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Transcript 2 Islands of the North

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Editorial

From Reykjavik to Budapest

Transcript welcomes you warmly to its second issue and invites you to discover the work of eighteen writers from eight countries.

Our main feature concentrates on the islands of northern Europe with a special focus on the Grafarvogur writers of Reykjavik, Iceland.

We also continue our panorama of historical novels, with books by László Márton of Hungary, Christopher Meredith of Wales and Soti Triantafillou of Greece.

Our third feature in this issue opens windows on the world of writing for children in Scandinavia. We feature Josefine Ottesen and Charlotte Blay of Denmark, and the late Tove Jansson of Finland, creator of the Mummins.

If you are planning a trip, find out more about the St Magnus mid-summer festival in Orkney and about the Lahti International Writers' Reunion in Findland in June. The coming months see several major bookfairs come round again. Read our news section to find out more.

This issue of Transcript appears at a crucial time in the geo-politics of Europe, America and the Middle-East. We take this opportunity to cite a letter to George W. Bush signed by, amongst others, Colin Archer, Jorge Brovetto, Noam Chomsky and José Saramango (Le Monde,13.02):

'To rid the earth of the seeds of terrorism, you must do the opposite of what you are doing now. Do not hesitate any longer. Change your course completely. Participate in the construction of peace, of justice and of development in the world'.

We would also like to take this opportunity to invite our readers - publishers, writers, translators and literary agents - to contribute to Transcript. Our policy is to make available to a wider audience excellent writing in 'smaller'- though not lesser - European languages.

We hope you enjoy your journey with Transcript from Reykjavik to Budapest (via Orkney and Athens).



Diarmuid Johnson, editor.