap of recent events before turning to Barnes & Noble's plans for their concept stores followed by a lengthy discussion about international crime authors.

Here's a complete list of articles, authors, and books discussed in this episode:

What Barnes & Noble Doesn't Get about Independent Bookstores;
The 2016 Neustadt Prize (and corresponding article by Chad);
The Point Reyes Indiegogo;
East Bay Booksellers;
Rage by Zygmunt Miłoszewski, translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones;
Giorgio Scerbanenco;
Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö's Martin Beck series;
Wolf Haas;
Melville House International Crime Series;
The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura, transalted from the Japanese by Satoko Izumo and Stephen Coates;
Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama, translated from the Japanese by Jonathan Lloyd-Davies;
The Borrowed by Chan Ho-Kei, translated from the Chinese by Jeremy Tiang;
The Hermit by Thomas Rydahl, translated from the Danish by K.E. Semmel;
And finally, this is the addiction network commercial that Chad was going on about.

This week's music is "Dis Generation" from We Got it from Here . . . Thank You 4 Your Service, the new--and final--album by A Tribe Called Quest.

Also, a reminder, since we changed our podcast feed, you may need to unsubscribe and resubscribe to the correct feed in iTunes at that link, or right here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/three-percent-podcast/id434696686

Or, you can just put this feed link into whichever is your podcast app of choice:

http://threepercent.libsyn.com/rss

And, as always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to threepercentpodcast@gmail.com.

Also, if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes.

#119: We Are Being Trolled Oct 14, 2016

Show notes

This week's podcast starts with the biggest, most surprising news of recent memory--Bob Dylan winning the Nobel Prize in Literature. Then Chad and Tom talk about the National Book Foundation's study of translation, the unmasking of Elena Ferrante (and the backlash to that unmasking, and the backlash to the backlash), and an article by Michael Hofmann about the dangers of over-thinking translation. They conclude by wondering about what the 1980 American Book Award TV presentation must have been like.

This week's music is "Rainy Day Woman #12 & #35" by your new Nobel laureate.

Also, a reminder, since we changed our podcast feed, you may need to unsubscribe and resubscribe to the correct feed in iTunes at that link, or right here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/three-percent-podcast/id434696686

Or, you can just put this feed link into whichever is your podcast app of choice:

http://threepercent.libsyn.com/rss

And, as always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to threepercentpodcast@gmail.com.

Also, if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes.

#118: Our Titles Are No Better Oct 03, 2016

Show notes

This week's podcast kicks off with a list of corrections from Episode 117 from a mix-up of Sophies to an explanation of which Basque Country soccer team only fields Basque players. Then Chad and Tom move on to talk about the recent NEIBA conference and some fall titles they left out of their mini-previews before talking about the I Love Dick TV show (officially picked up!) and their rants. Always rants, always.

Here are links to a few of the books, articles, and websites that came up this week:

Wall Street Journal on Bottom's Dream (Spoiler: It's a big book!)
Savage Theories by Pola Oloixarac
Between Dog and Wolf by Sasha Sokolov, and the Columbia Russian Library
Literistic
Famadillo and their YouTube Channel

This week's music is "Standing in the Sun" by Grouplove.

Also, a reminder, since we changed our podcast feed, you may need to unsubscribe and resubscribe to the correct feed in iTunes at that link, or right here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/three-percent-podcast/id434696686

Or, you can just put this feed link into whichever is your podcast app of choice:

http://threepercent.libsyn.com/rss

And, as always, feel free to send any and all comments or questions to threepercentpodcast@gmail.com. Also, if you like the podcast, tell a friend and rate us or leave a review on iTunes.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected