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Join Xiaolu Guo, Free Word's Writer in Residence, as she introduces her new novel I am China with a lively disucssion about the possibility and impossibility of translation. Following on from her acclaimed first novel in English, A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, Xiaolu Guo's new novel I am China tells the story of two young lovers who have been torn apart, and of a translator working through their letters trying to untangle their story. Joining Xiaolu for the evening's discussion are her editor-turned-agent Rebecca Carter, and Free Word's former Translator in Residence Nicky Harman. Together, they'll use the novel as a starting point to explore questions of translation, censorship, Chinese culture, and what it means to call a country your home. Follow this link for tickets and more information.

Former political correspondent Terry Stiastny talks to the BBC's Nick Higham about her d?but novel, Acts of Omission for their 'Meet the Author' programme. The interview is already available online, and will air tonight at 19.45pm: In 1998 the gilt is starting to come off a new era. Mark Lucas, the recently appointed foreign minister, is in a dilemma. A disk containing the names of British informants to the Stasi has ended up in the hands of the government. Elected on a platform of transparency, he faces resistance from the diplomatic service who don't want him to return it to the Germans, despite their entreaties. Alex Rutherford, a young man working for the intelligence services, wakes up one morning with a hangover and a dawning realisation that his computer is lost and, with it, the only copy of that disk. When the disk is delivered to the newspaper where journalist Anna Travers works, she finds herself unravelling not just a mystery, but many people's lives . . . Acts of Omission plunges the reader into a virtuoso recreation of late-nineties Britain. Suspenseful, exquisitely constructed and thought-provokingly topical, it is a novel about what happens when state secrets become public, and the human cost of those secrets. Follow this link to watch her in action: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28344028

Saturday 19 July, 5.45pm ? 6.30pm, Rana Mitter talks to Chinese novelist and film-maker Xiaolu Guo and contemporary Chinese art expert Dr Katie Hill about similarities and differences in approach by artists working inside and outside China. Xiaolu Guo settled in the United Kingdom in 2002 and now writes in English. Much of her writing since leaving China, starting with A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, has explored the frustration of artists forced to operate outside their native culture and language. Her latest novel, I Am China, reflects on the way that some artists are driven to create no matter where while others cannot survive in exile. She is interested in concepts of translation and the general ignorance of one culture confronting another. Chinese Art specialist,Katie Hill, uses her own extensive linguistic and cultural knowledge to promote the work of Chinese artists and her recent work includes ?In Conversation with Ai Weiwei? and ?Art of Change, New Directions from China?. The edited version will broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

The 2014 Festival will take place on 17-20 July 2014 at the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate. On Saturday 19th July 2014, at 3.30pm Charles Cumming will be taking part in a discussion entitled "How Safe Is Your Smartphone?": From Wikileaks to Edward Snowden, the public has been given glimpses into a world of international espionage that increasingly resembles the most hi-tech of thrillers, raising issues of privacy, security and trust. Chair Hilary Bonner asks Charles Cumming, Terry Hayes, Alan Judd and Tom Wood, four writers of globe-trotting, spy-filled thrillers, to discuss their work, their research, and how they maintain their fictional footing on such ever-advancing technological terrain. Tickets are ?10 and can be bought here. 2014 also marks the tenth year of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, for which Elly Griffiths has been shortlisted for Dying Fall. The award, run in partnership with T & R Theakston, WHSmith and Radio Times, was created to celebrate the very best in crime writing and is open to British and Irish authors whose novels were published in paperback over the previous twelve months. The winning author receives a cash prize of ?3000 and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakstons Old Peculier. The winner will be announced during the festival.

Tomorrow, on Radio 3 at 10.45 pm, Chinese-born author, Xiaolu Guo, will read her essay "Coolies" for "Goodbye to All That", a series of programmes curated by writer Lavinia Greenlaw to mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War One, as part of 14-18 Now, a major cultural programme across the United Kingdom. Taking Robert Graves' phrase as their starting point, Guo joins five writers from countries involved in the First World War as they reflect on a turning point moment in their own histories and interpret the phrase with the ambiguity that Graves intended. In her essay she contemplates the role of Chinese 'coolies' on the battlefields of the First World War Follow this link to listen online: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006x3hl/broadcasts/upcoming

For the next two weeks M.J. Arlidge?s debut will be the focus of the Richard & Judy 2014 Summer Book club. The book hit the number five spot on the Sunday Times Paperback Fiction Bestseller List for the week ending May 25th and a huge marketing campaign supports publication. Eeny Meeny, which introduces Detective Inspector Helen Grace, has sold to publishers around the world. The follow-up, Pop Goes The Weasel, is published by Penguin Books September 2014. Find out more here: http://www.richardandjudy.co.uk/books/Eeny-Meeny/401

Elly Griffiths, author of Dying Fall, joins Belinda Bauer, Malcolm Mackay, Peter May, Denise Mina and Stav Sherez on the shortlist for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award. The judges will be Simon Theakston, novelist Steve Mosby, Alison Graham (Radio Times), and Dave Swillman (WHSmith). They will take into account a public vote, which opens on 3 July and closes on 15 July at www.theakstons.co.uk. Mark Lawson will host the award ceremony on the opening night, 17 July, of the 12th annual Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate.

Gabriel Weston has won the 2014 McKitterick Prize for her novel Dirty Work. Tom McKitterick, the former editor of "Political Quarterly" and author of an unpublished novel, created the prize which was first awarded in 1990. It is given annually to an author over the age of 40 for a first novel, published or unpublished. Recent winners have included Alison Moore (The Lighthouse), Ginny Baily (Africa Junction) and Emma Henderson (Grace Williams Says It Loud). More information about the prize can be found here: http://www.societyofauthors.org/mckitterick

Alex Bellos on how to cut a cake, the mathematical way!

Astronomer and Sky at Night TV presenter Chris Lintott tells Jim Al Khalili about his "Citizen Science" project of crowd-sourced astronomy, Galaxy Zoo, and of working with Brian May and the late Sir Patrick Moore on BBC Radio 4. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b046kwpv

Follow this link for a delightful piece by Cameron McAllister on children's books containing vehicles, vessels and vavavoom for the Guardian. His children's book, The Tin Snail, was published by Jonathan Cape last month and tells the story of one brave little 2CV that helped win the war.

M.J. Arligde?s debut Eeny Meeny hit the number five spot on the Sunday Times Paperback Fiction Bestseller List for the week ending May 25th. Since publication earlier in the month the book has gone from strength to strength becoming a Richard & Judy Summer Book Club choice and receiving praise across the media. The Daily Mail says Arlidge has created ?a genuinely fresh heroine in DI Helen Grace? while The Sun calls it ?truly excellent?. Eeny Meeny, which introduces Detective Inspector Helen Grace, has sold to publishers around the world. The follow-up, Pop Goes The Weasel, is published by Penguin Books September 2014.

Alex Bellos has been short-listed for the Association of British Science Writers Royal Society Radio Prize for his Radio 4 documentary "Nirvana by Numbers". The prize - part of the ABSW 2014 Journalism Awards - will be awarded to the best scripted/edited radio programme or podcast, and chosen by the The Royal Society. Follow this link for more information.

Listen in to Xiaolu Guo, Chinese writer and filmmaker, talk about the contrasts between East and West in her latest tragic love story on Start the Week this morning(32.25 mins in).