[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's often said that you can tell\Na lot about a person
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by the looking at what's \Non their bookshelves.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What do my bookshelves\Nsay about me?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, when I asked myself\Nthis question a few years ago,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I made an alarming discovery.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'd always thought of myself\Nas a fairly, cultured, cosmopolitan
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sort of person.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But my bookshelves told \Na rather different story.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Pretty much all the titles on them
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were by British of North American authors,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and there was almost nothing\Nin translation.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Discovering this massive, \Ncultural blind spot\N
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,came as quite a shock.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And when I thought about it,\Nit seemed like a real shame.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I knew there had to be\Nlots of amazing stories out there
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by writers working in languages\Nother than English.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it seemed really sad to think\Nthat my reading habits
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,meant that I would probably\Nnever encounter them.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, I decided to prescribe myself\N
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an intensive course in global reading.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,2012 was set to be a very \Ninternational year for the UK,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was the year of the London Olympics.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so I decided to use it\Nas my timeframe
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to try to read a novel, \Nshort story collection,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or memoir from every country\Nin the world.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so I did,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it was very exciting\N
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I learned some remarkable things
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and made some wonderful connections\Nthat I want to share with you today.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it started with some \Npractical problems.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After I worked out which of the many\Ndifferent lists of countries in the world
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to use for my project,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I ended up going with the list\Nof UN-recognized nations,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to which I added Taiwan,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which gave me a total of 196 countries.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And after I'd worked out\Nhow to fit reading and blogging
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about, roughly, four books a week
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,around working five days a week,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I then had to face up to the fact\Nthat I might not be able
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to get books in English \Nfrom every country.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Only around 4.5 percent\Nof the literary works
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,published each year in the UK\Nare translations,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the figures are similar \Nfor much of the English-speaking world.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Although, the proportion\Nof translated books
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,published in other countries \Nis a lot higher.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,4.5 percent is tiny enough\Nto start with,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but what that figure doesn't tell you
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that many of those books
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,will come from countries\Nwith strong publishing networks
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and lots of industry professionals\Ntrying to go out and sell those titles
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to English-language publishers.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, for example, although\Nwell over 100 books
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are translated from French\Nand published in the UK each year,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,most of them will come from countries\Nlike France or Switzerland.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,French-speaking Africa, on the other hand,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,will rarely ever get a look in.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The upshot is there are actually\Nquite a lot of nations
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that may have little or even no
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,commercially available literature\Nin English.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Their books remain invisible\Nto readers
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the world's most published language.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But when it came to reading the world,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the biggest challenge of all, for me,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was that fact that I didn't know\Nwhere to start.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Having spent my life reading\Nalmost exclusively
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,British and North American books,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had no idea how to go about\Nsourcing and finding stories
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and choosing them from much\Nof the rest of the world.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I couldn't tell you how to\Nsource a story from Swaziland,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I wouldn't know a good novel\Nfrom Namibia.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was no hiding it,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was a clueless \Nliterary xenophobe.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So how on earth was I\Ngoing to read the world?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was going to have to ask for help.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So in October 2011, \Nayearofreadingtheworld.com,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and posted a short appeal online.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I explained who I was,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how narrow my reading had been,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I asked anyone who cared to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to leave a message suggesting\Nwhat I might read
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from other parts of the planet.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, I had no idea whether\Nanyone would be interested,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but within a few hours\Nof posting my appeal online,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people started to get in touch.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At first, it was friends and colleagues.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Then it was friends of friends.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And pretty soon, it was strangers.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Four days after I put that appeal online,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I got a message from a woman\Ncalled Rafidah in Kuala Lumpur.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She said she loved the sound\Nof my project,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,could she go to her local\NEnglish-language bookshop
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and choose my Malaysian book\Nand post it to me.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I accepted enthusiastically