Season 4 Episode 9: Revue Version Originale

August is Women In Translation month. For the podcast, I’m going to be publishing two translation-related conversations. The first is with Jaqui and María Laura, who you may already know from The Immigrant Book Club. They’re also the co-founders of Revue Version Originale, which is currently running a crowdfunding campaign.

This inclusive and intersectional literary magazine will be printed in French and English and is destined for the multilingual reader. It will assemble essays, short stories, illustrations, poems, book reviews, photography, and more, and present them in their original language. The aim is to print three editions per calendar year, the first of which is coming this autumn.

They took some time out of their busy schedule to speak to me about the project in more detail. How Revue VO came to be, their inspirations and where the crowdfunding money will go exactly. They also share a sneak peek of what you can expect from the first ever issue. Think of the magazine as a safe space for readers.

Projects like this excite me. Just recently, while spending some time in the south of France, I was speaking to a friend about this current wave of new feminist activity. From bookshops such as Librairie Majo and the soon-to-be-reopened Violette & Co., there is hope, joy and hard work to be found in these projects that we can throw our support behind.

The friend I was having this conversation with was in fact Charlotte, who recently spoke to writer and journalist Clare Touzard for this very podcast. They spent some time talking about “la presse féminine” or women’s magazines and the power that luxury brands have over mainstream media in general. Independent publications such as Revue Version Originale, Gaze and La Déferlante are doing the work as we say when it comes to creating an ad-free media.

EPISODE SHOW NOTES

Support Revue Version Originale’s crowdfunding campaign
https://www.helloasso.com/associations/revue-version-originale/collectes/revue-version-originale
Follow them (and share) on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/revueversionoriginale/
What María Laura is reading
https://www.lalinepaull.com/books/the-bees/
What Jacqui is reading
http://www.jakelamar.com/books/viper-e.html