This is a 90-minute interactive session centered on exploring how focusing on the things we can’t explain in a text might enrich and broaden our understanding of reading, culture and ourselves.
The main body of the workshop is built around turning the English literature comprehension exercise on its head. Instead of giving answers, participants are invited to explore what questions, problems or reactions examples of writing from unfamiliar traditions provoke or pose.

The featured extracts usually come from translated works drawn from a wide range of literatures underrepresented in anglophone publishing. The selection is designed to complement the interests and expertise of each audience, with sessions so far including publishing students, literature teachers, translators, writers, librarians, academics, and general booklovers.

As we work through the material, we explore the roles (both good and bad) that assumption and bias play in reading, the idea of embracing discomfort and the opportunities that paying attention to the gaps in our understanding opens up.