A Year of Reading the World: A Q&A with Ann Morgan
In 2012, Ann Morgan launched a book blog and read her way around the globe. This month, she published her first book, based on this literary journey.
Several years ago, writer Ann Morgan noticed that she didn’t read much literature from countries outside of the United Kingdom and United States — and had yet to dive into stories from around the globe. From this realization, her blog, A Year of Reading the World, was born. You can read about Ann’s journey in her new book, Reading the World: Confessions of a Literary Explorer, available now in the UK. (The US version, The World Between Two Covers, will be released on May 4.)
I chatted with Ann about the blog-to-book journey and her experience of reading and blogging about literature from 197 countries.
For readers new to A Year of Reading the World, can you talk about your original project — and how the blog came about?
A comment someone left on a blog I wrote four years back, A Year of Reading Women, got me thinking about how little literature I read from countries other than the UK and US. The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed that I would limit myself to such a small proportion of the world’s stories. The next year, 2012, was set to be a very international one for the UK, with the Olympics coming to London and plans for big celebrations for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, so I decided to spend it trying to read a novel, short story collection, or memoir from every UN-recognized country (plus a couple of extras) and blogging about each book.
As I didn’t know what to choose or how to find books from some places, I asked the world’s book lovers to offer suggestions. I registered the domain name ayearofreadingtheworld.com, set up the blog on WordPress.com, and put a call out on social media. Before long, I was inundated with recommendations and other offers of help.
Reading your way through nearly 200 countries requires discipline! How did you stay motivated as a blogger?
It wasn’t easy. I had to be very organized. I calculated how much I needed to get through each day (around 150 pages to stay on track to read four books a week), and made sure I stuck to it. This meant reading for two hours on my commute and an hour or two in the evening. I sometimes read during my lunch break, too. And on Saturdays I spent the mornings in bed with a book. I got very good at reading at odd moments — while walking along the road and going up escalators, for example, and on the exercise bike at the gym.
The author, reading in Crete.
Reading was only half the battle — writing the blog posts and doing all the research to find the books took as much time, so I got up early to work on this before I left for work.
For all the hard work, though, it was a lot of fun. The generosity and enthusiasm of my blog’s followers around the world helped me source titles. Readers posted kind comments every day, and this kept me going and cheered me across the finish line.
How did your book deal come about?
The UK book cover
When I started the project, I had no clue it would lead to a book. But three or four months into the year, media interest was starting to build with the Olympics approaching, so several people suggested that a book might be a good idea. I’d always wanted to be an author, so I put together a short book proposal and sent it to a handful of literary agents.
Several were interested in it, but one in particular — Caroline Hardman at Hardman & Swainson — seemed to look at the project the same way I did. We also got on well personally, which was a bonus.
After I’d signed with Caroline, I spent the next few months shaping the book proposal and writing sample chapters (and, yes, I was still reading the world and earning money to pay the bills during this time!). Caroline sent the proposal out in September 2012 and within half an hour an email came from my editor, Michal Shavit at Harvill Secker/Random House, making an offer for the book.
What about the blog-to-book process? Did much of your post content end up in the book?
The US book cover
I spent about a year-and-a-half, on and off, writing and rewriting after I got the deal. In the end, none of the material from the blog made it into the book. In fact, only a few paragraphs from the sample chapters are in there.
The main challenge was finding the right form for the book. I remember a meeting where Michal told me that I needed to let go of the blog, and she was right. There would have been no point giving a blow-by-blow account of the year because that already existed on the blog. I needed to find a way of taking the insights that quest gave me and shaping them into something new.
In the end, the book became a space for exploring the big questions that arose during my adventure. There were issues like cultural identity, translation, censorship, and how the internet shapes our reading that I didn’t have a chance to consider in depth on the blog, but was really interested to research more thoroughly.
I love both the UK and US covers of your book. Beyond the cover art, is there a difference in these versions?
Thanks! No. Although they look very different, they are actually the same book. The UK title was too close to something else Liveright/Norton — my US publisher — publishes, but apart from this, my US editor, Elisabeth Kerr, was very keen to keep the text exactly as it had been in the original.
With your Book of the Month posts, you’ve kept your blog alive, post-project. Do you have other plans for the blog, post-book release?
The coming year looks very exciting with lots of invitations to travel, speak at events, and take part in reading-related initiatives. I plan to record my experiences on the blog and take the many people who’ve supported the project for such a long time — and the new subscribers who sign up every day — along for the ride. Now and then, if there’s a book-related issue that I have something to say about, I’ll write about it on the blog, too.
I still get a lot of recommendations for new books from blog visitors, so I’m still updating the list and will carry on doing that. And of course the Book of the Month posts will continue. It’s hard to know what the future holds, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be reading the world in one way or another for a long time to come.
Read what’s new on Ann’s blog, A Year of Reading the World. You’ll find Reading the World: Confessions of a Literary Explorer (UK version, available now) and The World Between Two Covers: Reading the Globe (US version, available on May 4) on Amazon.
WordPress.com News 
A truly fascinating article. It must have taken a huge commitment to do this, but at the same time it must have been very enjoyable.
The Science Geek
LikeLiked by 3 people
My compliments for your book and your idea. I travel so that I can read and understand you therefore very well.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I used to love reading about people just like me, but I joined a book group who was having none of that. Thanks to them, I’ve become a literary explorer too:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a fantastic idea. I had never considered how limited my scope of reading was until this article. Thank you for this, I am now inspired to seek t more of the world through my own reading.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I can’t wait to read the book! Thanks for this blog and for the resulting book!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Reblogged this on Terrys Book Addiction and commented:
I have to agree that I don’t get a chance to read much outside the US and UK, although my last two books have been very different from the norm, one being based in the Mediterranean and the other crossing many countries and spanning time from beginning to end. I love when I get the chance to read something different then the usual!
LikeLiked by 2 people
What a great idea. I am writing a book set in London and Uganda. Cultural identity is my main theme. I find it fascinating still, even if I have lived in both countries. Exploring how each culture has affected me and my children is wonderful. I can’t imagine what your journey must have been.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reading is important for your current work and in the future even for whole of our life! Keep going and do better!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This sounds wonderful! I’m adding it to my to read list. I bet I can find some great ideas for my Women of the World book club.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Great post. We should all do better with our reading goals. Thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This was a fascinating, intriguing article. What was your favorite location?
This definitely would have taken some serious dedication. I’m very impressed.
LikeLike
Thanks so much for sharing this with us. I am looking forward to reading Ann Morgan’s book.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ann, I cannot wait to read your book. What a touching and brilliant idea. Wishing you continued success.
LikeLike
Great idea and the book sounds like a definite must read!
LikeLike
So much literary work is waiting out there to be translated into English and such a small percentage of new fiction, non-fiction or poetry is translated work. I’m interested in knowing if Ann can read in any other languages or were all her reads in English translation?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can’t answer for Ann regarding whether she reads in other languages; I do know, from interviewing her, that in some cases she found readers around the world who volunteered to translate work for her (the book she read for São Tomé and Príncipe is an example). This Q&A is an abridged version of a longer one — she talks a bit more about translation in the full Q&A, which we’ll share later this spring before the US release of her book 🙂
You might also find related information under her “translation” tag on her blog.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reading diversely is so important but it’s very challenging to do. I’d already read an article on Ann Morgan but this was even more enlightening. Such a beautiful and important project!
LikeLike
I’d never really thought about that before. Thank you for sharing and exploring, it has inspired me to expand. Can’t wait to get the book!
LikeLike
I’m adding Ann’s book to my reading list. I love her project. It would be cool if for the next stage, she could speak at events worldwide, in different parts of the world where she could actually meet some of the authors, translators, readers, or followers of her blog.
LikeLike
I am fascinated and inspired to read about the enormous amount of committment, self-discipline, passion and enthusiasm that went into this work. This is living the life of one’s dream. Congratulations!
LikeLike
I would like to do that!
LikeLike
Real inspiration!
LikeLike
Very inspirational.
LikeLike
What a neat project! Seems like a great read 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulations. What a great idea.
LikeLike
Keep on trucking 🙂
LikeLike
I certainly admire this. Mild dyslexia prevents me from being able to read more than 20-30 books a year.
LikeLike
I must confess I do not read as often as I would like, I am intrigued by your journey.
LikeLike