Kazuo Ishiguro in conversation with Kate Mosse for World Book Night
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- Опубліковано 25 кві 2021
- Kazuo Ishiguro is one of the world’s most treasured and celebrated contemporary fiction authors, whose award-winning novels include Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day. He appears in conversation with no. 1 bestselling author Kate Mosse to discuss Klara and the Sun, his first book since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, in this special event presented by The Reading Agency and the British Library. The event also marks the 10th anniversary of World Book Night, The Reading Agency’s national celebration of books and reading.
Klara and the Sun is an intensely moving and beautiful exploration of human connection and creativity in the face of loneliness and advanced technologies. Ishiguro looks at our changing modern world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator to explore a fundamental question: what does it mean to love?
He talks to Kate Mosse about the inspiration for the novel, and the power of books and reading to bring people together and change lives.
Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1954 and moved to Britain at the age of five. His eight works of fiction have earned him many awards and honours around the world, including the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Booker Prize. His work has been translated into over 50 languages. Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day were made into acclaimed films, with the latter also included on World Book Night list in 2012. His latest novel, Klara and the Sun, was published on 2 March 2021 by Faber and Faber. He lives in London with his wife and daughter.
Kate Mosse is an award-winning novelist, playwright and non-fiction writer, the author of eight novels and short story collections, including the multimillion-selling Languedoc Trilogy - Labyrinth, Sepulchre and Citadel - and number one bestselling Gothic fiction The Winter Ghosts and The Taxidermist’s Daughter. Her books have been translated into 37 languages and published in more than 40 countries. The Founder Director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, she is also the Deputy Chair of the National Theatre in London. Kate divides her time between Chichester in West Sussex and Carcassonne in south-west France.
World Book Night is run by The Reading Agency and celebrated each year on 23 April, the UNESCO International Day of the Book. World Book Night brings people from all backgrounds together for one reason - to inspire others to read more. Since 2011, organisations and individuals have held events up and down the country to celebrate the difference that reading makes to their lives. Organisations can volunteer to hand out books from our annual list to people who don’t read for pleasure or own books. 2021 marks the 10th anniversary of World Book Night and is in partnership with Specsavers. Find out more at www.worldbooknight.org
The Reading Agency is a national charity that tackles life's big challenges through the proven power of reading, and over 2019/20 it reached 1.8 million people. The Reading Agency works closely with partners including libraries, publishers, prisons, schools, hospitals and care homes to develop and deliver programmes for people of all ages and backgrounds. Its vision is for a world where everyone is reading their way to a better life and no one is left behind. The Reading Agency is funded by Arts Council England. Find out more at www.readingagency.org.uk
I'm a 82 yr old Singaporean woman and this has never happened before. After I read Klara and the sun, I had this dream. I was trying to get out of bed, but I told myself that I can't as I haven't downloaded data to myself and I had to!
Poh Yee, do you think that was you in a next life? Or just Klara in you? Fascinating.
the books that stay with me are books that make me discover something about myself that I knew but could never express
I don’t understand why this video doesn’t have millions of views and comments. Beautiful
Because not everyone reads book nowadays, it is too dangerous.
I just finished reading Klara and the Sun today and am now bingeing on interviews with K.I. Such an interesting man and a great writer. I agree that his themes are usually the same, as he says: love, memory, family, and the nature of humanity.
This is just such a joyful interview. A total delight to listen and relisten to.
What a wonderful conversation! I agree completely with Kazuo Ishiguro. The boundaries and classifications used in bookshops work against the reader: I would have never read Klara and the sun if it were classified among science fiction!
I worry about the modern-day reader finding his or her path. I found my path while physically roaming libraries and bookstores. How does one really stumble over a book online the same way????
I wonder if Klara is the depiction of the 5-year old ishiguro who had just landed in the UK from Japan and is trying to make sense of a new culture from a first principles perspective
I think its often identification with, or sympathy for, the central character that resonates with me after I finish a book.
Earlier this week, I finished Klara and the Sun in two days. I am about to re-read it. I have only re-read a handful of books in my life, and none so soon after the first read. Ishiguro is now one of my favorite authors, and this is only the first book of his I’ve read.
I wear a pair of glasses when I deal with computer or reading books. But as I look at mountains from my daily spot in Denver Colorado, I can see the peaks very clearly without glasses. Metaphorically speaking, Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun requires reading glasses when I try to enjoy the details of writing. At the same instance, I clearly see the long view of the story without any aid of glasses. I guess that I naturally need multiple or three dimensional perspectives to understand everything or anything as a sculptor. This could be important for others to consider.
mine was Jane Eyre. I really did think I had discovered it for many years. I had found in cheap paperback at Gibsons (small town precursor to Walmart). My family was not educated and no one pointed out to me that it was a classic. I was 9 years old. I still have that very book.
It was a wonderful book. A fantastic story from a fantastic author.
it must be my 10th time I listen to this marvelous interview, looking forward to read Klara and the Sun, how to buy it from you, the British Library, and to whom I can give it to, as a gift, such a wealth of thoughts and emotions.
Thank you "for your company".
For me the book that lingered has been Madam Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. I have had so many unanswered questions after I read it.
Thank you for the video 👍
Marvellous! Thanks!
What a joy such a wonderful interview thank you : )
Wonderful!
I am in the middle of reading Klara right now. I normally am a relatively fast reader, but I find myself slowing and rereading paragraph after paragraph to savor this wonderful experience. I remember feeling this with Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go. Thank you for the discussion of genre. I deeply agree and it is just a nice reminder to me to remember to seek throughout the 'book store'. I do not think that I have a reading genre. Favorites range from Graham Greene to Kazue Ishiguro to P.D. James to Steinbeck and on and on.
Thank you fron Peru
It's exceedingly therapeutic to listen to him talk, idek why
The books that reverberate in my memory are the novels of Dickens. Whereas the novels of, say, Ayn Rand I'm busy forgetting even as I'm reading them.
💜
Truly a great novel
The 'white space' referred to by Kate re. Klara's emotions and Kazuo's revelation that he had no preconceived 'value' for how she feels was revelatory. I found myself suspecting we were being led to worry about Klara's 'humanity' were she to give up her identity for that of Josie. The sentient AI? Klara was not allowed to feel self-pity... so Klara was not sentient? Or possibly extremely heroic!
Due to popular demand, books about how to get rid of poltergeists have been flying off the shelves.