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by Open Letter Books
The Three Percent Podcast is a weekly(ish) conversation about new books, the publishing游戏副本, international literature in translation, and many other random rants and raves. Chad W. Post of Open Letter Books and Tom Roberge of New Directions and Albertine Bookstore keep things irreverent, informed, and funny in a podcast that'll keep you up to date on the international literary and publishing worlds. Maybe. (Presented by Three Percent @ the University of Rochester.)
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- 4 days ago1h 3m
Three Percent Podcast #215: The Icelandic Translator Triptych
Over the past two months, Open Letter has released three Icelandic titles—Boudoir by Sigrún Pálsdóttir & Lytton Smith, The Strongest Woman in the World by Steinunn G. Helgadóttir & Larissa Kyzer, and 12 Women + Under a Volcano by Svava Jakobsdóttir & Esja Alyssa Matich—as part of the “Translator Triptych” project, emphasizing the curatorial role translators play. On this special episode, Chad talks to each of the three translators individually about their careers, this particular project, what makes Icelandic literature so interesting, and much more. This episode contains clips from the following tracks, all by Icelandic artists: “The Bookshop” by Oyama, “Guilty Rocks” by Múm, “Útihátið” by FM Belfast, and “Bleak & Beautiful” by Haiku Salut.The Icelandic Triptych Bundle is available from Open Letter for $35. And through the end of November 2026, all Sara Mesa titles are 20% off to celebrate the forthcoming release of The Family (translated by Katie Whittemore). Use MESA27 at checkout.To support Open Letter directly, please visit this “donation” link. (All contributions via this link go directly to Open Letter’s account.)Subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.And be sure to follow our sister podcast, the Two Month Review (Apple, Spotify) for sustained, multi-week discussions centered around complicated, long books. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com
- Sep 15, 20261h 51m
Three Percent Podcast #214: “Kicking Down the Gatekeepers”
Jeremy Tiang and Bruna Dantas Lobato get things started this episode by talking about Violent Phenomena: Essays Toward the Future of Literary Translation, a collection of essays about the art and politics of translation. That’s followed by a conversation with Makana Eyre about a piece he wrote for Now Voyager about the two translations of Ludmila Ulitskaya’s The Big Green Tent. And finally, Katrine Øgaard Jensen and Kelsi Vanada preview ALTA 49: Give and Take, taking place in Portland, OR from October 21–24.This episode’s music is “Kick Stones (The Boys)” by Westside Cowboy.Upcoming Open Letter Events:Friday, September 25, 4:30pm: What French and Francophone Literature Offers the American Imagination at Albertine Books, NYC.Saturday, October 3, 1pm: Time and Water: Film Screening and Conversation at Scandinavia House, NYC.Tuesday, October 6, 7pm: The 2026 Icelandic Translator Triptych at Scandinavia House, NYC.Saturday, October 10, 4pm: Icelandic Translator Triptych Celebration at Milkweed Books, Minneapolis, MN.Saturday, October 17, 2pm: Translating Scandinavia at Scandinavia House, NYC.Friday, October 23, 5pm: Boudoir Book Club at The Siren and the Sea, Rochester, NY.Translator Triptych (Iceland) Bundle for $35.As always, if you’d like to support Open Letter Books and all of its projects, you can donate here.Subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.And be sure to follow our sister podcast, the Two Month Review (Apple, Spotify) for sustained, multi-week discussions centered around complicated, long books. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com
- Sep 7, 20261h 6m
Patrick McGinley’s “Bogmail”
On this episode, Vince Francone (A Book No One Wants) finds out that Patrick McGinley wrote more than one book, and Chad posits a Shklovskian reading of Bogmail: A Tale of Murder. Vince and Chad work through the red herrings and unexpected ending of this strange book that foregrounds some questionable wordplay (“bogmailer” for “blackmailer”), and also take time to check in on the state of literary education via this WaPo article about how reading extracts has basically the same value as reading a full book.This episode’s music is “Bog” by Be Your Own Pet.Upcoming Open Letter Events:Albertine Books, NYC, 9/25, 4:30pm: What French and Francophone Literature Offers the American ImaginationScandinavia House, NYC, 10/6, 7pm: The 2026 Icelandic Translator TriptychMilkweed Books, Minneapolis, MN, 10/10, TBD: Icelandic Translator Triptych CelebrationScandinavia House, NYC, 10/17, 2pm: Translating ScandinaviaThe Siren and the Sea, Rochester, NY, 10/23, 5pm: Boudoir Book ClubTranslator Triptych (Iceland) Bundle for $35.As always, if you’d like to support Open Letter Books and all of its projects, you can donate here.Subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.And be sure to follow our sister podcast, the Two Month Review (Apple, Spotify) for sustained, multi-week discussions centered around complicated, long books. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com
- Jul 30, 20261h 32m
Brian Dillon's "Ambivalence: An Education"
On this episode, Vince Francone (A Book No One Wants, Jabber) and Chad W. Post discuss Brian Dillon’s forthcoming book, Ambivalence: An Education (NYRB/Fitzcarraldo) as part of their ongoing series of podcasts on Irish literature. (You can find earlier episodes in this series here.) They discuss how Dillon’s book hovers between memoir and criticism, and how that passion for literature was fostered within academia, then turn to the realities of 2026 and a few pieces by The Atlantic writer Rose Horowitch, especially “The End of Reading Is Here.”Also mentioned in this podcast: Chad’s piece on an earlier article of Horowitch’s, “The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books,” and the start of Vince’s serialized book, Compendium of Eccentrics.This episode’s music is “Libraries” by Yellow Ostrich. You can subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.And be sure to follow our sister podcast, the Two Month Review (Apple, Spotify) for sustained, multi-week discussions centered around complicated, long books. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com
- Jun 18, 20261h 8m
Daniel Hahn on "If This Be Magic"
On this episode, Daniel Hahn OBE joins Chad to talk about his new book, If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation. They discuss how the book foregrounds the roles creativity and interpretation play in translation, what a good companion piece it is to Hahn’s Catching Fire: A Translator’s Diary, the ways this book may bring people to both translation and Shakespeare, and the state of the field as a whole. This episode’s music is “Kate’s Theme” by Kloyd.You can subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.And be sure to follow our sister podcasts: Two Month Review (Apple, Spotify) and Mining the Dalkey Archive (Apple, Spotify) for more book and industry talk! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com
- Apr 28, 20261h 17m
Kurdish Literature and Henar Press
On this episode, special guest Aryan Omar Hassan talks about Henar Press and their first publications: Gābor by Seyed Qader Hedayati, translated from the Kurdish by Chiya Parvizpur & Hourieh Maleki Qouzloo; I Am Going to Kill Somebody by Firat Ceweri, translated from the Kurdish by Jeannette Okur; and Who’s Afraid of Kurdistan?: An Anthology of Contemporary Plays, edited by Aryan himself. He also discusses the Kurdish Literary Database he built and maintains, along with discussing the element of suppression (of language, of the people) in Kurdish literature and some other common tropes, and makes a number of recommendations.This episode’s music is “Damascus” by Gorillaz.You can subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.And be sure to follow our sister podcasts: Two Month Review (Apple, Spotify) and Mining the Dalkey Archive (Apple, Spotify) for more book and industry talk! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com
- Apr 14, 202652 min
Three Percent Podcast #209: Arunava Sinha on South Asian Literature in Translation
Arunava Sinha—professor, journalist, translator of over 100 works, including The Laboratory by Rabindranath Tagore—discusses his new venture, Chowringhee Press, his career in translation, the literary scene in India writ large, and provides a list of books to check out if you’re looking for entryways into South Asia’s diverse literary scene (see below). Books published by Chowringhee Press:I Murdered Mine, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, translated from the Hindi by Sakshi AgarwalPremchand X Ray + Sen, Munshi Premchand aka Dhanpat Rai Shrivastava, translated from the Hindi by Sayari DebnathWriting Death—Ego: A Novel, Rajalekshmi, translated from the Malayalam by Dhiya SonyThe Laboratory, Rabindranath Tagore, translated from the Bengali by Arunava SinhaFinalists for the JCB Prize for Literature:Jasmine Days, Benyamin, translated from the Malayalam by Shahnaz HabibThe One Legged, Sakyajit Bhattacharya, translated from the Bengali by Rituparna MukherjeeImaan, Manoranjan Byapari, translated from the Bengali by Arunava SinhaThe Nemesis, Manoranjan Byapari, translated from the Bengali by V. RamaswamyThere’s Gunpowder in the Air, Manoranjan Byapari, translated from the Bengali by Arunava SinhaMoustache, S. Hareesh, translated from the Malayalam by Jayasree KalathilAnti-Clock, V.J. James, translated from the Malayalam by Ministhy S.The Paradise of Food, Khalid Jawed, translated from the Urdu by Baran FarooqiSong of the Soil, Chuden Kabimo, translated from the Nepali by Ajit BaralSanatan, Sharankumar Limable, translated from the Marathi (via Hindi) by Paromita SenguptaMaria, Just Maria, Sandhya Mary, translated from the Malayalam by Jayasree KalathilDelhi: A Soliloquy, M. Mukundan, translated from the Malayalam by Fathima E.V. & Nandakumar K.<a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/164/
- Mar 2, 20261h 0m
Three Percent Podcast #208: Translating Godzilla & Mothra
Jeffrey Angles (translator of Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again and many non-Kaiju related titles) joins Chad and special guest Joanne Bernardi (Writing in Light: The Silent Scenario and the Japanese Pure Film Movement, Provenance and Early Cinema (ed.), Routledge Handbook of Japanese Cinema (ed.), and the multimedia resource, ReEnvisioning Japan) to talk about the recent release of The Luminous Fairies and Mothra by Shin’ichiro Nakamura, Takehiko Fukunaga, and Yoshie Hotta, recently released by University of Minnesota Press. They discuss how this project came about, the relationship between the books and the films, the political ideas evident in Mothra, the gender of Godzilla and Mothra in the original texts, and how Mothra is related to Doctor Doolittle. A very interesting, lively conversation about “monster studies,” translation, and cultural representation from two experts, who are also big Godzilla-verse fans!This episode’s music is “Mothra’s Song.”You can subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.And be sure to follow our sister podcasts: Two Month Review (Apple, Spotify) and Mining the Dalkey Archive (Apple, Spotify) for more book and industry talk! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com
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About Three Percent Podcast
The Three Percent Podcast is a weekly(ish) conversation about new books, the publishing游戏副本, international literature in translation, and many other random rants and raves. Chad W. Post of Open Letter Books and Tom Roberge of New Directions and Albertine Bookstore keep things irreverent, informed, and funny in a podcast that'll keep you up to date on the international literary and publishing worlds. Maybe. (Presented by Three Percent @ the University of Rochester.)
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